BasketballLet's Speculate!SEC

Let’s Speculate! Potential Georgia head basketball coach candidates

Welcome to Let’s Speculate! on Coaches Database, where we go through programs that are or may soon be looking for a new head coach and speculate who they may hire next.

Today’s program is Georgia, coached by Tom Crean for the last 4 seasons (reportedly fired in March).

  • Dennis Gates – Cleveland State head coach
    • The buzziest name on last year’s carousel was Gates, who instead signed an extension at Cleveland State and proceeded to win the Horizon League for a second-straight year. Prior to his 2019 hiring at CSU, the now 42-year-old was an assistant for eight seasons at Florida State.
  • Matt McMahon – Murray State head coach
    • McMahon has been at the helm at Murray State since 2015 and recently completed a perfect OVC season. He’s won four Ohio Valley titles, has been to three (technically four) NCAA Tournaments and recruited/coached Ja Morant. It’s only a matter of time before McMahon joins the list of former Murray State head coaches to land bigger jobs.
  • Andy Kennedy – UAB head coach
    • The 2007 SEC Coach of the Year had a good run at Ole Miss despite his 2018 resignation, taking Rebels to the NCAA Tournament twice and the NIT six times. Now at alma mater UAB, Kennedy is 46-14 overall and headed into the C-USA Tournament with a real shot at getting back to the Big Dance.
  • Ray Harper – Jacksonville State head coach
  • Rob Lanier – Georgia State head coach
    • An emerging star located right in the Peach State, Lanier is taking Georgia State dancing this year, his third at the helm. Originally from New York, Lanier’s coaching career started off on the East Coast but he has been moving further South over the last two decades with stints at Virginia, Florida, Texas and Tennessee.
  • Jonas Hayes – Xavier associate head coach
    • Now in his fourth year at Xavier, Hayes is an Atlanta-native who played four years at Georgia and spent an additional seven seasons on the coaching staff there. He lacks the head coaching experience that UGA might be looking for, but it won’t be long before some one hires Hayes away and this may be the perfect opportunity for both he and his alma mater.
  • Steve Prohm – former Iowa State head coach
    • Iowa State may not have been the best fit, but Prohm did take the Cyclones to the NCAA Tournament twice (including one Sweet Sixteen) before the 2-22 season that got him fired in 2021. Before ISU, Prohm was yet another link in the continuing chain of success at Murray State. He won four Ohio Valley titles in four years, going to one NCAA, one NIT and one CIT (winning the latter).