Brian Kennedy has been promoted to head coach at NJIT. He's been on the staff there since 2012

By MATT YOUMANS
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

The Rebels have been led by three head coaches — Dave Rice, interim Todd Simon and Chris Beard — since January. A fourth, Cincinnati’s Mick Cronin, was accused of backing out on an oral agreement to take the job. Here are the next five candidates on the list (listed in order of probability):

Marvin Menzies

Menzies just completed his ninth year at New Mexico State, where he has won 23 or more games in each of the past five seasons. He followed Reggie Theus, a former UNLV star, as the Aggies’ coach. Menzies was a UNLV assistant to Lon Kruger in 2004-05, and a Louisville assistant to Rick Pitino from 2005 to 2007. Pitino has lobbied UNLV officials on Menzies’ behalf. Menzies withdrew his name from consideration for the Rebels’ job in late March, when it was obvious Beard would be hired.

Steve Lavin

A former coach at St. John’s and UCLA, Lavin is employed as a TV analyst for Fox Sports. While guiding the Bruins from 1996 to 2003, he compiled a 145-78 record and made five NCAA Sweet 16 appearances in a six-season span. Lavin’s record at UCLA in the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament was 10-1. He has several ties to Las Vegas and would be a strong recruiter.

George Karl

Fired this week by the Sacramento Kings, Karl has won 1,175 games as an NBA head coach with Cleveland, Golden State, Seattle, Milwaukee and Denver prior to leading the Kings the past two seasons. He has expressed an interest in the UNLV job for several years and is doing so again now. At 64, his age works against him, but Karl could hire a young staff to help with recruiting efforts. He coaches up-tempo offense. Money is probably not a factor, with the Kings owing him around $7 million. His hiring would bring instant credibility to a UNLV program currently in desperate need of it.

Stacey Augmon

Augmon and Larry Johnson, leaders of the 1990 NCAA championship team, rank as the two best players in UNLV history. Augmon retired as an NBA player in 2006, and he was hired to Karl’s staff in Denver, where Augmon coached from 2007 to 2011. He spent the past five seasons as a Rebels assistant to Rice and Simon. Public relations is not his game. Augmon has not been a willing participant in booster and media functions, but the fans and former players who want a UNLV man in charge of the program would be thrilled to see Augmon get the job. He’s more likely to be named than former Rebels assistant Ryan Miller, who also has no head-coaching experience.

Heath Schroyer

It’s hard to fathom, but a coach who was fired at Wyoming is suddenly in the running to guide the Rebels. A powerful booster is pushing for his candidacy. The Cowboys dumped Schroyer after he posted a 49-68 record in four seasons. He was an assistant to Rice from 2011 to 2014. In the past two seasons at Tennessee-Martin, he turned a weak program into a winner, compiling a 41-28 record. Schroyer is a long shot.

• RUMORS
  Winthrop associate head coach Mark Prosser is in the mix at Dartmouth. He has also been an assistant at Wofford and Bucknell. He's the son of the last Skip Prosser who had success at Xavier and Wake Forest
• The search at Nicholls State is heating up. I’ve heard LSU assistant coach Al Pinkins and a current ACC assistant mentioned here. Also some small college guys involved. More on this one soon.

UNLV has agreed to a deal with New Mexico State coach Marvin Menzies.

Menzies will replace Chris Beard, who left the Rebels less than three weeks after being hired and will instead coach Texas Tech.

The 2015 Western Athletic Conference coach of the year, Menzies had coached the Aggies for nine years and completed his fifth straight 20-win season this year and seventh in nine years.

Menzies spent the 2004-05 season as an assistant with the Rebels under Lon Kruger before leaving to serve as an assistant under Rick Pitino in Louisville. After two years with Pitino, Menzies took over at New Mexico State.

Brian Earl, a 9-year assistant at Princeton, has been named as the new coach at Cornell

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Mario Moccia is trying to channel his inner John Wooden in his search for the new men’s basketball coach at New Mexico State.

The school’s athletic director on Monday said he would try to be quick, but not hurry in finding the right man to replace Marvin Menzies, who left after nine seasons, 198 wins, five NCAA Tournament appearances and several seasons of actively pursuing other jobs. He is taking over the program at UNLV.

