Cincinnati is expected to hire Utah State’s Jerrod Calhoun to be Bearcats men’s basketball’s new head coach, sources familiar with the decision confirmed to The Athletic. CBS Sports first reported the move.
Calhoun, 44, led Utah State to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in his two seasons with the Aggies, bowing out in the second round with a loss to No. 1 seed Arizona on Sunday night. He replaces Wes Miller, who was formally fired last week after five seasons and zero NCAA Tournament appearances with the Bearcats.
The hire marks a homecoming for Calhoun, a graduate of Cincinnati and a former student assistant under Bob Huggins in 2003-04. The Ohio native went 55-15 over two years at Utah State, winning the Mountain West regular season and conference tournament crowns in 2026. Prior to that, he spent seven seasons as the head coach at Youngstown State in northeast Ohio.
Calhoun played two seasons at Cleveland State before the switch to coaching as a student at Cincinnati. He later served as a full-time assistant under Huggins at West Virginia, and his first head coaching job was at nearby Division II Fairmont, where former Mountaineers player and current Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla was an assistant on Calhoun’s staff.
The success at Utah State made Calhoun a top high-major coaching candidate this year, but Cincinnati became the obvious and ideal fit once the Bearcats moved on from Miller. Calhoun’s ties as an alum and a Huggins disciple appeal to a fan base with a rich basketball history that is desperate for a return to the glory days of Huggins’ tenure and annual NCAA Tournament berths under Mick Cronin. Calhoun’s budding offensive identity — his Aggies teams were top-30 in the country over the past two seasons in offensive efficiency, according to Ken Pomeroy — is a shift from Cincinnati’s style in recent decades, but the Aggies were also top-45 defensively in 2025-26, and Calhoun’s teams have a reputation for effort and toughness.
The primary benchmark for Calhoun at Cincinnati is getting back to March Madness. The Bearcats haven’t gone dancing since Cronin’s final season in 2019 and have completely slipped from national relevance since then. That’s despite a move from the American Conference to the Big 12 in 2023 and competitive investment in staffing and name, image and likeness (NIL) budgets under Miller. An industry source familiar with the program but unauthorized to speak publicly told The Athletic that roughly $20 million was committed to the Bearcats’ roster over the past two seasons.
Calhoun, who has done more with less at Utah State, will have a chance to lead his alma mater back to prominence.
This is the second men’s basketball hire for Cincinnati under athletic director John Cunningham, who brought in Miller to replace John Brannen in April 2021. Miller signed an extension in December 2022 through the 2028 season. According to a copy of his contract, obtained by The Athletic, Miller was due a buyout of $9.9 million that dropped to $4.69 million on April 1. It would have been paid over six years and subject to offset by future employment compensation.
The university announced last week it had reached a separation agreement with Miller effective immediately. Financial terms were not made public, but a source familiar with the decision told The Athletic that Miller will be paid a lump-sum buyout of $3.1 million. Calhoun reportedly has a buyout of 70 percent of his remaining salary, which would currently equate to more than $4 million.
Earlier on Monday, Miller was announced as the new head coach at Charlotte.