The Utah State Aggies men’s basketball program will be looking for its fourth head coach since 2021.
On Monday, CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander first reported that Jerrod Calhoun, who has led the Aggie program the last two seasons, will become the next head coach of the Cincinnati Bearcats, who fired Wes Miller Friday after five seasons at the helm.
The move has been widely expected for a little while now and is a homecoming of sorts for Calhoun, who grew up in Ohio and played collegiately for Cleveland State before becoming a graduate assistant at Cincinnati in 2003.
From 2003-2024 when he arrived at Utah State, Calhoun was exclusively at schools in either Ohio or its eastern neighbor, West Virginia.
Speaking of West Virginia, this is the second offseason in a row that Calhoun has been courted by a Big 12 program, as he was a leading contender to take over the West Virginia Mountaineers in 2025 before they hired Ross Hodge.
Over the past several weeks, Calhoun’s name has been linked to another Big 12 job — Kansas State — but it hired Belmont’s Casey Alexander last week.
In two seasons at Utah State, Calhoun compiled a 55-15 record, including an NCAA Tournament win last week and a near upset of 1 seed Arizona on Sunday.
Utah State, which will be moving to the newly redesigned Pac-12 this summer, has become a launching pad in recent years for men’s basketball coaches, with those coaches having mixed results at their next stops.
Craig Smith left for Utah in 2021 after three excellent seasons, only to go 65-62 in four seasons with the Runnin’ Utes and get fired in 2025.
After Smith left Logan, Ryan Odom stayed for two seasons before going to VCU — where he went 52-21 in two seasons — and now Virginia, where he has the Cavaliers ranked No. 10 in the country.
Next up for the Aggies was Danny Sprinkle in the 2023-24 season, and after he went 27-5, he left for Washington, where he has compiled a 29-35 record in two seasons.
Earlier Monday, Miller was hired as the new head coach at Charlotte.