James Madison recently had two of the top up-and-coming coaches in college football and basketball.
While Curt Cignetti patrolled the football sidelines in Harrisonburg, Va. from 2019 to 2023, Mark Byington was making a name for himself on the hardwood there from 2020 to 2024.
You already know what Cignetti accomplished in his first year as a head coach at the Power Four level.
Meanwhile, Byington took the head coaching position at Vanderbilt this season following a 32-4 season at JMU in 2023-24 that saw the Dukes advance to the NCAA Tournament Round of 32. In a difficult job in the country’s most challenging conference this season, Byington has Vanderbilt off to a 17-7 start, with wins over Tennessee, Kentucky and Texas.
Byington has been mentioned on various hot boards listing potential candidates to replace Mike Woodson as the IU basketball head coach, including ours. But is he a serious candidate?
Well known national college basketball reporter Adam Zagoria says Byington is a candidate, and he reported on X Saturday that Cignetti is making the case for his former JMU colleague.
“Amid the Brad Stevens news and the Chris Beard chatter, one name to keep in mind at Indiana is Mark Byington,” Zagoria wrote on X.
“I’m told Curt Cignetti is pushing for him at Indiana and he presumably has juice now after the football season.”
Zagoria often has scoops and breaks news in the sport, but is he right about this?
It only took a couple hours for Cignetti to catch wind of Zagoria’s post and issue a rebuttal.
“Not true. (Indiana AD) Scott Dolson knows a lot more about basketball than I do.” Cignetti said on X. “I have my own team to focus on.”
Zagoria seemed to concede to Cignetti with a response.
“Fair enough,” Zagoria wrote in a repost of Cignetti’s response. “Still think Byington is a fine candidate with a proven track record.”
Byington is from Virginia and played college basketball at UNC Wilmington. The 49-year-old has been a head coach for 13 seasons at College of Charleston, Georgia Southern, James Madison and Vanderbilt. Going into Saturday he had a career record of 237-144.
For complete coverage of IU basketball’s 2025 coaching search, GO HERE.
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