After NCAA tournament success, some small-school coaches jumped to larger programs. We track how those Cinderella coaches have fared.
Behind every Cinderella upset at the NCAA tournament is a coach — like UMBC’s Ryan Odom — whose name starts to gain traction on the coaching carousel.
But not all Cinderella coaches find success at larger schools in more pressure-packed jobs.
As UMBC seeks to give Odom a raise and sign him to a long-term extension, according to an ESPN report, here’s a look at some of the coaches since 2000 who have coached a team seeded No. 12 or higher to an NCAA tournament win and subsequently landed a new coaching job, often at the Power Five level.
In his first and only season at Arkansas-Little Rock in 2015-16, Beard led the Trojans to a 30-5 record and a double-overtime upset of fifth-seeded Purdue in the first round. He was promptly hired to replace Tubby Smith at Texas Tech, where he’s now in his second season and has the Red Raiders in the Sweet 16. (They’ll play Purdue on Friday.)
Record since: 44-23 (.657) at Texas Tech
Davis spent 16 seasons as the head coach of the Blue Raiders and led them to a pair of NCAA tournament upsets: A massive 2016 win over Michigan State, as a No. 15 seed, and a victory over Minnesota in a No. 12-No. 5 matchup last year. Each time, he chose to remain at Middle Tennessee the following season. That changed this year, when he gave in to the pull of the Power Five and accepted the head-coaching job at Ole Miss.
Record since: TBD at Ole Miss
Perhaps no coach has ridden NCAA tournament success to greater heights than Enfield, who coached 15th-seeded Florida Gulf Coast to the Sweet 16 in 2013. A few days later, he was hired by USC, where he’s made the NCAA tournament in two of the past three seasons.
Record since: 94-75 (.556) at USC
MORE: Examining the six most surprising Sweet 16 teams
MORE: Kansas State knocks out No. 16 seed UMBC, ending Cinderella run
MORE: NCAA tournament: Big 12, ACC send four teams to Sweet 16
John Groce, Ohio
Groce stuck around after the 14th-seeded Bobcats dismantled Georgetown in the opening round of the 2010 NCAA tournament. But when they pulled off a similar upset over Michigan two years later, this time as a No. 13 seed, he bolted for Illinois, where he spent five seasons before being fired and subsequently hired at Akron.
Record since: 95-75 (.559) at Illinois; 14-18 (.438) at Akron
As a No. 14 seed in the 2015 NCAA tournament, the Blazers squeaked past Iowa State in the first round. After they won the regular-season Conference USA title the following year, Haase became a hot name and was ultimately hired at Stanford prior to the 2017-16 season.
Record since: 33-32 (.508) at Stanford
Like Haase, Kennedy’s NCAA tournament upset didn’t lead to a job right away. The Racers slipped past No. 4 seed Vanderbilt in the 2010 NCAA tournament and won the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title the following season, with Kennedy still at the helm, before Texas A&M came calling. The seventh-seeded Aggies will face Michigan in the Sweet 16 on Thursday.
Record since: 137-97 (.585) at Texas A&M
Krystkowiak is the only coach on this list who parlayed an NCAA tournament upset into an NBA job. After his Grizzlies knocked off No. 5 seed Nevada in the 2006 NCAA tournament, Krystkowiak took a job with the Milwaukee Bucks, who eventually promoted him to head coach. In 2011, he returned to the collegiate ranks as the head coach at Utah, where he’s made two NCAA tournament appearances in seven seasons.
Record since: 31-69 (.310) at Milwaukee Bucks; 135-96 (.584) at Utah
After stops at Lehigh and North Carolina-Greensboro, McCaffery led Siena to three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances from 2008 to 2010, including a 21-point first-round upset of No. 4 Vanderbilt in 2008. He was hired at Iowa in 2010 and last led the Hawkeyes to the NCAA tournament in 2016.
Record since: 151-120 (.557) at Iowa
It’s easy to forget that Pearl, who has spent a decade coaching in the SEC, got his start in the Horizon League. He led Milwaukee to the Sweet 16 in 2005 before being hired at Tennessee, where he was fired in 2011 in the wake of several NCAA violations and given a three-year show-cause penalty. Pearl later resurfaced at Auburn and returned to the NCAA tournament as the Tigers‘ coach this year.
Record since: 145-61 (.704) at Tennessee; 70-62 (.530) at Auburn
Smart’s Rams weren’t exactly an unknown commodity when they knocked off Wichita State as a No. 12 seed in 2012; the previous season, as a No. 11 seed, they had made a run to the Final Four. But the second year of tournament success continued to fuel Smart’s name in coaching circles. Nevertheless, he stayed at VCU for three more years and guided them to three more NCAA tournament appearances before leaving for Texas in 2015.
Record since: 50-50 (.500) at Texas
Tyndall’s win over No. 4 seed Louisville in the 2011 tournament helped propel him to head-coaching jobs at Southern Miss and, eventually, Tennessee. But his success was short-lived, as a series of significant NCAA violations led to his firing at Tennessee in 2015 and a 10-year show-cause penalty, one of the most severe individual reprimands ever handed down by the NCAA.
Record since: 56-17 (.767) at Southern Miss; 16-16 (.500) at Tennessee
After three seasons at Stephen F. Austin — and two first-round wins in the NCAA tournament — Underwood hopped to Oklahoma State for one season in 2016-17, then to Illinois this year. ( The Oklahoman reported that Underwood felt the Cowboys didn’t value basketball as much as they should, and his relationship with Oklahoma State’s athletic director had soured.) The Fighting Illini finished below .500 in Underwood’s first season at the helm.
Record since: 20-13 (.606) at Oklahoma State; 14-18 (.438) at Illinoi s
Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad .
