Vanderbilt basketball lands coach who vanquished Wisconsin in NCAA Tournament
Vanderbilt University’s men’s basketball program is hiring former James Madison University head coach Mark Byington as its next head coach.
The news broke Monday, two days removed from the Dukes’ 72-61 victory over Wisconsin in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
Byington led James Madison to a record-setting 32 wins and the program’s first bid to March Madness in over 40 years. JMU kick-started its 2023-2024 campaign with 14 consecutive triumphs and punched its ticket to the tournament with a win over Arkansas State in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament title game.
On March 23, the 12-seeded Dukes held a lead against No. 5 Wisconsin for the entire contest en route to an 11-tally win. Byington’s group would drop its next game to Duke in the Round of 32, but his postseason run certainly garnered the attention of the Commodores’ decision makers.
BREAKING: Vanderbilt is hiring James Madison’s Mark Byington as its next head coach, sources told me and @PeteThamel. Byington just led the Dukes to a record-setting 32-4 season, highlighted by a win at Michigan State and an NCAA tournament victory over Wisconsin. pic.twitter.com/IUCNLRncJK
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) March 25, 2024
Byington is slated to replace Jerry Stackhouse, a former NBA All-Star. Stackhouse manned Vanderbilt’s sidelines for five seasons and led the Commodores to 22 wins in 2022-2023 without an NCAA Tournament appearance.
