Next Cincinnati Bearcats Head Coach: Jerrod Calhoun Is the Frontrunner
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The end of the Wes Miller era at Cincinnati was made official on Friday, with the former UNC Greensboro head coach getting the boot after going 100-74 but failing to reach the NCAA Tournament across five seasons with the Bearcats.
To get a sense of who UC athletic director John Cunningham will pick to replace Miller, Bookies.com broke down the odds on who the next coach of the Bearcats will be, with a pair of red-hot mid-major coaches atop our list.
Cincinnati Basketball Has Gone 7 Years Without an NCAA Tournament. The Next Coach Has to End That.
While Miller’s time in Cincinnati wasn’t without bright spots, leading the Bearcats to 20-win seasons in 2022-23 and 2023-24, he was ultimately done in by going 23-33 in Big 12 play since UC joined the conference in 2023-24.
It’s also true that Miller inherited an empty pantry when he took over for John Brannen at Cincinnati, with his predecessor going 32-31 across two seasons running the show, ultimately leading to his dismissal.
Cincinnati’s main issue is that the program has never found the groove that Mick Cronin did when he left for the UCLA job in 2019, doing so after leading UC to the Big Dance nine years in a row, including a Sweet 16 run in 2012.
When it comes to who might be next in line to succeed Miller, our leading candidates are all program builders who have succeeded across multiple stops, making them natural choices for Cunningham (or any other high major AD making a head coaching hire this offseason).
Also: March Madness Picks & Best Bets 2026 NCAA Tournament - First Round & First Four.
Cincinnati Basketball Head Coach Odds & Analysis
Cincinnati Next Head Coach Odds
Wes Miller fired after 5 seasons (100-74, 0 NCAA Tournaments). No tournament since Mick Cronin left for UCLA in 2019. AD John Cunningham leads the search.
Implied odds built from CBS Sports, ESPN, and SI reporting.
The overwhelming consensus frontrunner — CBS Sports' Matt Norlander named him the "presumed frontrunner" immediately after Miller's firing. A UC alum (criminal justice, 2004) who began his coaching career as a student assistant under Bob Huggins at Cincinnati, Calhoun is as close to a glove-like fit as this search will find. He won the Mountain West regular-season AND tournament title in 2025-26, going 30-10 in conference play over two seasons with back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. He was Kansas State's top target earlier in the cycle but slow-played that search while waiting for a more appealing opportunity — Cincinnati is that job. His USU buyout is approximately $4 million.
The clear Plan B if Calhoun stays in Logan. A Butler alum, Steele spent 14 years at Xavier as an assistant then head coach before arriving at Miami (Ohio) in 2022. He led the RedHawks to an undefeated 31-0 regular season in 2025-26 — the program's first at-large NCAA Tournament bid since 1999 — before losing to UMass in the MAC Tournament. He knows the Cincinnati market intimately from his Xavier tenure. One notable wrinkle: his previous four-year run as Xavier head coach (the Bearcats' crosstown rival) adds an unusual dynamic for a UC hire. ESPN and SI both list him as Cincinnati's second-best option. He is the half-brother of Akron's John Groce — two siblings competing for the same job.
The veteran option with the deepest high-major resume of any Ohio-based candidate. Groce won the 2026 MAC Tournament championship with Akron and has now led the Zips to 3 MAC Tournament titles in his 9 seasons. He previously spent 5 seasons at Illinois (95-75, 1 NCAA Tournament) and 4 at Ohio (85-56, 2 NCAA Tournaments), giving him genuine Big Ten-level experience. Sources describe him as the candidate with the best overall experience profile among Cincinnati's Ohio targets. He is the half-brother of Miami (OH) coach Travis Steele — an unusual sibling dynamic with both men viable candidates for the same opening.
The high-floor option and Kent State's winningest-ever coach. Senderoff tallied his 300th win in January 2026 and has never had a losing season in 15 years at the helm. He spurned reported Fordham interest last March to sign a 6-year extension at Kent State — a signal he's content, but a Big 12 job at his alma mater's geographic rival could be different. SI's Cincinnati beat notes he "would provide a very high floor given his track record." The question is whether his profile carries enough national splash for a program trying to return to prominence in college basketball's toughest conference.
The hottest rising star in the national carousel. A native of Jamestown, NY (Olean-born), Hodgson rebuilt Arkansas State from a 20-loss program to a 25-win Sun Belt co-champion in two seasons, then won the AAC regular-season title in his first year at South Florida in 2025-26. A Nate Oats coaching tree product, he was a top-15 recruiter at Alabama, helping land Brandon Miller (No. 2 overall pick, 2023) and others. He is linked to multiple high-major openings this cycle — CBS Sports and ESPN both note him as a name to watch for Cincinnati. At 38, he'd be a long-term building block rather than a stopgap.
A Nigerian-American coach born in Lagos and raised in Maryland, Skinn played for George Mason's iconic 2006 Final Four team and returned as head coach in April 2023. He's gone 70-30 in three seasons — the best start to a coaching career in GMU history — and won the 2025 A-10 Coach of the Year award. Prior to George Mason, he served as an assistant at Louisiana Tech, Seton Hall, and Maryland. SI lists him among Cincinnati's viable options; ESPN included him on its national "names to watch" board. The main question is whether a jump from the A-10 to the Big 12 is premature at this stage of his career.
