Arizona State to hire longtime Saint Mary's head coach Randy Bennett to replace Bobby Hurley
Randy Bennett has turned Saint Mary's into a mid-major powerhouse during his 25 seasons there.
Arizona State has found its replacement for Bobby Hurley. The Sun Devils are hiring Saint Mary’s Randy Bennett as their next head coach, according to ESPN’s Jeff Borzello and Pete Thamel . The sides are finalizing a five-year deal, and Bennett told his team of his plan to leave for Arizona State on Monday afternoon.
Saint Mary’s didn’t waste any time, either. The Gaels are expected to promote assistant coach Mickey McConnell to replace Bennett. McConnell played at Saint Mary’s himself under Bennett, and has been an assistant there since 2019.
Bennett has spent his entire coaching career at Saint Mary’s, where he was first hired in 2001. He pretty quickly turned the program into a mid-major powerhouse. The Gaels won seven regular season WCC titles under his watch, including the last four, and reached the NCAA tournament 12 times.
Before he was hired, Saint Mary’s had only been to the NCAA tournament three times in program history. The Gaels have won at least 20 games in every season dating back to 2007, save for the shortened COVID-19 campaign of 2020-21. They went 27-6 this season and reached the NCAA tournament, though they fell to Texas A&M in the first round.