To replace Menzies, Moccia said he wants someone who demonstrates a plan to increase competitiveness out of conference — specifically, against U. of New Mexico

“We certainly want to continue our dominance of the WAC . And, I’m going to put it out there, we have to be better competitively with UNM. That is a big deal with me.”

NMSU was 3-15 under Menzies against the Lobos and is 4-16 in the past 10 years.

Associate head coach Paul Weir, the nine-season assistant to Menzies, is now handling any offseason responsibilities of the program. He is interested in the job and has the very public support of many in the community as well as current and former players.

Menzies’ departing base salary and compensation package of $391,000 won’t be increased.

“We can not, in our situation, pay any more than that,” Moccia said.

The financially strapped department won’t require of its coach to be a fundraiser, As for dwindling attendance (the Aggies averaged 9,413 fans at home games the season before Menzies took over and 4,768 last season), “I think that’s everybody’s focus, including the head coach,” Moccia said.

I'm in Las Vegas. A lot of vitriol with that hire among fans but people are warming up to it. Mostly because they have no choice.

Detroit has hired Michigan assistant Bacari Alexander as their new head basketball coach.

A Detroit native, Alexander played his last two years at the University of Detroit. He has been on John Beilein’s staff at Michigan for the past six seasons and also pent six years (2001-07) as an assistant at Detroit.

Nicholls State looking at Larry Cordaro (NAIA's LSU-Alexandria) , Kevin Johnson (asst. at LA-Lafayette) , Richie Riley (Clemson asst.) and Happy Osborne (DII Kentucky Wesleyan) sources told ESPN.

Happy Osborne was the long-time coach at my alma mater, Georgetown College (KY), where he won 2 NAIA titles.

The head men's basketball coach at the University Tennessee Martin has submitted his resignation. Heath Schroyer will become an assistant coach at N.C. State.

Anthony Stewart, 45, will serve at interim head coach for the entire 2016-17 season. He recently completed his second season as associate head coach at UT Martin, helping the Skyhawks to 41 victories and two postseason appearances in that time.

A native of Akron, Ohio, Stewart graduated from University of Mount Union with a bachelor's degree in business management in 2003. He also completed his Master's degree in business administration from Chancellor University in 2006.

Two New Mexico State Aggies basketball players who asked to be released from their scholarships this week to seek a transfer have been denied by the school’s athletic director pending the hiring of a new head coach.

Matt Taylor, a 6-foot-5 sophomore guard, and Tanveer Bhullar, a 7-3 sophomore center, were both told they will have to wait until athletic director Mario Moccia hires a new coach to replace Marvin Menzies, who this past weekend accepted an offer to be the new head coach at UNLV.

“Two players have visited with me personally on requesting a release,” Moccia told the Journal. “I had seven business days to respond to their request. On day two, I informed them they would be denied pending the hiring of a new head coach with an in-person meeting (with whoever that new coach is).”

Both players have publicly stated their support for the new head coaching position is firmly behind Paul Weir, the nine-year NMSU assistant who was the lead recruiter of Taylor, Bhullar and several other players from the Toronto area, where both are from. Both have also already utilized a redshirt season, meaning if they transferred and sat out one year per NCAA transfer rules, but would have just one season of playing eligibility remaining.

On Wednesday evening, CIA Bounce club basketball coach Tony McIntyre, who coached both in Toronto as well as other former Aggies players, posted a tweet expressing his frustration with the decision: “It amazes me that @NMStateAggies refused to release players and are telling them to wait. If they request to leave then let them leave!”

The University of Northern Colorado announced today that the contract for head men’s basketball coach B.J. Hill has been terminated.

UNC is collaborating with the NCAA on an investigation into allegations of NCAA violations within the men’s basketball program.

Consistent with NCAA expectations, the department won’t be able to comment further until the investigation concludes.

Nichols State has hired Clemson asst. Richie Riley

David A. McLaughlin.the associate head coach at Northeastern, is taking over at Dartmouth

New Mexico State will promote associate head coach Paul Weir to replace Marvin Menzies as the Aggies head basketball coach.

Only 2 openings remain
1) Delaware, which wants to wait until they hire a new A.D.
2) Northern Colorado, who fired their coach last week amid NCAA allegations