The Final Four is quickly approaching, so as we build up Purdue-NC State and UConn-Alabama, let's also reconvene and talk coaching carousel. On Thursday, officially hired Eric Musselman away from Arkansas. . It's a semi-shock, but remember: Musselman has ties to southern
California and is coming off a whiff of season (16-17). Pressure would have been on had he stayed. At USC, he gets a new lease on his career and will face significantly less pressure as the program moves to the Big Ten. And now, with open, the Razorbacks will need to move quickly in order to avoid an outright roster purge. That's a top-25
Job in the sport, without question. Among the names AD Hunter Yurachek could look at: Kansas State's Jerome Tang,
Texas A&M's Buzz Williams, Mississippi State's Chris Jans, McNeese State's Will Wade and Samford's Bucky McMillan. The long-expected move of Andy Enfield turning away from and heading to the Lone Star State as announced Enfield's hiring Monday. That put USC on the clock to get his replacement, and the Trojans made a splash of their own after working channels on that for more than a week. Elsewhere, as expected, finally closed when it hired after more than a week of flirtation with the former Western Kentucky coach. Sources said OSU was poking around one more big offer in recent days, but that never materialized. Lutz's deal will start at $2.4 million. With Lutz leaving town, AD Todd Stewart promoted Hank Plona up from assistant to head coach. Speaking of Oklahoma State, former coach Mike Boynton Jr. is in line to join Dusty May's staff at as the lead assistant, sources said Tuesday. Boynton will also be joined by Georgia assistant Akeem Miskdeen. Boynton was in high demand among power-conference programs because of his stellar reputation in the industry. Additionally, closed Tuesday night. As was first reported here, Montana State coach Matt Logie was offered but decided to stay at Montana State (and with a strong new contract). That opened the door for the other finalist: David Riley. He got a six-year deal that starts at nearly $600,000, according to sources. We also had a hiring in the Missouri Valley on Monday. tapped D-II wizard Ben McCollum to succeed Darian DeVries. McCollum has been offered other D-I jobs that past two cycles but couldn't commit. Now he takes over a program that's currently well-positioned in the Valley but is traditionally one of the toughest jobs in that league. The carousel has 58 job switches so far. We are going to get to 60. Here's a capsule on every gig that's flipped.