Road Well-Traveled: Chicago State's Lance Irvin on List of Coaching Nomads
Seems as if it took a vagabond to know one. When Tim Jankovich joined Larry Brown at Southern Methodist as coach-in-waiting before moving over one chair to become bench boss, it paired two wanderlust mentors. Florida A&M pilot Bobby McCullum is the only active coach to pack his suitcase as often for so many moves.
SMU is the fifth different university Jankovich has worked for in the state of Texas. That's the same number of Illinois colleges for which new Chicago State bench boss and former SMU aide Lance Irvin has toiled. Following is a look at the pit stops for active head coaches who worked for a total of at least 10 different junior colleges, four-year universities and NBA franchises in a coaching capacity (listed chronologically):
Tim Jankovich (13) - Pan American, Kansas State, Texas, Colorado State, Baylor, Oklahoma State, *North Texas, *Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College, Vanderbilt, Illinois, Kansas, *Illinois State and *SMU.
Bobby McCullum (13) - South Alabama, Samford, Southern Illinois, Kansas State, Florida, Illinois, *Western Michigan, *South Florida, San Francisco, UCF, Georgia Tech, Oregon and *Florida A&M.
Chris Jans (11) - Elmhurst College (Ill.), Grand View College (Iowa), *Kirkwood (Iowa), *Independence (Kan.), Idaho, *Howard (Tex.), *Chipola (Fla.), Illinois State, Wichita State, *Bowling Green and *New Mexico State.
Billy Kennedy (11) - *Southeastern Louisiana, New Orleans, Wyoming, Northwestern State, Tulane, *Texas A&M, Creighton, California, *Centenary, Miami (Fla.) and *Murray State.
Chris Beard (10) - Texas, Incarnate Word (Tex.), Abilene Christian (Tex.), North Texas, *Fort Scott (Kan.), *Seminole State (Fla.), *Texas Tech, *McMurry (Tex.), *Angelo State (Tex.) and *UALR.
Mike Dunlap (10) - *Loyola Marymount, Iowa, Southern California, *Cal Lutheran, *Metro State (Colo.), Denver Nuggets, Arizona, Oregon, St. John's and *Charlotte Bobcats.
Dennis Felton (10) - Charles County Community College (Md.), Delaware, Tulane, St. Joseph's, Providence, Clemson, *Western Kentucky, *Georgia, Tulsa and *Cleveland State.
Lance Irvin (10) - Idaho, DePaul, Loyola of Chicago, Iowa State, Illinois State, Texas A&M, Missouri, SMU, Southern Illinois and *Chicago State.
Ritchie McKay (10) - Washington, Queens College (N.C.), Seattle Pacific, Bradley, *Portland State, *Colorado State, *Oregon State, *New Mexico, *Liberty and Virginia.
Tic Price (10) - Roanoke (Va.), Chattanooga, Virginia Tech, Old Dominion, Auburn, *New Orleans, *Memphis, *McNeese State, North Texas and *Lamar.
Pat Skerry (10) - Tufts (Mass.), Stonehill (Mass.), *Curry (Mass.), Northeastern, William & Mary, College of Charleston, Rhode Island, Providence, Pittsburgh and *Towson.
Buzz Williams (10) - Navarro (Tex.), Oklahoma City, Texas-Arlington, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Northwestern State, Colorado State, Texas A&M, *New Orleans, *Marquette and *Virginia Tech.
*Worked for team as head coach.