More than 60 programs in Division I in women’s university basketball made a change in the chief coach so far in 2025. Some schools had to find new leaders of their programs after fireing a coach, while others had to replace those who retired or went to a different job.
At the Power 4 level, there were 10 changes, even in the two Big 12 programs in Arizona, three in the SEC and two in the ACC. The rows of Mid-Mojor also saw waves of changes, with a job even opening this week in the army after the resignation of Missy Traversi.
Below is a consistent non -scientific classification of the 11 most interesting hiring carried out so far this year based on a variety of factors that include the candidate profile, adjustment, resources and investments of the Athletics Department. These are not the best hiring or sausage, only a few who are paying attention.
Matthew Mitchell, Houston
When this training carousel began to turn at the end of February, Mitchell was letting people knew they wanted to return to the margin. After smelling at an opening of a few seconds, he landed in Houston, where he succeeded Ronald Hughey and inherited a reconstruction project. The Coupars have been in an NCAA tournament in the last 20 years and have had two difficult seasons in Big 12, where they were 6-30 combined in the conference game.
While they are five seasons tasks, Mitchell brings real credibility to Houston as someone who has been a great winner. In 13 seasons in Kentucky before his retirement related to health in 2020, he promoted the Wildcats to nine NCAA tournaments, the tit title of the regular season twice, produced Draft selections of the WNBA and won 69.5 percent of all its games. Hiring Mitchell seems to be a sign that Houston is finally ready to take female basketball seriously.
Jamie Carey, Omaha
Omaha opened quite late in the Coaching Carousel season when the School of the School Fire to former coach Carrie Banks on April 22. Even so, just at the end of the cycle, they got a seemingly strong candidate in Carey, who has Bone Aston’s assistant for a Severs. Carey played at the WNBA and was an outstanding player in Stanford and Texas, winning the PAC-12 Freshman of the Year and two selections All-Big 12. He is native to Kansas and trained the basketball of the secondary school for a few years in Colorado, turning his family with the footprint of the Summit League. Since he made the leap to division I in 2011, Omaha has never had a winning record in the conference game and has not yet made an NCAA tournament.
Ayla Guzzardo, McNees state
It is a bit surprising that Guzzardo did not coincide with a larger job in this cycle after working near the thousands of thousands in the state of Louisiana. After the lions had lost records in 22 of their last 24 seasons, Guzardo guided them to five consecutive winning campaigns, captured a couple of titles of the Southland conference and went to the NCAA tournament in 2023. He jumped to the same at the same basketball conference, but has not had a winning season in the sport in a decade.
Guzzardo is a young promising coach, and if he can turn McNee in a winner quickly, perhaps in the same way that the former male coach Will Wade did, he could spend that success in a Power 4 concert in a few seasons.
Karen Blair, Georgia Tech
Georgia Tech’s Nell Fortner withdrawal was surprising considering that he had just signed an extension in February, but it was evident that former Yellow Jackets coach was a bit exhausted by the current state of university sports and transfer. The yellow jackets made an impressive hiring by giving Karen Blair their first crack to be in charge of their own program after serving as the main lieutenant of Brenda Freee for several years in Maryland.
In College Park, Blair helped the recruits of the Star School of Frese and comb the portal for other pieces that are adjusted, which translated into lists that won many games for the Terps, including three Big Ten titles. He will try to do the same in Georgia Tech, but the school in Atlanta has been notoriously difficult to recruit star players, and even more to retain them in this new era. This low season, seven yellow jackets entered the portal and six of them landed in other Power 4. work ahead of Blair won to be easy.
Raina Harmon, Costa del Gulfo de Florida
Karl Symesko built FGCU from scratch from 2002 and in the next 23 years he saw the transition of the Eagles of Division II to Division I and then to Bocome a major medium power, making 11 NCAA tournaments in the last 14 years of those and pulling. Symesko left FGCU in November to become the chief of Atlanta Dream of the WNBA and his main assistant Chelsea Lyles joined him there this spring after a season in the Jere who won 30 games.
The question is now, can FGCU remain a power in female basketball in the era after SMEKO? Caitlin Clark believes that after the Eagles hired Harmon, who spent eight seasons as an assistant coach in Iowa with Lisa Bluder and Jan Jensen, where the Hawkeyes enjoyed some of their most successful seasons in the history of the program. Harmon will have the task of keeping the eagles fighting for March Madness Berths while putting their own stamp on the program.
Becky Burke, Arizona
35 -year -old’s former Louisville Guard has won every time on his leg, but has never stayed anywhere. She won 21 Games in Naia Embry-Riddle and turned it into a job in Division II Charleston, where it was 48-14 in two seasons. Then he jumped to Division I where he turned the state of USC into a team of eight victories into a team of 22 victories. Last season in Buffalo, the Bulls won a program record 30 Games and captured the WNIT title.
