Arizona St. hires Saint Mary’s Bennett as new HC

Arizona State is hiring Saint Mary’s Randy Bennett as its next head coach, the school announced Monday.

Bennett is receiving a five-year contract, sources told ESPN.

Saint Mary’s is expected to promote associate head coach Mickey McConnell as Bennett’s replacement, sources told ESPN. McConnell played for Bennett from 2007 to 11 and has been on the Gaels’ coaching staff since 2019.

“It was going to take a special situation for us to leave Saint Mary’s, and I am energized, driven, and focused on taking over Sun Devil Basketball, a program I am very familiar with and grew up watching,” Bennett said in a statement. “We are in the best basketball conference in the nation and I look forward to the opportunity and am excited to meet everyone who wants to help this program reach our goals in the new landscape. My staff and I will be ready for the challenge.”

Bennett, 63, is an Arizona native who has guided Saint Mary’s to 12 NCAA tournament appearances since taking over in 2001. Under Bennett, Saint Mary’s has won at least a share of four straight WCC regular-season championships and gone to each of the past five NCAA tournaments. The Gaels made a Sweet 16 appearance back in 2010 as a 10-seed, upsetting 2-seed Villanova in the second round.

Before Bennett’s arrival in 2001, Saint Mary’s had made just three NCAA tournament appearances and won four conference championships, and the Gaels went 2-27 the season before he was hired.

He built Saint Mary’s into one of the nation’s most consistent mid-major programs under his watch, winning at least 20 games in 18 of the last 19 seasons, including a 30-win season in 2017-18. After being ranked in the AP Top 25 in just two seasons in program history, the Gaels were ranked for at least one week in 12 different seasons under Bennett, including eight of the last 10 seasons. Bennett won West Coast Conference Coach of the Year seven times, developing a healthy conference rivalry with Mark Few and mid-major powerhouse Gonzaga.

At Arizona State, Bennett will replace Bobby Hurley, whose contract was not renewed after this past season. Hurley was at the helm in Tempe for 11 seasons, guiding the Sun Devils to three NCAA tournament appearances.

“Coach Bennett is one of the most accomplished and respected coaches in college basketball. We were drawn to his sustained success over multiple decades, his strong recruiting relationships across the country, particularly on the West Coast, and his proven ability to identify and develop international talent. Just as important, he brings a genuine enthusiasm for leading the Sun Devil Men’s Basketball program,” Arizona State athletic director Graham Rossini said in a statement.

The hire is a significant one for ASU and another signal of the increased commitment to athletics at the school, which has always been in question.

Bennett’s hire and the early NCAA tournament appearance of first-year women’s coach Molly Miller have provided an energy boost for ASU basketball. In football, ASU made a College Football Playoff appearance under Kenny Dillingham in 2024 and then locked up Dillingham to a five-year deal that included significant program commitments. Athletic director Graham Rossini, who was hired in May 2024, has pushed ASU forward in both the school’s marquee and non-revenue sports.

ASU won the inaugural Big 12’s Commissioner’s Cup, which is determined by graduation success rate, conference regular-season and postseason titles, and on-campus programs that focus on work in the community, mental health and career development.