How SMU’s ACC move upended men’s hoops in just three

  • Jeff Borzello, ESPN Staff WriterAug 26, 2024, 09:00 AM ET

    Close

    • Basketball recruiting insider.
    • Joined ESPN in 2014.
    • Graduate of University of Delaware.

If you want to bury men’s college basketball news, the first day of the NCAA tournament is a pretty good day to do it.

So when the SMU Mustangs fired coach Rob Lanier after just two seasons — fresh off a 20-win campaign — the move may have raised some eyebrows in the industry, but it was quickly overwhelmed by 16 games of madness.

Within three weeks, however, it was clear that one move made an unquestionably bigger impact than anything that happened on the court that day.

SMU, a school that hasn’t made a Sweet 16 since man first walked on the moon, set off a seismic shift felt at every level of the sport.

Emboldened by their pending move to the ACC — announced a year earlier — the Mustangs aimed high for Lanier’s replacement, and landed the USC Trojans’ Andy Enfield. The Trojans in turn hired Eric Musselman, who had taken the Arkansas Razorbacks to consecutive Elite Eights in 2021 and 2022.

All this set up the biggest move of them all: The Razorbacks, and their wealthy boosters, convinced John Calipari to leave the Kentucky Wildcats after 15 years, one national championship and five Final Fours (although none since 2015).

Editor’s Picks

2 Related

“As things unfolded and people started to point to SMU as starting that particular carousel, it was interesting,” SMU athletic director Rick Hart said. “It’s not like I relish it. But it was interesting to see the ripple effects our hire had across the college basketball landscape.”

“As a fan, it’s fascinating,” Enfield added. “To get Calipari out of Kentucky after 15 years? It’s fascinating.”

This is the story of how conference realignment, big donor money and one mega March Madness upset changed the face of men’s college basketball over three weeks this spring.

SMU: Where it all started

SMU’s move to the ACC was the most innocuous of the major realignment changes that became official this summer: Texas and Oklahoma’s move from the Big 12 to the SEC; the collapse of the Pac-12; the Big Ten’s additions of USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington; the Big 12 getting Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah; Stanford and Cal joining the Mustangs in going to the ACC. Comparatively, SMU — the only non-Power 5 program to jump up a level — didn’t quite stand out.

With its resources, facilities and location, the school has the infrastructure of a big-time athletics program — but it was still recovering from the effects of the “death penalty” given to the football program by the NCAA in 1987, and had been something of a nomad since the Southwest Conference dissolved in 1996. The Mustangs joined the WAC for eight years, then Conference USA for seven years and had been part of the American Athletic Conference for the past decade. But they were looking for a long-term home.

On the surface, a marriage between SMU and the ACC appeared as the league’s secondary quick-pivot response to the other power conferences expanding and the Pac-12’s ensuing demise.

Hart initiated the conversation with ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, laying out why the Mustangs were a good fit for the league despite being outside its traditional East Coast footprint. At the time, the conference was also in talks with Cal and Stanford, which would expand its territory to the Bay Area. Adding the Dallas market was no longer a non-starter.

“They have had prior success in all sports,” Phillips said. “It’s not a program where you’re wondering if they could compete at a high level. They’ve done that. Then you really start to dig in about assets and resources. The recruiting base is tremendous. The footprint in Dallas, Fort Worth. … Sometimes, you just need a chance. That’s what I got from them.”

It didn’t take long for the university to prove its financial worth to the ACC: SMU raised $100 million in one week after announcing its move to the conference in September 2023.

“You can’t replicate that level of enthusiasm and investment,” Hart said. “It’s still hard to believe. This whole thing has been filled with pinch-myself moments.”

The school finally had some momentum. Last season, SMU football went unbeaten in AAC play and won the league championship game against a ranked Tulane team. Overall, the Mustangs had a program-record eight conference championship teams.

Rob Lanier’s men’s basketball program wasn’t far off the pace. After pummeling Memphis 106-79 on Feb. 18, the Mustangs were 19-7 overall and 10-3 in the AAC, just two games back of first-place South Florida.

But they would win just one game the rest of the season, finishing 20-11. It was a 10-win improvement on Lanier’s first season at the helm, but less than 24 hours after an NIT loss to Indiana State, he was fired on the first day of the 2024 NCAA tournament.

