Coaching Carousel Update: May 13, 2024
RIT, MUW, Keuka, Wheaton (MA) have named their next head coaches
It’s time for another update of the D3 WBB coaching carousel, with a handful of new notes of interest having come within the last several days. We're now into the month of May, and the coaching carousel continues to spin. So far, I have 34 recorded coaching changes with 18 head coaching vacancies having already been filled. For the sake of the length of this update (a lot happened within the last 10 days or so!) when there is a press release available, I will link to it, if you want to read more on some of these announcements.
RIT announced on Thursday that Melissa Kuberka, St John Fisher’s head coach, has been hired to take the helm of the RIT program. This is a home run hire, and that fact cannot be overstated. SJF has been so incredibly good in the seven years under Kuberka’s leadership, including three straight Empire 8 Tournament titles in each of the last three seasons. She took them to four NCAA Tournament appearances, including this past year when the Cardinals took down Gettysburg, 55-46, in the First Round at the RIC Regional. They were 24-5 in 2023-24, following a 26-3 season (with an unblemished 18-0 E8 record) in 2022-23. Impressively, Kuberka led SJF to the second round of the national tournament in three of the program’s four appearances under her direction.
RIT is getting a proven high-level D-III coach who knows what it takes to win on a national stage. Recruiting to RIT comes with its challenges, but the fact that she knows the local area so well as a recruiter is sure to be a positive as the program seeks to finish a season above .500 for the first time since 2018-19. The Liberty League may get just a little tougher in the coming years if RIT can get into the mix, considering Vassar, Ithaca, and Skidmore are already proven contenders year-in and year-out in that conference. And ultimately, having one more strong title contender in the league would benefit those three programs in a notable way, especially considering SOS issues tend to be common in the case of multiple tournament resumes out of the LL each year.
Also worth noting, this is the first instance of a current D-III head coach leaving for another D-III head coaching position this offseason. (Link)
Lancaster Bible head coach Ryan Carpenter has also changed coaching jobs, as he heads back to the upper midwest to NAIA Mayville State. Mayville State is one of the top programs in NAIA women’s hoops, coming off a 26-3 season, the fourth-straight 20+ win season there (with the exception of the Covid year in 2020-21). I think this is a great step up for Carpenter, who previously coached as an assistant at D2 Minnesota-Duluth and NAIA University of Jamestown before taking over at LBC, his alma mater.
Carpenter led LBC to its first conference tournament appearance in five years in 2023-24, which is notable considering LBC had three new starters in its lineup. (Link)
Paige Emborsky has been tabbed as Keuka's next head coach, after spending one season on the staff at D1 VCU as a grad assistant. The program won 26 games this past year, and reached the WNIT. This will be Emborsky’s first experience playing or coaching in D-III, as she played at the JUCO, D-I, and D-II levels over five years as a student-athlete, before beginning her time on the sidelines last year at VCU. (Link)
The University of Dallas (SCAC) head coaching job is now open as Bri Sims was named head coach at D2 Ohio Dominican on April 30, leaving UDallas after five seasons. She inherited a team that went 2-23 the year prior to her arrival, and in half a decade took the Crusaders to the SCAC Tournament on three occasions. This past year, Dallas finished at .500 overall (13-13) for the first time since 2014-15, in addition to an 8-10 record in the SCAC. (Link)
Schreiner’s head coaching job is open, marking the second SCAC opening in the last couple weeks. Stacy Stephens is joining the staff of a Division I program, according to my sources, after going 40-40 in three years in Kerrville. Schreiner reached the SCAC semifinals in each of the last two seasons, and with the Mountaineers’ up-tempo, pressing defense, they were a challenge for everyone on their schedule considering the uniqueness of their style of play.
Yeshiva is also looking for its next head coach. Bill Zatulskis led the program since September 2020, and in four seasons, went 27-50 overall, with an 18-40 mark in Skyline Conference play. Record-wise, Yeshiva’s best season came in 2022-23, in which they went 10-12 overall. Notably, his team also had the No. 1 Team GPA amongst D-III programs in the WBCA Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll in 2020-21.
The Beloit head coaching position is also open, per the NCAA job board. Natalie Miller just completed her second season at the helm of the MWC program, going 11-14 with an 8-8 conference record. The reason for the coaching change is unknown to me. This is the first MWC coaching change of this year’s cycle, as far as I know.
Wheaton (MA) hired Kanika Cummings as its head coach, per a press release on May 3. Cummings takes the reins of the Wheaton program after three seasons as the top assistant at Trinity (CT), where she worked alongside new Cornell head coach Emily Garner. Garner and Cummings helped Trinity to one of its best seasons in program history in 2022-23, advancing to the Elite Eight in addition to winning a NESCAC regular season title. (Link)
Mississippi University for Women (MUW) named Eric Vaughn as its next head coach on April 29 (this was a head coaching vacancy I did not know of until the hiring was made).
“Journeyman” might be the best way to describe Vaughn, who has been coaching for over four decades. His number of coaching stops is pretty interesting. He spent last season at Millsaps as an assistant, helping the Majors reach the NCAA Tournament and claim an SAA tournament title. Prior to that, he was the interim men’s head coach at Mississippi Delta Community College for one season, having previously been on the women’s staff at Mississippi Valley State for the 2021-22 season. Additionally, Vaughn has coached with the men’s program at Millsaps, twice in the CBA, once in the ABA, one stint on the staff for the Jackson State women’s program, and many stops coaching high school and AAU basketball in the Midwest. (Link)
In a not-so-surprising coaching change, Northland head coach Benjamin Kluzak resigned after one season, per a press release on Monday of last week. Northland, who recently announced it will remain open and continue its athletics program after appearing to be on the brink of closure this spring, went 0-22 in 2023-24. In addition, four games were canceled due to low roster numbers, as the roster size was a challenge throughout the entire season, especially when it came to road games.
It’s a tough job, in large part due to the challenges with recruiting to such a program in such a remote part of Wisconsin. However, we saw Katie Novak build a competitive program at Sul Ross State within the American Southwest Conference a few years ago, and Alpine, Texas is four-and-a-half hours from SRSU’s nearest conference opponent. The population of the city is around 6,000, and there is no city with more than 10,000 residents closer than two hours away. Yet, SRSU posted a winning record in Novak’s final year in 2021-22. It’s possible to win in remote places, but it makes what is a hard job already that much harder. I’ll be interested to see where that program goes from here when it comes to its next head coach. (Link)
That will wrap up this update. My interview with Southern Virginia head coach Lynette Schroeder will be coming to you tomorrow, as she returns almost everyone from this past year’s team that won the USA South title and kept pace with DeSales in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. So be looking for that Q&A. I’ll also have a Q&A with Illinois Wesleyan head coach Mia Smith ready to go for later in the week.
Have an excellent start to your week, and as always, don’t hesitate to reach out with thoughts, comments, or questions. Email: rileyzayas@gmail.com, X/Twitter: @ZayasRiley