I think our two biggest sports have taken considerable steps backwards and are not trending the right way. She gave extensions to coaches who didn’t earn them. She was going to keep Stephanie White (in fact she was the one who hired her) until there were basically going to be no players left to play. Of the big 4 sports under her tenure, only one has made postseason play (no the NIT does not count). And it doesn’t appear any seats are even Luke warm at this point. Stack is coaching like he’s got a job for life. Easiest $$ he’s ever been given.

So what does she do well? She doesn’t seem to be a great fundraiser. She gets snippy in pressers when she’s asked for specific details. It took VU basically 2 years from the announcement of Vandy United to put shovels in the ground.

At what point do all of McGugin’s failures fall on her shoulders? She wasn’t even given an interview when DW retired, and literally 12 months later when MT resigned, she was the only candidate considered for the job. Tell me how any of this makes sense.

VUWBB fans, why are we underdogs tonight? And for anyone that’s seen both teams play, why would you bet on?

I’ll be putting a couple hundred on Vandy regardless but was curious why we were underdogs to an Ivy League school that’s lost to our only common opponents?

Not who do you think the admin but who would you choose amongst realistic options

Talked to a source today and I’m comfortable in saying a search is underway.

The committee has been formed.

An offer has not been made.

The search is focused on coaches with Power 5 head coach. Guys who could fit: Kyle Smith (Washington State), Chris Mack (unemployed), Jerome Tang (Kansas State), Dusty May (may get the Louisville job).

Tang would be super interesting and a terrific hire. I think he's wanted out of Kansas State since the school kicked Naquan Tomlin off the team.

If they go Non-Power 5, Josh Schertz would be in play. But I don't think that's their aim.

Also told by another source: Renaissance hired a week before the SEC tournament and the call to fire Stack was Diermeier’s call.

Some folks in Kentucky think Mack is getting the job and bringing a kid or two with him as transfers.

@Chris Lee It is already Wednesday morning and past 8 am here in eastern time zone. I’ve been up for almost 2 hours. I need my coaching search fix. How do you expect me to get through the day otherwise?

😉😉😉

Holy cow- looks like CSU is beating UVA up pretty badly. He looks like he has something working!

If Vandy wants to win big this is your coach.

Good morning! An industry source gave me these names as ones he's heard are in play, and in no particular order:

- Niko Medved, Colorado State (CSU will be going to the NCAAs so that would could take some time)
- Josh Schertz, Indiana State (heard this one pre-search; ISU will be a bubble team)
- Pat Kelsey, Charleston (will also be going to the NCAAs)
- Kyle Smith, Washington State (will be going to the NCAAs; also a possibility at Stanford)
- Chris Mack, currently unemployed (note I was given was "on the list but has baggage and might be a bit outspoken for Vanderbilt. My note: Not sure his politics align with the school's, either.)

Bucky McMillan (Samford--also going to the NCAAs) is said to be "on the list but not in the target tier."

My opinion: That's a pretty strong list and looks like a legit search should look if that's where they go.

Looks like it's Candice's search and Renaissance is the firm they are using.

I don't *know* who's on the committee but names I got to watch for were Candice, Trace Wilgus, Ena Patel and an academic person I'd never heard of whose name escapes me at the moment.

Will add more as I get things.

Presented by Sutherland & Belk.

Just finished. What a complete joke. The amount if times the victim card was pulled in this interview is crazy lol. She tried to say she was hired because of her qualifications and not something else. Doesn’t matter if you’re black, white, purple, green, orange. All us fans want is the most qualified candidate in all positions

Login to view embedded media

This is the official game thread, I think Billy or Joey or both will be there.

Wow, that means this was year 1 of a 7 year deal, right?

That has to be the most tone deaf contract I’ve ever heard about. A 30 million dollar deal was given to a man that 75% of the fanbase hated.

Just because Robbie is reporting it doesn’t mean it’s 100% true but…

Any Belmont followers in the crowd? Wondering how good this Belmont baseball team may be tonight?

I don't think there will be anything earth-shattering but I am picking up on a thing or two of interest. Waiting for a little more info and then I'll drop what I have.

I don't have much to report today, and some of the details I do have, I need to keep to myself for a bit. (They aren't earth-shattering, but do tell me some things about the search.)

An industry source told me today not to sleep on FAU's Dusty May. While I would file this in the "highly unlikely" category, there's a domino effect that goes something like this:
- May knows he needs to strike while the iron is hot after two great years at FAU.
- The Ohio State job just got filled with Jake Diebler.
- I'm not sure where May stands with Louisville but there is some talk that Kansas State's Jerome Tang might end up there.
- Michigan is open, but that's got some academic restrictions and NIL issues, so I don't know what perception is there.
- West Virginia vacancy could go to James Madison's Mark Byington.
- So at that point, there's not much left. If UCF opens, May could go there as he's spent a lot of time in Florida.

So could Vanderbilt and Dusty May be looking to dance if those others fill up? I'd think it's debatably the best job on the board at that point, though if some unexpected domino fell--an unhappy Mick Cronin leaving UCLA, Michigan State's Tom Izzo retiring--that would n longer be true.

Just something to watch.

- Asked an industry source who he felt Vandy's top three choices should be given the 8-9 options we've gone over here. His answer, in order: Indiana State's Josh Schertz (no hesitation there), Washington State's Kyle Smith and Charleston's Pat Kelsey.

- There's been a little chatter about South Florida's Amir Abdur-Rahim here and there but I'm skeptical. (I do think he'd be a terrific hire.)

- My guess on timeline is 1-2 weeks, I could be wrong. I don't get the sense anything is imminent unless it's a well-kept secret.

According to a press release:

"Vanderbilt will hold scrimmages off-campus on April 6 (Lipscomb Academy), April 13 (Ensworth), and April 20 (Ensworth), with no formal spring game due to ongoing Vandy United construction projects. These scrimmages will be closed to the public, with media invited to attend under traditional practice guidelines."

The 2026 class ranking has been expanded from 100 players to a full Rivals250: https://n.rivals.com/prospect_rankings/rivals250/2026

Ten highest debuts: https://n.rivals.com/news/rivals-rankings-week-ten-highest-ranked-debuts-in-the-rivals250

Adam Gorney goes position-by-position: https://n.rivals.com/news/tuesdays-with-gorney-new-2026-rivals250-released

on March 23. Offers piling up here

Me: Hi everyone. My name is FiveStar and I'm a coaching search addict.

Everyone: Hi FiveStar.

Me: This is my fourth coaching search as a paying member of the VandySports community on the $9.99 a day plan. I got sucked in five years ago when we fired Bryce Drew and I couldn't wait to hear who the savior of Vanderbilt basketball would be. It's been five long years and I'm still waiting.

Stackhouse was the most uninspiring hire possible, even among the rest of the mediocrity thrown out at that time. Russell Turner of UC-Irvine? Johnny Dawkins of UCF? John Thompson III of GTU (that's Georgetown Traveled University)? Lord, what a deflating list of candidates.

And yet after five long years of mostly unwatchable garbage courtesy of Coach Tee Time, somehow we are allegedly able to select from a far more impressive list of candidates! This clearly has absolutely nothing to do with the basketball program or the VU AD per sé. It's a likely consequence of the new world of SuperPowerConferences. So even if we only got here because of luck, we should take advantage of this moment and find a proven winner with the energy and the humility to adjust to these dynamic times and bring us back to glory.

I'm FiveStar, and I'm a coaching search addict.