Burke will now be tested at the Power 4 level at Big 12 in a Arizona reconstruction program after Adia Barnes’s departure. The Wildcats have had 11 players who entered the portal in this low season, so Burke will have to recharge the list.
Winston Gandy, Grand Canyon
Gandy has worked under some of the best sport coaches, from Brenda Freee and Tina Langley to Kara Lawson and Dawn Staley, in addition to a season under Scott Brooks with the Washington Wizards. Now Gandy, in his 30 years, will be able to direct his own program in Grand Canyon. That the Lopes hired Gandy-Who Who who comes from a second consecutive trip to the game of the national title with the knowledge of South Carolina that want to accumulate their status as a winning program and one of the best in the medium-sized ranks after Miller’s departure.
After hiring Gandy, the president of the Grand Canyon, Brian Mueller, said about Miller: “He interviewed for work after each year. We wanted some who wanted to be here.” But it will be a massive success for Grand Canyon, and an indicator that they can continue to be a strong program even with a turnover at the site of the chief coach, if Gandy leaves for a Power 4 concert in a few seasons, because he can only do it.
Kellie Harper, Missouri
After a year outside the sea line, spending that time as a television commentator for the SEC network, Kellie Harper is back to training. She happens to Robin Pingeton in Missouri, who letters retired before filling the openness in Wisconsin. While Harper did not meet the expectations in his two previous periods as Power 4 chief coach in Tennessee and NC State, it is worth noting that the expectations in Mizzou are very different from those historical programs. As a chief coach, Harper has a record of 393-260 victories and losses, giving him a winning percentage or 60.2. She has been in the NCAA tournament nine times in 20 seasons and has gone to Dulce 16 three times, including an unlikely and impressive trip to the second weekend with Missouri State in 2019.
In Missouri, she won to train in the shadows of Pat Summitt or Kay yw. The Tigres bar, which have not had a winning record in the SEC or that have been in an NCAA tournament since 2019, has been much lower. If Harper can do what he did in Tennessee, Tigres fans would be incredible happy. Harper’s curriculum, which includes the bullet point that he is one of the two coach in the history of sport to train four different teams in the NCAA Tournament of Division I, says he can succeed in Missouri. She knows the state, knows the sec and knows how to win.
Adia Barnes, SMU
This was possibly the most overturned hiring of the offseas, it was the only case of a Power 4 program that hunt a head of another. Barnes’s relationship with his Alma Mater, Arizona, had grated some seasons after taking the Wildcats to the national title game and his eyes began to wander after not receiving an extension in the last year of the contract. He entered Damon Evans, who in one of his first movements such as the new Athletic director of SMU, former coach Toyelle Wilson and days later paid Barnes’s purchase and hired it away from Arizona. It is a sign that the Mustangs, almost a full year in their ACC membership, are ready to invest in female basketball.
Barnes has already transformed the list, with 10 players leaving the programs and 11 players, including some of Arizona, the transfer ring. SMU went big in football and volleyball and saw those programs to become the winners in the ACC. If Barnes can take advantage of Mustangs’s resources and apply them to female basketball will be observing.
Larry Vickers, Auburn
Auburn’s training was strange with many turns and turns. After an initial signal that the school wanted to spend a lot of money and make a turning rental in the head, the search soon turned to cheaper options and the tigers began some middle -aged coaches. The work finally went to Larry Vickers, who had gone 83-13 in the last three seasons with the state of Norfolk, guiding the Spartans to three consecutive appearances in the NCAA tournament.
The MEAC jump to the SEC is large and an opportunity that HBCU programs are not granted to Orte. Many eyes will be in Vickers, not only for what their future livestock record could be, but also what the resources that Auburn gives to be competitive in the SEC. If Vickers succeeds in Auburn, he could be emboldened more important conferences programs to take risks with good HBCU coaches.
Molly Miller, state of Arizona
Miller was the main candidate for several openings this season and had his choice of several Power 4. Arkansas openings pursued her, but finally decided to stay in the Metropolitan area of Phoenix, jumping from Grand Canyon to the state of Arizona. Under the direction of Miller, the Lopes had 32-3 this season, capturing the regular season and the tournament in the WAC, making the NCAA tournament for the first time and defeating Arizona State, Arizona and northern Arizona on the road.
The 38-year-old was 117-38 in five seasons in Grand Canyon and also had much success in the ranks of Division II, which led Dury College to a record of 118-17 and five NCAA tournament bits in six seasons. His professional profile and trajectory have made comparisons with Kim Caldwell, who succeeded in the ranks of Division II and Mid-Mojor before making the leap to Tennessee, where he took the Lady Vols to Dulce 16 this season. Miller has already brought six transfers to help her change Arizona’s state.
