Since the advent of the NIL era and the transfer portal morphing into Grand Central Station on a holiday weekend, the combination of money and roster poaching would be yet another death knell for mid-major basketball programs. Even though those things have undoubtedly affected a lot of schools, others have found a way not only to survive but to thrive at the mid-major level. It’s not a surprise that teams that continue to have success since 2021 are the same ones that were doing so before that.
High Point
Since High Point fired G.G. Smith after the 2022 season, they went 87-20 under two coaches. The Panthers hired Creighton assistant coach Alan Huss, who went on to go 56-15 in two seasons. High Point won consecutive regular-season Big South titles, was the CBI runner-up in Huss’ first season, and followed that up with a conference tournament title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Before last season, Huss returned to Creighton to be the head coach in waiting.
The Panthers stayed in-house this time by elevating associate head coach Flynn Clayman to the top position. Clayman continued the success by going 31-5 and securing the school’s first NCAA Tournament win by beating Wisconsin. High Point should once again be the Big South favorite as Clayman brings in seven transfers to supplement his high-octane style offense that averaged 90 points per game last season.
Belmont
At Belmont, Casey Alexander took over for the legendary Rick Byrd and went 166-59 over seven seasons. In the post-COVID era, that record is 114-49. Over the last four seasons, since the school moved to the ultra-competitive Missouri Valley Conference, the Bruins have won at least 20 games, and last season won the regular-season title before being upset in Arch Madness by Drake. As a result, Alexander was lured away to the Big 12 by Kansas State.
The Bruins tabbed former Belmont star Evan Bradds as its next head coach. Bradds has tough shoes to fill in his first head coaching gig at his alma mater. Belmont lost a ton of production to the portal, most notably Drew Scharnowski, who ended up at Duke. Outside of Ring Malith, who averaged 17 points and five rebounds at SIU-Edwardsville last season, Bradds has a lot of unproven offensive talent, both returning and new to work with.
UC Irvine
If there is a mid-major coach in the country with the resume to make the jump to a high-major program, it has to be Russell Turner at UC Irvine. Instead, Turner has spent the last 16 years with the Anteaters, earning 343 wins, eight Big West regular-season titles, seven trips to the Big West Tournament finals, and a win over Kansas State in the 2019 NCAA Tournament. Since 2022, the Anteaters have gone 102-41 with three titles, but have been snakebit in the conference tournament with two losses in the finals and two other semifinal losses by a total of seven points. Turner will look to be the team to beat in the Big West once again. His roster bucks the trend, though, losing just four players (three transfers and a graduate). The returning core and the Anteaters’ winning culture put them in a great position. He does add shooting guard Nils Cooper from UC Davis and 7’9 Olivier Rioux, who knows about winning from his time at Florida.
UNC Wilmington
Speaking of coaches on the upward trend and who could be looking at a new job soon, Takayo Siddle at UNC-Wilmington is high on the list. The 40-year-old Siddle took over the Seahawks in 2020, but in the years following has won 20 or more in each of them, including a school record 27 in three of those five seasons. Much like UC Irvine, UNC-Wilmington hasn’t had the postseason success that would match their regular seasons. In three of the last five seasons, the Seahawks have reached the Coastal Athletic Association tournament title game three times, but have yet to taste victory. The Seahawks return a strong base despite having to replace a good bit of their production thanks to graduation. The returning duo of Gavin Walsh and Patrick Wessler give the Seahawks one of the best frontcourt duos in the CAA.
Liberty
Ritchie McKay is in his second stint at Liberty. After two pedestrian years at the helm, he left to join the staff at Virginia. Since returning in 2015, he has turned Liberty into one of the most consistently successful mid-major programs in the country. He has won 21 or more games in nine of the 11 seasons since his return. Since the 2018-19 season, he has gone a staggering 202-67, with first-place finishes every season except 2023-24. Only twice in that time did he not reach either the NCAA Tournament or the NIT, not including a 30-4 season in 2020 when no postseason was held. This season will be an interesting case study to see how much wizardry McKay has left in his bag of tricks. He returns just 8.2 points per game from a team that averaged 78 last season.
There is no denying that the new world of college basketball has delivered a staggering blow to the mid-major’s ability to compete. However, as these schools have shown, the story of their demise has been greatly exaggerated. All it may take is a Florida Atlantic (or St. Peter’s or Florida Gulf Coast, you get the idea) type run to show that success can still be defined by more than just money.