The Troy Basketball 2026 Coaching Search

Scott Cross is leaving Troy to take the job with Georgia Tech (and previous athletic director Brent Jones).

No matter what damage the portal brings, he left Troy in a better place.

Now, who’s next?

If you’re reading this on Friday, March 20th, I’m scouring the basketball world for potential candidates. I’ll update it as I go.

Right now there are two obvious answers to that question though.

1A. Flynn Clayman
1B. Ben Fletcher

Less than an hour after Troy’s tournament run ended, High Point University landed the first Cinderella victory, upsetting Wisconsin 83-82.

Two of the men behind this upset? Both Trojans.

Flynn Clayman, High Point’s head coach, transferred to Troy in 2009, sat out a year, and then played 13 games in the next season. He played for the legendary coach Don Maestri, but the 2010 season was Troy’s worst since the move to the Atlantic Sun conference.

Incidentally, one of Clayman’s High Point assistants was already a tenured assistant at Troy.
Incidentally, that assistant was also a Troy alum.
Incidentally, that assistant played for Troy the first time it ever went to the Men’s Tournament.

Ben Fletcher led the 2002-03 Trojans in scoring, averaging nearly 14 points a game and more than 15 when it came to conference play. He stuck around as a grad assistant and assistant under Maestri and later Phil Cunningham.

His time at Troy ended when Scott Cross’s began.

Around that time, Clayman worked his way up the chain at Southern Utah. In 2023, he was hired at High Point, and Fletcher was hired from Kennesaw State to South Florida.

The next year, USF coach and former Kennesaw State coach Amir Abdur-Rahim died less than a week before the season began, and Fletcher was named interim. After going 13-19, the Bulls found a permanent replacement elsewhere.

Clayman was promoted to the permanent job at High Point, and Fletcher joined his staff.

The two men’s stories are intertwined and rooted at Troy. Clayman led High Point to back-to-back tournament appearances and now together they’ve earned an upset win.

The obvious first call should be to Flynn Clayman, but as the successful head coach at a non-football school, it’s going to be tough for Troy to outbid them. That’s why you ask him not to hang up, but to transfer you to Ben Fletcher.

I want to be clear, though. Fletcher is not the “number 2” pick here. I wouldn’t be upset if you skipped Clayman altogether.

He’s got deeper ties to Troy, he’s more likely for Troy to afford, and he’s had tons of experience now in very successful environments:

• 2022-23 Kennesaw State went 26-9 and made the tournament
• 2023-24 South Florida went 25-8
• 2025-26 High Point is 31-4 and made the round of 32

If Ben Fletcher says yes, that’s a home run hire, first pitch.

Update: After I saw this post on social media, I’m a lot more bearish on Clayman. High Point may have more money to throw around than we thought.

He’s still worth a call.

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Bob Richey, Furman

Richey is a New Orleans native who’s been at Furman in some capacity since 2011. He took over in 2017, after the team made the CBI Semifinals.

In his 9 seasons at the helm, he’s led Furman to 7 20+ win seasons, two NIT appearances, and two NCAA tournament appearances… including this year.

The similarities between Richey and Clayman are apparent. Private school in the Carolinas, purple and white, recent success, and most importantly they’re both in the tournament this year.

The difference is Furman is a football school. No matter how much Furman is able to pay Clayman, a significant portion of their budget is still going to an FCS program.

Troy spent more on renovating Riddle-Pace than Furman Athletics raised for an entire fiscal year as of 2024.

Plus, Richey is more established than Clayman. His track record screams consistency, which is what we got with Cross.

Speaking of Cross…

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Conversations in OKC: Vandy Coaches Jon Cremins, Matt Bucklin and Kenneth Mangrum

Two of these men have experience winning the Sun Belt with Mark Byington at JMU, and all three are in OKC right now for the tournament.

Cremins went to Valdosta State and also coached at Georgia Southern.

Bucklin is a Georgia grad and he’s younger, but he’s a nephew of Michigan State’s Tom Izzo.

I saved the best for last though.

Mangrum isn’t just a former Trojan coach, he’s a Cross acolyte. He left Cross to join Richard Pitino at New Mexico, where the Lobos posted a 26-10 record and an NCAA appearance before moving to Nashville in 2024.

He would be a great get to keep the system in place to win. Not sure about players, but there are options for that too.

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Mike Worley, Truman State

Worley joined the Troy staff 13 years ago, while I was in college. He was part of Cunningham’s title run and Cross’s first title run before leaving to lead the Truman State program.

That’s nearly as much time spent on the Wiregrass as Fletcher, the same amount of head coaching experience, and every bit of familiarity with the current team as the current assistants.

On paper, the drawback is going 12-16 in one season at a Division II school. It’s a gamble, but this search is all about what boxes you want checked.

If you value Troy roots and player retention, you’re gonna have to look past the resume. If you value Division I head coaching experience, expect a full rebuild.

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Keep Em Around: Scott Campbell, Kaleb Canales and Larry Cordaro

If hiring Clayman is wishful thinking, then I can be pragmatic about it too right?

All 3 have head coaching experience of some kind, and retaining players from the portal is going to be a factor. We learned just this year how important that can be.

