This will be the start of musical coaching chairs...

Looks like it's official that Texas has hired Gail Goestenkors of Duke.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/news/story?id=2824238

I was just gonna start a thread like this! There are sooo many coaching positions open for next year. I suspect we'll hear some announcements after the NCAA finals tonight.

I expect at least one former WNBA coach to return to the college game.

Meanwhile, every coach that leaves one school for another leaves another open position behind. The ripple effect could impact where some of the players end up next year as well. This will be a crazy story to watch unfold.

University of Washington hired Duke assistant Tia Jackson, a former Iowa player under Vivian Stringer as their new head coach.

Meanwhile, Washington State head coach, Sherri Murrell stepped down after five years. This is not as big a shock as their cross-state rival - Wazzu hasn't produced many wins for quite some time.

Poor Cougar women's basketball. We need a coach with major energy and experience at WSU. Since we haven't won for sometime its hard to recruit the best. If we can just get a few kids and build from there, we'll be alright.

What about June Daugherty? She'd seem to fit WSU better than she did UW.

Michigan has hired Kevin Borseth away from Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Cal's Joanne Boyle interviewed with and turned down Florida, so the Gators are STILL looking for a new coach two months after firing Peck. Boyle is reportedly a leading candidate for the Duke job, tho. This may be one of those "dream job" situations as she is a Duke alum.

Things seem to be moving rather slowly for filling vacancies. To be continued...

Now it's been announced that Kentucky's Coach DeMoss has resigned after four seasons there. No real reason was given for the departure. So, add another school to the list...

Van Chancellor has been hired to take over Pokey Chatman's job at LSU. Should be a pretty good hire for them, I would think, with his track record (14 NCAA apprearances while at Ole Miss and 4 WNBA titles with Houston).

This year is the first where so many big-name programs are having turnover simultaneously. I think we will see another round of this in the next 2-3 years. The game is trying to find a new equilibrium with the enhanced salary packages and expectations.

Texas has an amazing coach in Gail Goestenkors. I have lived in the Triangle the past three b-ball seasons and she has been the best in the business. Texas is paying her $1M guaranteed. I think athletes and coaches are grossly overpaid in general, but I am very happy that Gail is being rewarded for her outstanding level of accomplishment.

Michigan needs some new vitality and the UW-GB coach was a good choice. I also expect the guy at Bowling Green to pack his bags and move on up.

MSU and Baylor made quick work of securing their top-market coaches to contract extensions. Joanne McCallie and Kim Mulkey are going to command top-notch jobs and salaries and their schools recognized it.

Boyle has interviewed at Duke and is an alum. Not sure she is the right choice to step into the top program in the country the past few years. However, I don't think Duke is going to attract someone of the highest calibre. There is a reason Gail left the program after 15 years.

Still a lot of top openings -- can't wait to see how they fall into place. I think Van Chancellor is going to be a difficult choice at LSU. The players and program have gotten used to the younger vitality of Pokey Chatman, and Van is sort of the antithesis of that style. He is obviously accomplished, but....

Florida, Duke, and Penn State are the premier programs still on the market. Several other good programs are open as well including the new opening at Kentucky.

Boyle turned down the Duke job after interviewing there. Cal signed her to a contract extension good for another seven years, I believe.

This is an ESPN link with all the schools that have had vacancies and those who have found new coaches:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/news/story?id=2696417

I don't believe I mentioned this in the Big 12 thread, or maybe I did and I'm just getting old and can't remember (and am too lazy to just check), but Iowa State signed Bill Fennelly to a contract extension good through 2019. In other words, it's a lifetime contract, taking Bill to age 62. The total worth is $10.7 million dollars. Over the years, Fennelly has casually looked at other schools, including Wisconsin and Colorado recently, and there were rumors that he might leave after this season (especially when ISU hit the HUGE mid-season slump in January), but the AD locked him in to a good deal. Fennelly has always said that ISU is his home and that he would stay as long as the people would have him stay (he and his wife are both from Iowa, so coming to ISU from Toledo was a natural fit in spite of friends telling him it was "professional suicide" to take the Cyclones job).

Add another school to the list of universities looking for a new head coach - Illinois coach Theresa Grentz resigned yesterday. Among the leading candidates is Colorado coach Kathy McConnell Miller, who has only been in Boulder two seasons.

Duke appears to be ready to hire Michigan State's Joanne McCallie as their new head coach in spite of McCallie signing a new contract extension with MSU at the end of March.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/columns/stor...&id=2841774

Washington STATE has hired recently fired Washington coach June Daugherty to run their program. Those should be some interesting conference games for those teams come next season.

Still nothing new on the Big 10 front with the Penn State, Illinois, and Michigan State jobs now all open. I understand that Northern Iowa is getting closer to hiring someone, but mostly names already associated with the program are the ones being tossed around. Missouri State made a hire, but it was a name I hadn't heard before - Nyla Milleson.

Penn State hired former Notre Dame assistant Coquese Washington as their head coach. She was an assistant at ND for eight seasons and also played there.

Kentucky hired Matthew Mitchell from Morehead State. Mitchell was an assistant under former UK coach DeMoss for two seasons before taking the Morehead State job.

Northern Iowa hired Iowa native, former UNI player, and Creighton assistant Tanya Warren as their head coach.

Carol Ross has resigned at Ole Miss, with assistant Renee Ladner taking over.

Michigan State hired Suzy Merchant from Eastern Michigan where she had a 147-90 record over nine seasons. It looks like she had been a finalist for the Michigan job also before they hired Boresth from Green Bay.

Just as an update, the latest posting on ESPN shows only these schools as having coaching vacancies:

Central Connecticut State
Eastern Michigan
Illinois
Louisiana Lafayette
Maine
Morehead State
UT-Arlington
Wisconsin-Green Bay

Came across two stories this morning on ESPN:

Illinois is set to hire Rutgers assistant Jolette Law as head coach for the Illini.

Wisconsin-Green Bay will hire Indiana assistant Matt Bolant as head coach.

That pretty much does it for the 'big boy' schools (er, 'big GIRL,' I guess!) and their hires. Unless something else strange happens over the summer (always a possibility), looks like the major conference colleges are set for next season as far as wrapping up coaching changes.

Eastern Michigan hired former Michigan State assistant coach AnnMarie Gilbert as their head coach.

Here's the ESPN.com article:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/news/story?id=2878078