JMU’s Byington heading to Vanderbilt
Fourth-year coach led Dukes to 32-4 season
Just one day after James Madison’s record-setting men’s basketball season, coach Mark Byington has been hired as Vanderbilt’s head coach, the schools confirmed Monday.
The Dukes went 32-4 this season, easily setting the school record for victories, including a memorable season-opening upset at then-No. 4 Michigan State.
They reached the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time, peaking at No. 18. They made their first NCAA Tournament in 11 years by winning the Sun Belt Tournament and reached the round of 32 for the first time since 1983, rolling past No. 5 seed Wisconsin.
The end finally came Sunday when freshman Jared McCain and fourth-seeded Duke thumped Byington’s experienced team 93-55 in Brooklyn, New York.
Byington guided JMU to four straight winning seasons and gave the Dukes their first-ever victory against Virginia during his second year with them.
Before arriving in Harrisonburg, Byington also turned around a Georgia Southern program that had been struggling, winning at least 20 games in his final three seasons with the Eagles.
Byington, a native of Salem in the Roanoke area, has gone 220-137 in 12 seasons as a head coach, including 82-36 in the past four with JMU.
He’ll go to a Vanderbilt program that fired Jerry Stackhouse, a former North Carolina Tar Heels and NBA standout who had been a successful NBA G League coach. The Commodores are in the Southeastern Conference, which landed eight NCAA Tournament berths and, along with the Big Ten, is more awash in TV revenue than other leagues.
According to the Daily News-Record of Harrisonburg, Byington made just less than $700,000 this season and, per terms of his contract, JMU will receive $500,000 in a buyout.
The Daily News-Record’s Shane Mettlen listed Norfolk State’s Robert Jones, UNC Greensboro’s Mike Jones, Purdue Fort Wayne’s Jon Coffman, Youngstown State’s Jerrod Calhoun, Colgate’s Matt Langel, Samford’s Bucky McMillan, High Point’s Alan Huss, UNC Asheville’s Mike Morrell and Morehead State’s Preston Spradlin as current head coaches who could be logical candidates as outgoing JMU athletic director Jeff Bourne heads the search.