That’s why keeping the Campbell clan should at least be considered. Cordaro also has energy and deep connections across the South.

Canales has professional experience, which is incredibly invaluable. I didn’t overlook him in previous versions of this list, but I was convinced to include him.

Realistically, Troy fans should expect another rebuild, but promoting anyone on staff could keep young, promising talent in the Wiregrass.

Of the three here, Cordaro seems the most likely candidate.

What about someone who’s a head coach now?

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Antoine Pettway, Kennesaw State

So far, a big factor I’ve considered is having ties to Troy. As with Richey, that’s not necessary, but here’s a factor that helps: ties to the state of Alabama.

Pettway is a Tide grad, a former Tide coach, and a former Jax State coach. He’s really not far from the Heart of Dixie as it is now, either.

One thing he does have in common with all the other coaches on this list… he’s in the tournament this year.

In his third season at Kennesaw State, he’s led the Owls to 21 wins. That’s a few shy of Abdur-Rahim’s (and Fletcher’s, for that matter) 26-9 record, but both took the Owls dancing after a rebuild.

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Robbie Laing, UCF

Laing is a 1984 Troy grad who’s been coaching since he graduated. He’s worked at Georgia Southern, WKU, Auburn, Southern Miss, Kansas State, Clemson and FAU.

Laing was head coach at Campbell for 10 years in the middle of all that, once leading the Camels to a 19-win season (a school record) and a regular season A-Sun title.

Johnny Dawkins hired him at UCF in 2016, promoted him to second-in-command in 2024, and took the Knights to two at-large bids, one in 2019 and one this season.

He may not have connections to this team, but he’s a Troy grad with D-I head coaching experience and recent success.

Does he want another shot at being a head coach?

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Lennie Acuff, Samford

Acuff is the heir to the Buckyball throne at Samford. He led Lipscomb to three straight 20-win seasons before moving to Samford, capping it with a regular-season title, conference title, and March Madness appearance.

Sound familiar?

Difference is, Acuff has 30 years of experience even before that.

He posted a 454-223 record over 23 years at Alabama-Huntsvile, after winning records at two different NAIA teams in the 1990s.

No one on this list has as much experience as he does, even though it’s at a lower level. He’s only spent one season at Samford, which is ironically my issue.

Troy could poach him, but that’s a gamble to me. If none of the above coaches answer the phone, it wouldn’t be a bad call.

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I genuinely went through SEC coaching staffs, midmajor staffs and even some D-II names. For instance, Texas A&M has at least two guys who had experience at Samford, but they felt like grasping at straws compared to the names already on here.

There weren’t many that moved me, but the last two on my list at least got my attention. I don’t expect them to be candidates, but they deserved a mention.

I’m not concerned so much about Troy ties as I am in-state connections, but having history made them unavoidable in my search.

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Mick Hedgepeth, Alabama-Huntsville

Hedgepeth is a successful coach, who in just six seasons took three different teams to the dance four times. He only lost 25 games the last four seasons combined, he only has 18 conference losses ever and his team went 32-2 last season.

Problem is, that’s his only resume, and he’s only worked at Division II and III colleges. Hedgepeth’s only Division I experience is as Director of Basketball Operations at Belmont, his alma mater.

Looking at the records of his teams before his hiring, it’s clear he did a good job of either maintaining the status quo or elevating the program. Troy needs that.

Consistency is a key factor for moving the program forward though. His time as a head coach is shorter than the amount of time Scott Cross spent at Troy alone.

Incidentally, he was hired from Berry to Alabama-Huntsville, the exact same path as Acuff. Basically he’s a younger, distilled, speed-running version of his predecessor.

The gamble isn’t worth it to me, but I can see why his name comes up a lot.

Steve DeMeo, NW Florida

Steve DeMeo is going to come up for the same reason Hedgepeth will, but also for another reason entirely: Chanda Rigby.

Both were incredibly successful head coaches in the Panhandle Conference, one in Pensacola, the other in Niceville.

He’s guaranteed to have only single-digit losses in each of his ten seasons at NWF, including this year’s national tournament run. He won the whole thing in 2015, came in second in 2023, and has the Raiders in the second round this season.

The results are comparable to Chanda, but DeMeo’s D-1 resume leaves something to be desired.

It wouldn’t surprise me if he was picked up for that reason, but I just see better options on the table right now.

Adam Howard, NC State

Howard was on staff for the Trojans’ 2016-17 title run, then went to Mobile. He was at Nebraska of all places the last three seasons, before joining NC State this past year.

The Wolfpack made it to the 11-seed play-in before losing to Texas.

Howard has also spent time at Southern Miss and Tennessee, so his connections to the Deep South at least run deep.

The Nebraska and Southern Miss success are plusses, but he’s only just now working at NC State. I don’t think the timing is right for this hire.

Then again, I said that about Jon Sumrall in 2019.

Trent Patterson, Wofford

Patterson is a Troy grad and a former Troy coach. He followed Ben Fletcher to USF, and this past season moved to Wofford.

He’s very young, so right now he’s a better candidate to return as an assistant, but he’s on the radar.

Eventually Troy will have another coaching search. Depending on his career trajectory, it’s worth making note of him now.

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If you think I missed someone, shoot me a comment on social media or right here.