Big Ten MBB Coaches On The Hot Seat?

The Big Ten replaced some coaches whose seats were burning in 2024-25, and there were not many coaches who were on the hot seat last season, save Indiana’s Mike Woodson. He’s gone, and Darian DeVries is the new head coach for the Hoosiers.

Do we have anyone with warm seats this coming season?

Washington

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The Huskies were not happy with the performance of Mike Hopkins in his seven seasons in Seattle, so they brought in Danny Sprinkle last season.

Sprinkle promptly guided Washington to 18th place in the Big Ten. He’s not on the hot seat, but his seat is already warm and the Huskies need to significantly improve this season.

Penn State

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Mike Rhoades is entering his third season as the head coach of the Nittany Lions. PSU hasn’t been particularly good for a long time, but if Rhoades can’t do some rising from the bottom of the Big Ten barrel, he may very well have a warm seat at season’s end.

Iowa

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On the plus side, Fran McCaffery is the longest-tenured and winningest coach in Iowa basketball history. On the negative side, even though the Hawkeyes have seen postseason play in 12 of his 15 seasons, they have never gone past the 2nd Round.

McCaffery is a coach that may not be keeping up with the changing college basketball landscape, and especially the use of the transfer portal. His seat may be warm. He may also be edging toward retirement. This season should be telling.

Ohio State

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Head coach Jake Diebler is heading into his fourth season leading the Buckeyes. He has failed to take them into the NCAA tournament at all as a head coach. This is not what OSU expects, and they haven’t had this kind of postseason drought in 30 years. Diebler’s seat is very warm and the Buckeyes have to improve if he wants to continue being the head coach for OSU.