Let’s Speculate! Potential LSU 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 LSU, coached by Will Wade for the last five seasons (fired with cause on March 12).

• Jerome Tang – Baylor associate head coach
  • Now in his 19th season at Baylor, Tang is ready to set out on his own and take over a program. There may not be any high-major openings in Texas this year but the opportunity to coach in the SEC would be worth leaving for. Tang has tons of NCAA experience despite never being a college head coach, and now brings with him a National Championship ring.
• Mike Boynton – Oklahoma State head coach
  • LSU avoiding a buyout on Wade makes it a bit easier to make a run at someone like Boynton, who would owe Oklahoma State a lot of money if he were to leave for another job. We’re not sure he would leave, as he has really been embraced by the culture and fanbase in Stillwater. He took the Cowboys to the NIT and the NCAA Tournament and recruited #1 overall pick Cade Cunningham.
• Terrence Johnson – Texas State head coach
  • Johnson is from New Orleans and coached HS basketball in the area earlier in his career. He has also proven to be a great young college coach at Texas State, winning back-to-back Sun Belt titles and Sun Belt COY awards after getting thrown into the head coaching role right before the 2020-21 season. Johnson is 39-14 as a head coach with a NIT appearance pending.
• 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.
• Chris Jans – New Mexico State head coach
  • With five WAC titles in six years, Jans has New Mexico State absolutely rolling. But he’s also probably taken the Aggies as far as he can, with the ceiling being consistent NCAA Tournaments and the hope to win one game when they get there.
• Wes Miller – Cincinnati head coach
  • The long-time UNC Greensboro was passed over for the job at alma mater North Carolina last April, but did end up leaving for Cincinnati later that month. Miller won three SoCon titles with the Spartans and went to the NCAA Tournament twice, including in 2021. In his first season in Cincy, he went 18-15 while cleaning up a colossal mess left behind by the previous staff.
• Eric Konkol – Louisiana Tech head coach
  • Six 20+ win seasons in seven years up at Louisiana Tech, Konkol is a consistent winner who has been coaching and recruiting in SEC country for a long time. The Bulldogs finished third in the NIT last year, but the one hang-up on Konkol’s resume for LSU may be that he has never been to the NCAA Tournament as a head coach.
• Archie Miller – former Indiana head coach
  • Archie doesn’t have the postseason experience his older brother Sean has, but he hasn’t had any trouble with the NCAA and that is needed at LSU right now. It didn’t work out at Indiana but Archie was a big success at Dayton and just needs a different situation to get back on track. He spent the year away from coaching after getting a huge buyout from IU and is probably feeling ready to get back in the game.