Hot Board: Who might Texas Longhorns hire to replace Rodney Terry as basketball coach

After falling to Xavier 86-80 in the First Four of March Madness, Texas is reportedly parting ways with coach Rodney Terry. Texas finished the season 19-16, 13th place in the SEC and wasted a generational talent in Tre Johnson.

Kirk Bohls of the Houston Chronicle reports it would take $20 million dollars or more to buy out the UT staff. Texas would also most likely have to pay the buyout of any coach they hire. UT athletic director Chris Del Conte must have his financial ducks in a row to pull the trigger on a change.

Pete Thamel of ESPN says Del Conte would probably have a replacement ready before making a public move. “One thing to keep in mind, athletic director Chris Del Conte‘s hiring history shows he tends to have a candidate lined up before making a decision on his current coach, notably did that with Tom Herman (before) he transitioned to Steve Sarkisian, and that also happened in baseball and women’s basketball.”

There are rumors that Del Conte wants to lure and NBA coach to Austin. Here are some possible names that might be on Del Conte’s list of candidates. Obviously, this is super early. More names will emerge as the process moves forward.

Sean Miller – Xavier

If you can’t beat them, hire them. Sean Miller might be a perfect fit for the Texas program. Miller is in his second stint at Xavier. After successfully coaching Xavier in the early 2000s, Miller took the job at Arizona, where he coached for 12 years. But Miller and the Wildcats were caught up in the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men’s basketball corruption scandal and Miller was fired in Tucson.

Miller showed great leadership in the Musketeers win over the Horns. “Before promoting Rodney Terry last time, Del Conte did a lot of leg work on (Atlanta Hawks head coach) Quinn Snyder and Xavier‘s Sean Miller,” ESPN insider Pete Thamel recently told On3.

Scott Drew – Baylor

Scott Drew has been at Baylor for over 20 years and remarkably has even won a national championship at private Baptist college in Waco. The Bears beat Gonzaga for the 2021 National Championship. The next season, Baylor was a No. 1 seed, but fell in the second round. Drew’s buyout is reportedly just $4.5 million dollars, which seems very affordable.

Billy Donovan won back-to-back national titles at Florida in 2006 and 2007. In 2015, Donovan left the Gators to take over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA. After five seasons, the team and Donovan failed to agree on a contract extension and he left for the Chicago Bulls. While he’s been a decent NBA coach, his true success has been at the college level. He might want to take over another big program like Texas. He’s also probably get a raise.

Quin Snyder – Atlanta Hawks

Snyder was a true rising coaching star at Missouri after a successful run in his first four seasons, but struggled in his final three and resigned under pressure. He then banged around with minor league hoops, assistant NBA jobs and even Russia before landing the head coaching job with the Utah Jazz. He coached the Jazz for eight seasons before leaving for Atlanta, where he had previously served as an assistant. This is probably a long shot, but CDC has spent a lot of time scouting Snyder.

The two NBA coaches might be tough to lure back to college. They’d also most likely need to leave their current team mid-season as it is unlikely Del Conte will wait until June. More names will come up as the NCAA tournament progresses, but these are some early names worth considering.

This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: Who might be the next Texas Longhorns Men’s Basketball Coach?