Includes Joe Gallo (Merrimack — MAAC regular-season title, linked to multiple high-major searches this cycle including Syracuse), Ben Jacobson (Northern Iowa — linked to Big 12 searches), and any surprise power-conference assistant with Cincinnati ties should the search broaden. Cincinnati's solid NIL infrastructure — GM Corey Evans (ex-OKC Thunder) in place — could attract a bigger name if primary targets decline.
Odds are editorial projections — not from a licensed sportsbook — Updated March 17, 2026
Calhoun Is the Frontrunner — But Cincinnati May Have to Wait
Jerrod Calhoun (Utah State head coach): +150
Calhoun is likely to be the hottest name on the carousel this offseason, as he’s led the Aggies to a 53-14 record across two seasons in Ogden, after going 118-106 with Youngstown State from 2017-18 to 2023-24.
While Utah State’s NCAA Tournament fate is unknown, with the Aggies facing eighth seed Villanova in San Diego on Friday evening, his work in both places he’s worked as a head coach speaks for itself, with this year’s team joining Calhoun’s 2022-23 Youngstown State team as ones that won their respective league titles.
Given his success at Youngstown State and Utah State and his roots as a native of East Liverpool, Ohio (and as a Cincinnati alumnus), it seems to be a natural fit for Cunningham to pick him as the next coach of the Bearcats, which is why we’re giving him +150 odds of doing just that in 2026.
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Other Head Coach Candidates For Cincinnati Basketball
Travis Steele (Miami (OH) head coach): +350
Steele’s work at Miami has spoken for itself, leading the RedHawks to an undefeated, 31-0 mark in the regular season, while ushering the MAC regular season champs into the ‘First Four’ on Wednesday night against SMU. Throw in the fact that Steele was a head coach at Cincinnati’s crosstown rival, Xavier, from 2018 to 2022 (and an assistant there from 2009 to 2018) and the connection seems natural.
With a 153-97 record across eight seasons at Xavier and Miami (OH), Steele’s shown himself to be a quality head coach, which is why we’re giving him +350 odds of finishing off the Queen City double by coaching both the Musketeers and Bearcats. A strange subplot of our odds board? Steele is the half-brother of Akron's John Groce.
John Groce (Akron head coach): +600
Groce is back in the MAC and picking up where he left off when he was in charge of the Ohio Bobcats from 2008-09 to 2011-12, getting the Zips to the NCAA Tournament for a third straight season.
In total, Groce has gone 196-93 at Akron, turning the tide on his five-year run at Illinois where he went 95-75 but flamed out down the stretch, missing the Big Dance in each of his final four years in Champaign-Urbana.
Given his success in the Rubber City, we’re going to guess that some Power Four AD is going to give the 54-year-old another crack at a head coaching job, with Cincinnati being a natural fit for the Indiana native.
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Rob Senderoff (Kent State head coach): +900
When it comes to Cincinnati coaching candidates, the MAC appears to be the epicenter, as a third conference coach makes the cut, with veteran Kent State leader Rob Senderoff listed at +900.
Senderoff has been a mainstay with the Golden Flashes, coaching 497 games there since arriving in 2011-12, taking Kent State to the Big Dance twice and nearly doing so again this season.
The 52-year-old started his coaching career in Ohio (at Miami (OH)), with stops at Fordham, Yale, Towson, Indiana and Kent State, meaning he knows the region about as well as anyone.
Whether he’ll leave the program he’s been in charge of since the first Obama administration is to be determined, though he’d be hard pressed to turn down Cunningham if such an offer arrives.
Bryan Hodgson (USF head coach): +1100
Hodgson, like Calhoun and Steele, is expected to be a hot item on the coaching carousel this offseason. His work with the USF Bulls has been eye catching across US betting apps, for sure, guiding the AAC member to 25 wins in his first year in Tampa, while getting USF back in the Big Dance for the first time since 2012.
Hodgson hails from the Nate Oats coaching tree, having served under the Alabama head coach at Buffalo and in Tuscaloosa, meaning he knows the Rust Belt well.
Whether Cincy can offer the type of money to get him to the Queen City is unknown, though it’s certainly worth a shot, which is why we’re giving him +1100 odds of replacing Miller.
Hodgson is also in play for the Syracuse job, which we've broken down here.
Tony Skinn (George Mason head coach): +1400
The final name to keep an eye on with Cincy is Tony Skinn, who returned to the program that he led to a shocking Final Four berth, though he’s yet to get George Mason back into the tournament in three seasons there.
While Skinn remains a cult hero in Northern Virginia for his outsized effort in getting GMU into the National Semifinal in 2006, he hasn’t quite matched those expectations as a coach, though he did win the A-10 Coach of the Year honor in 2024-25.
Still, Skinn’s connections when it comes to recruiting in the Mid-Atlantic plus the raw win-loss record he’s racked up at GMU (70-30) are likely worth a look if you’re Cunningham, though his lack of Big Dance experience ultimately tanks his odds to the longest of anyone mentioned here, at +1400.
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Key Takeaway: Jerrod Calhoun (Utah State) is The Obvious Choice
The Cincinnati search starts and likely ends with Jerrod Calhoun. The fit is almost too clean to ignore -- a UC alum, a Huggins disciple, and a proven program builder who has won wherever he's coached.
The only variable is timing: with Utah State still alive in the NCAA Tournament, Cunningham may need to exercise patience before making his move. But with the transfer portal opening April 7, patience has a hard deadline -- and Cincinnati can't afford to miss it.
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