In his official statement about the firing, Hart cited the school’s investment in basketball, its NIL opportunities and its move to the ACC. He didn’t hide why he thought the program should be competing with the best.

“Decisions like that are pretty nuanced. In no way should that be viewed as an indictment on [Lanier’s] ability to coach at that level. But we lost a lot of momentum,” Hart told ESPN in July. “Late into the season, there was a lot of enthusiasm about making that transition [to the ACC] with that staff. But when you lose momentum and you’re going into a moment like this — it’s a factor in that way. You don’t want to go in there and stumble your way in. We feel we need to charge into the ACC with some momentum and energy in the community.”

Several high-profile names — Eric Musselman, Will Wade, Steve Lutz, Chris Jans — began buzzing through the rumor mill in the hours after the job opened.

But Hart had one target at the top of his list: USC’s Andy Enfield.

“We were only going to [fire Lanier] if we felt we could go get someone with the pedigree, the proven track record of success like Andy,” Hart said. “He’s done it, he’s done it consistently. At a school like SMU. At a level like the ACC. It’s not anything you have to project. … There’s no reason to believe he won’t do it here.”

It wasn’t going to be easy pulling Enfield out of Los Angeles, though. He had built the Trojans’ program into one of the most consistent in the Pac-12. USC struggled through an injury-riddled campaign in 2023-24 but had won 95 games the previous four years and even made it to the Elite Eight in 2021. Enfield signed several five-star recruits along the way, including the No. 1 prospect in the 2023 class, Isaiah Collier. And in 2022 he had agreed to a contract extension through the 2027-28 season.

Would Enfield really leave the Big Ten-bound Trojans for SMU?

play

1:04

The stats behind SMU hiring Andy Enfield

Take a look at some key numbers behind SMU hiring former USC men’s basketball coach Andy Enfield.

Hart flew out to Los Angeles to make his pitch to Enfield and his wife, Amanda. Before meeting with them, SMU brass wasn’t sure it could get Enfield. After dinner at Enfield’s home? “It felt real,” Hart said.

The deal would take several days to finalize, but Enfield was on board.

“There was a uniqueness about the situation going to the ACC, the opportunity to help lead a team into a power conference,” Enfield said. “You could just feel the excitement and passion and support.”

Enfield has also said he wouldn’t have made the move if the Mustangs were still in the AAC.

“I was not going to leave a program we had just built, to leave the power level and go to another level,” he said. “We saw it as an opportunity to be the first coaching staff — and recruit the first players — to go into the ACC in the history of the school.”

“It was an exclamation point on our move to the ACC,” Hart added. “A tangible, visible moment that said, things are different now. SMU is going to be able to operate at a different level and compete with anybody in the country.”

USC: The job that brought Musselman home

Despite building a successful basketball culture at Arkansas, Eric Musselman jumped at the chance to move back to the West coast — where he’d grown up — and take the USC job. Jevone Moore/Icon Sportswire

Eric Musselman had frequently been linked to other jobs since he led Arkansas to a pair of Elite Eights and a Sweet 16.

USC was different. The Trojans job offered a chance for Musselman and his family to return to the West Coast — he’d grown up in San Diego, and his wife, Danyelle, worked for several years in Los Angeles as a sports reporter and anchor.

When word got out about Enfield going to SMU, Musselman’s interest was piqued.

“It was definitely a job that I wanted and then it was definitely a job that our family wanted,” he said. “This is one that aligned with all of us.”

His interest also didn’t come as a surprise to Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek.

Top stories of the week from

Get exclusive access to thousands of premium articles a year from top writers.
• NFL teams with best coaching staffs? »
• 12-team playoff! CFB bowl projections »
• What the heck are Chelsea doing?! »
More ESPN+ content »

“I knew Eric would have an interest in that,” Yurachek said. “He had been very transparent with me about his desire to get back to a West Coast school if he ever had that opportunity.”

USC athletic director Jennifer Cohen did conduct a search, speaking to multiple candidates either directly or through intermediaries. But Musselman quickly became the top target.

The two sides spoke via Zoom — with Danyelle joining the call — and then Cohen flew out to Fayetteville to close the deal the Thursday before the Final Four.

