UCLA announced on New Year’s Eve that head coach Steve Alford had been fired in a rare December coaching change in college basketball. Since the 1999-2000 season, there have only been four coaching changes in the final month of the calendar by a school that’s currently in the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12 or SEC.

We examined the recent history of midseason coaching changes in college basketball, when they typically occur, how teams fare under an interim head coach and the background of the next coach that’s hired.

While midseason coaching changes aren’t the norm, they might be more common than many fans realize. Alford’s firing marks the 18th midseason coaching change since the 2000 season in the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC, which have finished as the top six conferences in the country in some order in each of the last five seasons, according to kenpom.com.

That’s an average of almost one per season and Alford’s firing marks the fifth straight season in which at least one power conference school has experienced a coaching change midseason.

The 2007-08 season saw four power conference programs have a midseason coaching change, including three in February of 2008. The most common time for a midseason coaching change is January and February.

Including Alford, 10 of the 18 midseason coaching changes at a power conference program since 2000 have been from firings. Six coaches resigned and two retired – coincidentally from the same school.

Here’s the full list of midseason coaching changes for schools that compete in the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC.

Season	School	Coach	Type of Change	Date of Change	Record Prior to Change	Interim Coach	Interim Coach’s Record	Next Coach	Next Coach’s Background
2018-19	UCLA	Steve Alford	Fired	Dec. 31	7-6	Murry Bartow	N/A	N/A	N/A
2017-18	Ole Miss	Andy Kennedy	Resigned	Feb. 18	11-16	Tony Madlock	1-4	Kermit Davis	Former Middle Tennessee Head Coach
2016-17	Illinois	John Groce	Fired	March 11	18-14	Jamall Walker	2-1	Brad Underwood	Former Oklahoma State Head Coach
2015-16	Wisconsin	Bo Ryan	Retired	Dec. 15	7-5	Greg Gard	15-8	Greg Gard	Former Wisconsin Assistant/Associate Head Coach
2014-15	Alabama	Anthony Grant	Fired	March 15	18-14	John Brannen	1-1	Avery Johnson	Former NBA Head Coach/ESPN Analyst
2012-13	USC	Kevin O’Neill	Fired	Jan. 14	7-10	Bob Cantu	7-8	Andy Enfield	Former Florida Gulf Coast Head Coach
2009-2010	DePaul	Jerry Wainwright	Fired	Jan. 11	7-8	Tracy Webster	1-15	Oliver Purnell	Former Clemson Head Coach
2008-09	Alabama	Mark Gottfried	Resigned	Jan. 26	12-7	Philip Pearson	6-7	Anthony Grant	Former VCU Head Coach
2008-09	Georgia	Dennis Felton	Fired	Jan. 29	9-11	Pete Herrmann	3-9	Mark Fox	Former Nevada Head Coach
2007-08	Indiana	Kelvin Sampson	Resigned	Feb. 22	22-4	Dan Dakich	3-4	Tom Crean	Former Marquette Head Coach
2007-08	LSU	John Brady	Fired	Feb. 8	8-13	Butch Pierre	5-5	Trent Johnson	Former Stanford Head Coach
2007-08	Oregon State	Jay John	Fired	Jan. 20	6-12	Kevin Mouton	0-13	Craig Robinson	Former Brown Head Coach
2007-08	Texas Tech	Bob Knight	Resigned	Feb. 4	12-8	Pat Knight	4-7	Pat Knight	Former Texas Tech Assistant/Associate Head Coach
2006-07	Minnesota	Dan Monson	Resigned	Nov. 30	2-5	Jim Molinari	7-17	Tubby Smith	Former Kentucky Head Coach
2005-06	Missouri	Quin Snyder	Resigned	Feb. 10	10-11	Melvin Watkins	2-5	Mike Anderson	Former UAB Head Coach
2004-05	USC	Henry Bibby	Fired	Dec. 6	2-2	Jim Saia	10-15	Tim Floyd	Former NBA Head Coach
2003-04	St. John’s	Mike Jarvis	Fired	Dec. 19	2-4	Kevin Clark	4-17	Norman Roberts	Former Kansas Assistant Coach
2000-01	Wisconsin	Dick Bennett	Retired	Nov. 30	2-1	Brad Soderberg	16-10	Bo Ryan	Former Wisconsin-Milwaukee Head Coach

 

Prior to the latest midseason opening at UCLA, 15 of the 17 midseason coaching changes ultimately resulted in an outside hire, while Texas Tech and Wisconsin promoted from within as associate head coaches Pat Knight and Greg Gard were hired full-time after being the school’s interim head coach, respectively.

Eight of the external coaching hires resulted in the hiring of a coach who left a job at an objectively smaller program for a bigger program. Specifically, those moves include Middle Tennessee to Ole Miss (Kermit Davis), Florida Gulf Coast to USC (Andy Enfield) and UAB to Missouri (Mike Anderson).

Alabama and USC have both gone the route of hiring a former NBA head coach in Avery Johnson and Tim Floyd, respectively. That’s a direction that UCLA could potentially pursue with former Chicago Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg and former NBA coach Earl Watson among the list of potential candidates to take the Bruins job after this season.

In 2004, St. John’s hired Kansas assistant Norm Roberts, who was previously an assistant at Illinois and Tulsa. It was the only move of its kind among those listed above as St. John’s hired a former assistant coach as an external hire who wasn’t already part of the program’s staff. It’s worth noting, however, that Roberts is a native of Queens, New York, who was familiar with the basketball scene in New York City.

Of the 17 midseason coaching changes at a power conference program prior to Alford since 2000, only three teams made the NCAA Tournament in the season in which there was a coaching change.

Wisconsin is responsible for two of those tournament berths following the early season retirements of Dick Bennett and Bo Ryan.

The Badgers earned a No. 7 seed in the 2016 NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Sweet 16 but that’s the exception, not the rule, when it comes to postseason success immediately following a midseason coaching change.

For many schools, the bottom drops out after a head coach is fired or resigns. Oregon State went 0-13 under interim head coach Kevin Mouton in 2008, DePaul finished 1-15 under interim head coach Tracy Webster in 2010 and St. John’s lost 17 of its final 21 games after Mike Jarvis was fired during the 2003-04 season.

Murry Bartow, who was named UCLA’s interim head coach after Alford was fired, has experienced this firsthand as he went 1-16 as South Florida’s interim head coach in the 2017 season after Orlando Antigua was fired.

On average, it takes three to four seasons for schools to make their first NCAA Tournament appearance under their new head coach following a season in which the school had a midseason coaching change.

DePaul, Illinois and Ole Miss are still seeking their first tournament berth after undergoing a midseason coaching change this decade, but the other 14 midseason coaching changes have generally resulted in a hire that leads to a return to the tournament.

That should offer hope to UCLA fans and the school’s brass that the Bruins could be in the 2020 NCAA Tournament despite their 7-6 start this season, especially when considering they have had a top-10 recruiting class in each of the last two recruiting cycles.