Providence filled its vacant head-coaching position on Sunday, announcing that South Florida’s Bryan Hodgson accepted the job as the Bulls’ next men’s basketball leader.

Syracuse is expected to officially name alum Gerry McNamara, a longtime Orange assistant who spent the past two seasons as head coach of Siena, to that same role in the next couple of days, per reports.

Providence, of course, shares membership in the Big East with UConn. The Orange and the Huskies have a storied history, meeting 90 times between 1956 and 2018.

But what is the immediate impact of these coaching changes on UConn?

South Florida and Siena will need to find their next head coaches. And the names of two of Dan Hurley’s top UConn lieutenants are likely to show up – again – on lists of potential candidates for a head coaching job.

Earlier this month, both The Athletic and The Post-Standard in Syracuse  identified UConn assistant coaches Luke Murray and Kimani Young as names that could intrigue the Orange. Other media reports potentially linked Young with the job at Pitt, should it come open (it didn’t), and Murray with Boston College. That job remains unfilled.

Both Syracuse and Providence – schools in basketball power conferences – hired coaches with experience leading programs. It would be stunning if Murray and Young, who have learned from one of the best in Dan Hurley, don’t get a strong look for the openings at Siena and South Florida. And it would be a shock if Murray and Young weren’t interested.

Both teams are coming off NCAA Tournament appearances, losing in the first round.

Siena, the No. 16 seed in the East Region, gave No. 1 Duke all it could handle on Thursday. The Saints led the Blue Devils by double digits at the half but ran out of steam at the end, falling 71-65 in what would have been one of the biggest upsets in tournament history.

Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said McNamara outcoached him that day.

South Florida, the No. 11 seed in the loaded East Region, lost 83-79 to No. 6 Louisville. Hodgson coached the team just this season, finishing with a 25-9 (15-3 American Conference) record. It was the first visit to the tournament for the program since 2012, when the Bulls were coached by former Arkansas head coach Stan Heath.

Siena (23-12, 13-7 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) has shown since 2000 that it is well-regarded in the profession as a steppingstone for coaches.

Paul Hewitt coached the Saints for three seasons (1997-2000) before he was snatched by Georgia Tech. He took the Yellow Jackets to the Final Four in 2004.

Louis Orr succeeded him, and after a 20-11 season, Seton Hall snapped him up. Orr then led the Pirates to two NCAA Tournament appearances in five seasons.

Siena hired Fran McCaffery before the 2005-06 season, and he lasted at the quaint campus just outside Albany, N.Y., for five seasons before Iowa came calling. McCaffery’s Saints went to the NCAA Tournament in each of his final three seasons, twice advancing to the second round.

Murray, the son of actor Bill Murray, has been on Hurley’s staff since the 2021-22 season but has been with the head coach longer than that.

UConn is the ninth stop in his basketball career, which has taken him from his first job as director of operations at Quinnipiac in the 2007-08 season to Post to Arizona to Wagner to Towson to Rhode Island to Xavier to Louisville and finally to UConn.

He served as an assistant coach to Hurley at Wagner (2010-11) and Rhode Island (2013-15) before joining him with the Huskies.

Murray has taken a lead role as a recruiter and mentor for the post players.

Young has worked mostly with the long line of talented guards to come through UConn. He joined the Huskies staff ahead of the 2018-19 season, first as an assistant coach and as the associate head coach since 2020.

He began his career as the athletic director of a nonprofit organization in New York and held roles with additional community groups in the city. He broke into the college ranks as the video coordinator at St. John’s in the 2008-09 season, then spent a season at Florida International before working on Richard Pitino’s staff at Minnesota from 2013-18.

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