The Vanderbilt Commodores made a big change to their men’s basketball team following the 2023-24 campaign.
After winning only nine games, they decided it was time to shake up the coaching staff. Head coach Jerry Stackhouse was relieved of his duties after five underwhelming seasons.
The Commodores failed to reach the NCAA Tournament in any year under him, recording a losing season in three out of five campaigns. Overall, the team went 70-92 under Stackhouse’s guidance.
He has been replaced by Mark Byington, who comes over from the James Madison Dukes. Byington was a hot name on the coaching carousel following the impressive run he oversaw his team make.
They set a program record with 32 victories and earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013 and only the sixth time ever. James Madison defeated the No. 5 seeded Wisconsin Badgers 72-61 before losing to the Duke Blue Devils in the second round 93-55.
Vanderbilt is hoping that Byington can bring some of that success over to the SEC with him. The program hasn’t made the NCAA tournament since 2017, but it is hard to envision that streak being snapped this year.
As a result, the Commodores have landed in the sixth tier of Myron Medcalf and Jeff Borzello’s ESPN men’s basketball preview. That is the total rebuild tier, where it is anyone’s guess what will happen.
There are five other squads who landed in that tier; the Memphis Tigers, Michigan Wolverines, USC Trojans, TCU Horned Frogs and Washington Huskies. All but Memphis and TCU are operating under new head coaches.
Part of the reason they landed there is because nearly the entire roster has been turned over from last season. There are only two returning scholarship players; junior guard Miles Keefe and sophomore forward JaQualon “JQ” Roberts.
Graduate transfer AJ Hoggard from the Michigan State Spartans was a solid addition to the team, but Byington has his work cut out for him. All roles are going to be up for grabs as he will likely spend the early portion of the season figuring out what works best for his squad.
Maybe there will be a few pleasant surprises during the campaign. But, it certainly looks like it will be tough sledding in the first season of the Byington Era.
