Women's college basketball coaching carousel: Kellie Harper or Jeff Mittie to Mizzou?

New York Times

10-03-2025

Already this postseason, six power conference coaching jobs have opened — one in the Big Ten, two in the SEC and three in the Big 12. For a while, I've been chatting with women's basketball insiders about what this coaching cycle will look like because big changes are coming with revenue sharing and financial units (multi-million dollar payments the NCAA awards to conferences in March Madness tournaments) hitting the sport within months of one another.
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Revenue sharing will impact a coach's ability to recruit and build a program while the units will incentivize programs to invest in their women's basketball programs. Many believe the SEC and Big Ten will be the leaders on this because of their TV contracts for college football (which fuel so much of college sports), so I have long been curious if women's basketball openings in those conferences will pull sitting ACC and Big 12 coaches. Based on the early looks of it, that might be true for the better jobs opening in those conferences.
This is what I'm hearing about the six coaching jobs in women's college hoops after talking to sources over the weekend:
Out: Marisa Moseley (2021-25 at Wisconsin)
2024-25 record: 13-17 (4-14 in Big Ten), first-round loss in Big Ten tournament
Salary: $658,000
As it did with Moseley, who had success in a three-year stint at Boston University, it looks like Wisconsin might be returning to a familiar formula (but hoping for different results). Wisconsin might try to land a successful mid-major coach who can bring the Badgers to a competitive level in the Big Ten.
If that is the direction, there's no shortage of good options.
Wisconsin women's basketball head coach Marisa Moseley has resigned from her position, UW Director of Athletics Chris McIntosh announced on Sunday.https://t.co/SY9osk9qML
— Wisconsin Women's Basketball (@BadgerWBB) March 10, 2025
Richmond coach Aaron Roussell has taken two mid-major programs (Bucknell and Richmond) to the NCAA Tournament. The Minnesota native is a two-time Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year and two-time Patriot League Coach of the Year. Last season, the Spiders made their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2005, and they're expected to receive an at-large bid this year.
Fairfield coach Carly Thibault-DuDonis has Big Ten experience as a Minnesota assistant under Lindsay Whalen from 2018-22. She has led the Stags to the NCAA Tournament twice (2022, 2024), and are favorites in the MAAC tournament, which begins on Wednesday.
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Harvard coach Carrie Moore has helped establish the Ivy League rule beyond Princeton. The Michigan native and Western Michigan alum has power conference experience as an assistant at Michigan under Kim Barnes Arico (2021-22) and North Carolina (2019-21). The Athletic's most recent Bracket Watch has Harvard in a play-in game for a No. 11 seed. If the Crimson receive a bid, it would be the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2007.
If the Badgers hope to stay in the Midwest with their mid-major acquisition, South Dakota State coach Aaron Johnston, whose Jackrabbits' Summit League win means his program will advance to the NCAA Tournament for the 13th time, has a roster built entirely out of the Midwest and would be a smart choice.
Out: Robin Pingeton (2010-25 at Missouri)
2024-25 record: 14-17 (3-13 SEC), first-round loss in SEC tournament
Salary: $650,000
The Tigers haven't made it out of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament since 2001. Pingeton was hired in 2010, ahead of the program's move into the SEC (in 2012), and Mizzou experienced success in the late 2010s — finishing the season ranked in the AP poll in 2018 and 2019 — but it hasn't been a team that contends for much in a deep (and deepening) SEC. Seems like Mizzou is out to change that narrative with this hire, and it'll have a chance to because this job is seen by most in the business as the best opening right now. Expect the Tigers to cast a wide net.
I'm hearing that phone interviews could start early this week, and that Kansas State coach Jeff Mittie is a big target. The Missouri native has been at KSU since 2014 and is familiar with former Big 12 opponents Texas and Oklahoma. Mittie signed a five-year extension through 2028-29 last June, making him a pretty pricey target, too, but it sounds like Missouri is willing to pay.
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Grand Canyon coach Molly Miller, also a Missouri native, could be a more affordable option for the Tigers. She reportedly makes $250,000 a season, and the jump to a power conference would be appealing. Given the quick success of Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell who, like Miller, spent most of her coaching career in Division II, Missouri might hand the reins over to Miller without qualms about her lack of power conference experience. Two other sitting power conference coaches who could be in the mix are Cal's Charmin Smith (2024 salary: $530,400) and Oklahoma State's Jacie Hoyt ($650,000) — both are having the best years of their careers.
I've also heard former Tennessee coach Kellie Harper and Missouri State's Beth Cunningham in the mix. Harper has spent the last year as an analyst for the SEC Network, but it wouldn't be out of the question to see her back on a sideline in 2025-26 or the next few seasons if she felt like the opportunity was right. Cunningham spent nine seasons as VCU's head coach and also has assistant experience at VCU, Notre Dame and Duke. She has been at Missouri State since 2022.
