Steve Masiello is out as Manhattan‘s head coach, sources told ESPN, just two weeks before the start of the season.
Masiello was entering the final season of his contract and no agreement on an extension had been reached, sources told ESPN. Associate head coach RaShawn Stores is the leading candidate to be the interim head coach, sources said.
This would have been Masiello’s 12th season with the Jaspers. He emerged as one of the hottest young coaches in the country during the early part of his tenure at Manhattan, leading the program to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances in 2014 and 2015. The Jaspers haven’t finished above .500 since that last tourney appearance, however.
A longtime assistant under Rick Pitino at Louisville, Masiello nearly turned that early success at Manhattan into a bigger job. He was initially hired by South Florida in 2014, but the school discovered hours later that he had never received his degree from the University of Kentucky, where he was a walk-on for the basketball team. The deal was terminated, and Masiello returned to Manhattan.