UC Bearcats hire Utah State's Jerrod Calhoun as next basketball coach
UC alum Jerrod Calhoun will be next head coach of Cincinnati Bearcats basketball. Calhoun took Utah State to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments.
The 29th men's basketball coach in the history of the University of Cincinnati is the first UC grad to have the position since Tony Yates and Tay Baker before him. According to reports from CBS Sports, taking over the Cincinnati Bearcats is 44-year-old Jerrod Calhoun, who just coached Utah State to a 29-7 record, losing in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to top-seeded Arizona. Calhoun is a 2004 graduate of the University of Cincinnati.
Now, 22 years later, the native of East Liverpool, Ohio, will lead his alma mater in the same building where he served as a student assistant under Bob Huggins for the 2003-04 Conference USA league co-champions and C-USA tournament champions. The 2003-04 Bearcats went 25-7 and were a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Atlanta Regional.
Calhoun was surrounded by the likes of Jason Maxiell, Field Williams, Eric Hicks, Tony Bobbitt, Armein Kirkland and James White. Jerrod Calhoun's journey from Utah State back to Cincinnati While he may be on the radar from his 26 wins last season and for this year's Mountain West tournament champion, Utah State Aggies, Calhoun has paid his dues and comes with solid roots from Huggins. He assisted the Bearcats after playing two years for Rollie Massimino at Cleveland State.
From there, he went to Walsh in northern Ohio, where Huggins started his head coaching career. From 2007-2012, he rejoined Huggins at West Virginia, including the 2010 Final Four run for the Mountaineers. From 2012-2017, he went 124-38 at Fairmont State, less than a half-hour from WVU, where they were the NCAA Division II runner-up in 2017.