California basketball head coach rumors: Top candidates to fill Big 12 coaching vacancy

The coaching carousel is spinning in college basketball as the offseason is well underway for most teams. Many programs made coaching changes immediately following the close of their respective seasons and while some have already filled those vacancies, others are still searching for their next head coach.

One of those programs is Texas Tech, who is searching for a new head coach after Mark Adams stepped down. Adams was suspended for allegedly making racially insensitive remarks to a player during practice and the program will now be searching for a new head coach for a second time in three years. This is a Red Raiders that made the national championship game just four years ago in 2019, so there is recent proof that you can build a contender in Lubbock, TX.

Below, we'll take a look at a few potential candidates who could be pacing the sidelines of United Supermarkets Arena next season.

Grant McCasland, North Texas

Multiple reports have surfaced this week that North Texas head coach Grant McCasland is the top candidate for the job and it would make a ton of sense to bring him to Lubbock, TX.

A Baylor graduate, he got his masters at Texas Tech before beginning his coaching career in 2001. Landing on Scott Drew's staff at Baylor a decade later, he got his first DI head coaching gig at Arkansas State in 2016 before bolting for North Texas the following year. He has enjoyed tremendous success in his six seasons in Denton, TX, posting a 132-65 record with two NIT appearances, an NCAA Tournament appearance, and a CBI Tournament championship.

This year's Mean Green team are slated to play in the NIT semifinals next week, which may explain why Texas Tech is waiting so long to make an announcement.

Rodney Terry, Texas

If not McCasland, the Red Raiders could turn to current Texas interim head coach Rodney Terry to fill the vacancy.

A Houston area native, Terry has had various assistant coaching stops at programs like Baylor and Texas with fairly successful head coaching stints at Fresno State and UTEP mixed in between. In 2021, he joined Chris Beard's staff at Texas as an assistant and was named the interim head coach midway through this season following Beard's firing. He managed to keep the train on the track for the Longhorns in the midst of the controversy, winning the Big 12 Tournament and getting them to the Sweet 16.

If Tech were seriously considering Terry for the job, a major deterrent would be Terry being considered for the permanent job at UT. Should the Texas brass move into a different direction following the tournament, he would definitely be on the table for Tech.

  
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