Bulldogs closing in on next basketball coach; target to hire just after Final Four

Fresno State is expected to have a new basketball coach early next week, its search to find a replacement for coach Rodney Terry nearing a conclusion.

"Timeline-wise, I would say hopefully something right after the Final Four or shortly after the Final Four," said Steve Robertello, interim athletics director.

Robertello is expected to meet with finalists in San Antonio, where on Saturday Loyola-Chicago and Michigan and Kansas and Villanova will play in the national semifinals. Fresno State President Joseph Castro already has met with several candidates; the job posting closed on Tuesday.

Much of the focus has been on UCLA assistant coach David Grace and Bulldogs’ interim coach Byron Jones. Michael Schwartz, a former Bulldogs’ assistant under Terry who is now at Tennessee, also has spoken with Fresno State. Others connected to the position include San Diego State assistant Justin Hutson and Cal State Fullerton coach Dedrique Taylor.

Grace is known for his ability to recruit, helping recruit Lonzo Ball, Zach Levine, Kyle Anderson, Norman Powell, Jordan Adams, Kevon Looney, T.J. Leaf and Ike Anigbogu to UCLA.

He started his coaching career while in the Air Force as an assistant for a 12-and-under club team and worked his way up, winning a state championship as the coach at South Mountain High in Phoenix, moving up to Sacramento State, then San Francisco, Oregon State and to UCLA. In 2016, Grace was selected as the No. 1 recruiter in the West and No. 7 in the nation in a ESPN poll of Division I coaches, landing a series of recruiting classes ranked in the Top 10 in the nation.

Jones has been at Fresno State for the past seven seasons with Terry, handling recruiting, in-game coaching and substitutions, scouting, scheduling and skill development. He passed up an opportunity to go with Terry to UTEP, staying on at Fresno State as interim coach to keep the Bulldogs' players engaged academically and with direction during the coaching transition.

Todd Turner and Collegiate Sports Associates has assisted Fresno State with the search.

Terry bolted Fresno State after seven seasons. He built the Bulldogs’ program into a contender in the Mountain West Conference, winning 20 or more games in three consecutive seasons and four of the past five. Fresno State won the conference tournament in 2016, advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001. The Bulldogs were in the NIT the following season, one of only eight teams in the West to appear in the NCAA Tournament or the NIT in consecutive seasons.

Fresno State this season went 21-11, losing to San Diego State in the Mountain West Tournament. It lost three of its final four games after point guard Jaron Hopkins went down with a foot injury in the first half of a Feb. 24 loss to Wyoming at the Save Mart Center.

The Bulldogs’ next coach will inherit two all-conference players in guard Deshon Taylor (first team) and forward Bryson Williams (third team) and three transfers that will be eligible next season in guards Noah Blackwell and Braxton Huggins and forward/center Eric Vila.

Deshon Taylor has said he will return, but is finishing school this summer and could play elsewhere next season as a graduate transfer.

Also, there are questions about the infrastructure and program support at Fresno State, which ranks in the bottom half of the Mountain West in basketball spending. Terry left not only with two all-conference players returning, but with three years remaining on his contract. He was paid $600,000 in 2017-18, his salary ranking seventh among head coaches in the conference.

That disparity could grow if Gonzaga joins the Mountain West, a move that could come within the next two weeks. Gonzaga invests $8.87 million a year on basketball, and coach Mark Few is paid $1.93 million. Fresno State spends about $3.29 million a year on basketball.

This story was originally published March 27, 2018 at 2:17 PM with the headline "Bulldogs closing in on next basketball coach; target to hire just after Final Four."