Training Ground: Murray State Among Six Schools Losing Seven Head Coaches

The departure of Steve Prohm to Iowa State enabled Murray State to join the list of schools losing at least seven head coaches over the years to other major colleges or the NBA. The Racers lost four coaches to other universities in a 14-year span from 1985 to 1998. Prohm could join three other former Murray coaches in the 2016 NCAA playoffs (North Carolina State's Mark Gottfried, Cincinnati's Mick Cronin and Texas A&M's Billy Kennedy).

Incredibly, Tulsa lost four coaches in a seven-year period from 1995 to 2001. Other schools losing coaches in comparable short spans include Idaho (11 years from 1983 to 1993), Princeton (12 years from 2000 to 2011), New Orleans (14 years from 1994 to 2007) and Penn (15 years from 1971 to 1985).

Unlike POTUS, at least some universities have a strategy to win their basketball wars by knowing where to go for a competent coach. Following is an alphabetical list of the six DI schools - five of them mid-major institutions - losing seven head coaches to other DI schools or the pros:

Idaho - Dave MacMillan (left for Minnesota/1927), Dave Strack (Michigan/1960), Joe Cipriano (Nebraska/1963), Don Monson (Oregon/1983), Tim Floyd (New Orleans/1988), Kermit Davis (Texas A&M/1990), Larry Eustachy (Utah State/1993)

Kansas State - Jack Gardner (Utah/1953), Tex Winter (Washington/1968), Cotton Fitzsimmons (Phoenix Suns/1970), Lon Kruger (Florida/1990), Dana Altman (Creighton/1994), Bob Huggins (West Virginia/2008), Frank Martin (South Carolina/2012)

Montana - Jud Heathcote (Michigan State/1976), Jim Brandenburg (Wyoming/1978), Mike Montgomery (Stanford/1986), Stew Morrill (Colorado State/1991), Pat Kennedy (Towson/2004), Larry Krystkowiak (assistant with Milwaukee Bucks/2006), Wayne Tinkle (Oregon State/2014)

Murray State - Ron Greene (Indiana State/1985), Steve Newton (South Carolina/1991), Scott Edgar (Duquesne/1995), Mark Gottfried (Alabama/1998), Mick Cronin (Cincinnati/2006), Billy Kennedy (Texas A&M/2011), Steve Prohm (Iowa State/2015)

Penn - Howie Dallmar (Stanford/1954), Jack McCloskey (Wake Forest/1966), Dick Harter (Oregon/1971), Chuck Daly (assistant with Philadelphia 76ers/1977), Bob Weinhauer (Arizona State/1982), Craig Littlepage (Rutgers/1985), Fran Dunphy (Temple/2006)

Tulsa - Ken Hayes (New Mexico State/1975), Nolan Richardson Jr. (Arkansas/1985), Tubby Smith (Georgia/1995), Steve Robinson (Florida State/1997), Bill Self (Illinois/2000), Buzz Peterson (Tennessee/2001), Danny Manning (Wake Forest/2014)