“The more research that we as a family did, mainly on Jen, was so positive,” Musselman said. “I reached out to all kinds of people in different sports and just got incredible feedback. Her vision aligned with our vision. … Growing up in San Diego, the USC brand is so strong. I knew the academic piece, and then [we’re] in the L.A. market.”

It took just three days, but the Musselmans decided they were going home to Southern California.

Arkansas: Luring away a legend

play

1:09

John Calipari agrees to five-year deal with Arkansas

John Calipari is finalizing a five-year deal to leave Kentucky and become the next men’s basketball coach at Arkansas.

On the Sunday night before the national championship game, the news broke: John Calipari was finalizing a deal to become the next coach at Arkansas.

After a decade and a half at Kentucky, complete with a national championship, four Final Four appearances and countless No. 1 recruiting classes, the biggest name in college basketball was leaving the biggest job in college basketball.

Calipari wasn’t on the radar for the Razorbacks … at first. John Tyson, the chairman of Tyson Foods and a billionaire Arkansas booster who has known Calipari since his days at Memphis, connected him with Yurachek, who happened to be in Phoenix for meetings during the Final Four.

Yurachek and Calipari briefly spoke on the phone that Thursday, and agreed to meet the next day. During that meeting, Yurachek asked Calipari about a number of candidates — and then asked Calipari whether he would be interested.

“Talking to him in the hotel room, he still had a great passion to coach basketball,” Yurachek said. “I could sense his passion to have a fresh start somewhere else.”

Calipari had felt the pressure from the Kentucky fan base after the Wildcats’ first-round upset loss to Oakland two weeks earlier. Kentucky hadn’t advanced past the first weekend of the NCAA tournament since 2019 — losing to Saint Peter’s in the first round in 2022 and Kansas State in the round of 32 in 2023. It hadn’t seen the Final Four since 2015, despite consistently attracting top talent year after year. But leaving the biggest job in college basketball and a lifetime contract? And for a conference rival?

play

1:50

Farnham: Calipari’s ‘fresh start’ benefits both Arkansas and Kentucky

Sean Farnham reacts to the news of John Calipari leaving Kentucky to become the head coach at Arkansas.

Calipari agreed to take some time to think about it. And Yurachek left the meeting thinking he had a shot.

“I could sense he had a sincere interest at the end of that meeting,” Yurachek said. “He doesn’t do many things for two and a half hours. I went over my philosophy, the fan base, facilities, budgets, even what a potential package could look like for him. I thought I had a chance. I didn’t know how good a chance, honestly. But he was my target.”

Kelvin Sampson, who worked with Yurachek at Houston from 2015 to 2017, called his former boss. Calipari had called Sampson.

“I don’t know what you said to him,” Yurachek said Sampson told him. “But I think you’ve really got a shot at luring him to Arkansas.”

As the Razorbacks waited for Calipari to make a final decision, reports about the search ran rampant. Chris Beard was the rumored favorite; he returned to Ole Miss. Kansas State’s Jerome Tang was briefly mentioned as a candidate. On the Sunday night Calipari ultimately took the job, Mississippi State’s Chris Jans began circulating as a possibility.

Calipari, meanwhile, mulled the offer over the weekend. At his introductory news conference a week later, he told a story about how he ultimately landed on leaving for Fayetteville. He’d spoken with a priest while in Phoenix about the decision he had to make.

play

0:55

Calipari introduced at Arkansas, jokes about building roster from scratch

John Calipari speaks to the Razorback faithful after being introduced as the new head coach of the Arkansas men’s basketball team.

“He told me, ‘Go for an hour walk. Have in your mind, you’re the Arkansas coach. And then on the way back, that you’re the Kentucky coach. You’ll see what moves your heart and what you want to do,'” Calipari said. “And I did that. And I’ll be honest. When I thought about coming here and building this program and making it something special, it got me excited.”

Nobody saw it coming.

The news wasn’t supposed to be announced until after the national championship game, so the Sunday night news break — before everything was signed — concerned Yurachek. But he received a signed contract as the title game tipped Monday night.

“There’s an air of excitement around our state like I haven’t seen in a few years,” Yurachek told ESPN. “This hiring has really reinvigorated our fan base. … They carry their heads up high and chests out because someone of the caliber of Coach Cal has come to the University of Arkansas and to our state. It’s neat and touching to see how proud it’s made people from this state.”

