SMU Is Hiring Georgia State’s Rob Lanier

Southern Methodist University will hire Georgia State men’s basketball coach Rob Lanier, Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com reported Sunday.

Lanier, a 53-year-old New York City native who played at St. Bonaventure, will replace Tim Jankovich, who retired March 12.

“Now, we turn towards the future and are embarking on a national search for our next head coach,” said SMU AD Rick Hart when Jankovich retired. “With a rich tradition, passionate and generous supporters, tremendous facilities, a great gameday environment, and a world-class university located in Dallas, Texas, there will be strong interest in this opportunity.”

Lanier went 53-30 (.639) in three seasons at Georgia State, leading them to the Sun Belt Conference tournament championship and an NCAA Tournament bid this season. They lost to overall No. 1 seed Gonzaga in the first round.

Lanier previously served as the head coach at Siena in the early 2000s before serving as an assistant at Virginia, Tennessee, Florida and Texas.

He is one of several coaches from a low- or mid-major school to leverage an NCAA Tournament bid into a higher-profile job. Former San Francisco coach Todd Golden took over at Florida, Chattanooga’s Lamont Paris is the new head coach at South Carolina, LSU’s Matt McMahon was at Murray State and ex-New Mexico State coach Chris Jans got the Mississippi State job.

Shaheen Holloway, the head coach at No. 15 Saint Peter’s, which has made stirring run to the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament, is widely expected to replace Kevin Willard at Seton Hall whenever their tournament run ends.