Out: Johnnie Harris (2021-25 at Auburn)
2024-25 record: 12-17 (3-13 SEC), first-round loss in SEC tournament
Salary: $568,750
The big name being thrown out with the Auburn search has been Mississippi State coach Sam Purcell, and with good reason — he's an Auburn alum, has established SEC knowledge and current Auburn athletic director John Cohen was the AD who hired him at Mississippi State in 2022. However, I'm hearing that the program might be focused on bringing in a female coach.
If that's the case, there are several who make a lot of sense. If Auburn prefers a sitting head coach (which seems the case), Miller is a strong choice. She has a fantastic basketball mind, and luring a mid-major coach to a power conference program, even if it has not gotten out of the first weekend of the tournament since 1996, isn't rocket science. Though Harper is not a sitting head coach, she could also be a good fit. Her first coaching job was as an assistant on Joe Ciampi's Auburn staff (for one season) before moving on to Wes Moore's staff at Chattanooga before holding a slew of head coaching jobs.
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Out: Natasha Adair (2022-25 at ASU)
2024-25 record: 10-21 (3-15 Big 12), first-round loss in Big 12 tournament
Salary: $650,000
The big question here is whether Miller would want to leave Grand Canyon for Arizona State. And that's not a given. She's a top candidate in this cycle, but if she opts to stay at GCU, that doesn't hurt her stock for next year's crop of openings (which could be stronger with programs raising the stakes in the era of revenue sharing and women's basketball tournament units).
The Sun Devils could also reach into the WNBA ranks. Nikki Blue, who spent 15 seasons as a college assistant (including three at Arizona State), has been an assistant in the WNBA — for the Mercury and now Sparks — since 2022. Recently retired Briann January, who played at ASU, was an assistant for one season under former ASU coach Charlier Turner Thorne before joining the Connecticut Sun staff and the G League's Motor City Cruise.
Out: Amber Whiting
2024-25 record: 13-16 (4-14 Big 12), first-round loss in Big 12 tournament
Salary: Unknown, private school
When Jeff Judkins retired in 2022, the program made it clear that it intended to hire someone from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (which contributed to hiring Whiting, who had no college coaching experience). It's not a requirement for BYU employment, but it has certainly been a preference in the past.
Complicating matters, BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe plans to retire at the end of this academic year, meaning that any coach who signs with BYU will be working for a boss who didn't actually hire them, which isn't often appealing.
Given that, the pool is … sparse.
BYU assistant Lee Cummard, who has spent his entire coaching career at BYU as an assistant for both the men and the women, is an alum and LDS member. Utah assistant Morgan Bailey is a BYU alum who has spent time as an assistant on both BYU and Utah Valley's staffs. Utah Valley head coach Dan Nielsen is also a BYU alum. The Wolverines made the NCAA Tournament in 2021.
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Out: Ronald Hughey (2014-25 at Houston)
2024-25 record: 5-24 (1-17 Big 12), first-round loss in Big 12 tournament
Salary: $330,000
It's not a great job opening and, even with the success of the men's program, it's hard to know how much Houston wants to invest in its women's basketball program. Of the open jobs now, this is the lowest on the list for top candidates and it wouldn't be surprising to see the Cougars chase a sitting head coach outside of the power conferences or a top assistant to help move the program from the bottom of the Big 12 to a middling program.
Texas' ties will be huge in this search since the program knows that top recruits aren't going to automatically consider the Cougars with Texas, Baylor, TCU, Texas A&M and even Texas Tech in the state. Identifying those second-tier players who can compete at the power conference level or having established recruiting relationships from a power conference program so you can pull in transfer portal players (à la Mark Campbell at TCU) will be necessary.
UTSA coach Karen Aston, who has spent the majority of her 31-year career in the state of Texas, is a likely target. Per OpenPayrolls, she made just more than $200,000 last year so Houston wouldn't need to match her previous Texas salaries ($700,000-plus) to have an edge.
Texas associate head coach Elena Lovato has spent most of the last decade on Vic Schaefer's staffs at Texas and Mississippi State, but she has had head coaching stints at lower-level programs.
If Houston opts to go outside the box for a coach who doesn't have Texas ties, they might consider Southeastern Louisiana's Ayla Guzzardo. The Louisiana native has been the head coach of the Lady Lions since 2017, and she led the program to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2023. They have the top seed in the Southland Conference, and if they can hold their regular season results through the tournament, they could punch their ticket to the Big Dance again this year.
(Photos of Kellie Harper and Jeff Mittie: Lance King and David Purdy / Getty Images)