And now, arguably the biggest job in the sport was on the clock.

Kentucky: From player to champion to coach

play

1:07

The numbers behind Mark Pope’s fit with Kentucky

Check out the key numbers and storylines behind Kentucky’s pursuit of BYU coach Mark Pope.

Mark Pope happened to be with Calipari while his predecessor was pondering his future. On the Saturday morning of Final Four weekend, Pope — who played at Kentucky from 1994 to ’96 and won a national championship — was with Calipari and Tubby Smith at a hotel. He even took a picture to commemorate the occasion.

“I’ll cherish that picture forever,” Pope said.

“Thirty-two hours later, news breaks that Cal is leaving.”

As expected, Kentucky took some big swings early in its search. Former Villanova coach Jay Wright publicly denied interest, while Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan distanced himself from the job. Alabama’s Nate Oats released a statement saying he was staying in Tuscaloosa, while UConn’s Dan Hurley declined interest before the job even opened and then again when Kentucky reached out. Shaka Smart said he was comfortable at Marquette and not looking to move.

Baylor’s Scott Drew was the first true candidate. Drew had listened to Louisville’s offer during its search in March, but Kentucky’s pursuit was more serious. It was also more realistic: Drew has a close relationship with Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart from their time in the 2021 NCAA tournament bubble.

KWTX, a central Texas television station, filmed members of Drew’s family getting off a private plane with ties to a Kentucky donor that flew back from Lexington on Wednesday, April 10. The momentum seemed headed in the direction of Drew.

“Like everyone else in the world, for 48 hours, we were sure that Scott was taking the job,” Pope said. “That Wednesday night, it was just me and my youngest daughter. We had been talking, maybe this Kentucky thing is going to roll around. That night, we were like, yep it’s dead.”

Then came Thursday morning, when Drew released a statement turning down Kentucky and returning to Waco.

“I got a text,” Pope said. “Oh, this is not dead. I was working out one of my players. At 8:07 a.m., my phone was ringing. Then it was on.”

Pope had actually been in contact with Kentucky, indirectly, since the Monday morning after the Calipari news broke. There was some light contact via intermediaries throughout the week, but it ramped up dramatically after Drew said no.

Hours after Drew made his statement, Pope would be offered the head-coaching job at his alma mater.

While Pope had just guided the BYU Cougars to a 6-seed in the NCAA tournament and was returning a roster that would likely be ranked in the preseason Top 25, there wasn’t much hesitation to say yes.

“It’s the best job in all of college basketball,” he said. “I don’t know if that’s just me or that’s the whole world, but it’s got the greatest tradition, fan base, expectations, pressure, visibility. It’s unbelievable that we get to do this.”

Rob Lanier’s dismissal from SMU came as the Mustangs were preparing to move to the ACC — and despite his pulling off a 20-win season. Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

The true impact of this one slice of the 2024 coaching carousel won’t be known for years.

“When I think about the ripple effect, there are literally dozens of things that have happened over the last few years that we point our fingers at, the most unique, odd coincidences,” Pope said. “It’s stunning when you have a chance to look back at all the little pieces. In just our circumstance, there are a thousand things that had to go exactly right at exactly the right time.”

Kevin Young replaced Pope at BYU. But he was in the mix for the Brooklyn Nets vacancy; what if he didn’t make the jump back to college?

The Cougars have since dramatically increased their NIL operation and are arguably the front-runners for A.J. Dybantsa, the No. 1 prospect in high school basketball who just transferred to Utah Prep for his final year of high school. A year from now, there could be a world in which we’re talking about how Scott Drew turning down Kentucky resulted in BYU getting a potential No. 1 NBA draft pick.

And then there’s Rob Lanier, who was unceremoniously let go by SMU on the first Thursday of the tournament. Even he landed on his feet as the head coach of Rice, just days later. If he turns the Owls around, we could be rehashing this entire storyline not too far down the line.

In a sport where player movement and coach movement are so interconnected, the chain reaction of one decision is never-ending.

“That’s college athletics in 2024,” Phillips said with a laugh. “And I don’t think that’s going to change much as we go into the future.”

Tags:

Previous Article
Next Article

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Recent Comments

No comments to show.