College basketball coaching carousel: April 17

Round and round it goes as different head coaches are leaving their jobs for new ones this offseason in college basketball.

Right after the National title game last week we had one of the biggest coaches already on the move.

John Calipari, Kentucky to Arkansas

Calipari moves from Kentucky to an SEC conference rival in the Arkansas Razorbacks. Although this is a bit of a shocker for college basketball fans, it is not hard to see why Calipari left the Wildcats.

Coach Cal has only been able to achieve one singular March Madness victory over the past three seasons for Kentucky. With more young and young talent each year, Coach Cal had to switch things up.

The coaching legend was able to win a single title at Kentucky during his time there and has produced numerous lottery NBA Draft picks. It’s crazy to even think that at a certain point, Devin Booker came off the bench as the 6th man for Coach Cal.

Mark Pope, BYU to Kentucky

It did not take long for Kentucky to find its new head coach, and they went to a very familiar face in Mark Pope.

Pope played for Kentucky in the late 90s and even won an NCAA title at Kentucky under the now St John’s head coach Rick Pitino.

Although Pope has not been able to win an NCAA tournament game in his coaching career, it became apparent that Kentucky needed a new voice as head coach, and Pope fits the bill for the Wildcats.

Now Pope and Calipari will face off against each other for many years in the SEC.

Eric Musselman, Arkansas to USC

After all of the coaching switches, Eric Musselman the former head coach at Arkansas lands at USC.

It’s no secret that Arkansas had a down year after making three straight tournaments under the very energetic Musselman.

Now at USC, Musselman has a great opportunity to rebuild a young and high-potential team at USC. Since they will be joining the Big Ten this upcoming season, it certainly will be interesting to see Musselman test his mettle.

The Big Ten may not be as tough as the SEC was but it still poses a challenge that should keep USC viable year in and year out.

Dusty May, FAU to Michigan

In one of the more interesting moves of the offseason, Dusty May is trying to take on a tough situation at Michigan, but help may be on the way.

The starting center at FAU last season Vladislav Goldin may transfer to Big Blue after deciding to enter the portal this offseason.

May will need all the help he can get because Michigan was dead last as a team in the relatively weak Big Ten conference this past season.

Dusty is used to being in the Big Ten though as he started out as an assistant under Bob Knight in the 1990s at Indiana.

The tradition is familiar to him, and with the transfer portal as wide open as ever, it should not be extremely difficult for May to rebuild fast.

Darian Devries, Drake to West Virginia

From a mid-major in Drake to the Big 12 is certainly a big jump for the young head coach Darian Devries. But for a coach of his caliber, this could work out well.

He has helped to lead the Bulldogs to the NCAA tourney three out of the past four seasons, and although they never won a tourney game, Devries was still successful.

How his success translates to the biggest conference in college basketball will be the question mark all season long for the new headman at WVU.

Giustino Racchini is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him you can email him at gar5448@psu.edu.