Vanderbilt basketball to hire James Madison coach Mark Byington

Vanderbilt men's basketball is hiring James Madison's Mark Byington as its next head coach, a person with direct knowledge told The Tennessean on Monday. The person requested anonymity because no official announcement has been made.

Byington's Dukes were in the spotlight this season after finishing with a 32-4 record that included two upset wins over Big Ten teams: one over Michigan State in November and one as a 12-over-5 March Madness upset over Wisconsin.

During the 2022-23 season, James Madison finished with 22 wins and was ranked in the top 100 of KenPom, but it did not participate in any postseason tournament.

The Commodores parted ways with coach Jerry Stackhouse after a 9-23 season and a 4-14 SEC record. Stackhouse did not qualify for the NCAA tournament in five seasons at Vanderbilt.

Byington will owe a $500,000 buyout to James Madison.

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His hire goes back to the mold of the Commodores' previous two hires before Stackhouse. Kevin Stallings and Bryce Drew were both successful mid-major head coaches before getting the Vanderbilt job. Like Stallings and unlike Drew, Byington also had experience as a high-major assistant with stints at Virginia and Virginia Tech.

He also spent seven seasons as the head coach at Georgia Southern and part of 2012 as the interim head coach at College of Charleston. Not counting the interim stint, his teams have finished with winning records in nine of his 11 seasons as a head coach but won only one regular-season conference title and made only one NCAA tournament.