The Sun Devils have a new coach.
Not even two full weeks ago, Arizona State made official their decision to move on from Bobby Hurley after 11 seasons. Now, after a search that was notably short on leaks to the media, athletics director Graham Rossini has his man.
Randy Bennett is leaving St. Mary's after 25 seasons leading the Gaels.
BREAKING: Arizona State is finalizing a five-year deal with Saint Mary's Randy Bennett to make him the Sun Devils' next head coach, sources told me and @PeteThamel. Bennett is an Arizona native who has led Saint Mary's to 12 NCAA tournament appearances since taking over in 2001. pic.twitter.com/BUkgItfJ14
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) March 23, 2026
It's a homecoming for Bennett, who will turn 64 this summer. Born and raised in Mesa, Arizona, Bennett's father was a legendary coach at Mesa Community College. Bennett has turned into a pretty darn good coach himself, with 589 career wins and 12 NCAA Tournament appearances.
Bennett and St. Mary's participated in March Madness each of the last five years, thrice advancing to the second round. That's more appearances and wins than the Sun Devils have had in the past 17 years.
The Gaels' consistency under Bennett is made all the more impressive when factoring in the dominance of Gonzaga, who also plays in the West Coast conference. Despite routinely falling to Gonzaga in the conference tournament, Bennett still managed to reach the tournament consistently as an at-large bid, speaking to the overall success of the program.
Bennett has long been connected to Arizona State, but for varying reasons, the two sides never came together. Now, after two and a half decades of establishing himself as one of college basketball's best coaches, Bennett is coming home.
There will be questions about Bennett's longevity and whether his approach at St. Mary's - one that relied on finding overlooked prospects and heavily recruiting from overseas, namely Australia - can translate to the Big 12 stage. But the fact remains that this a huge get for Rossini.
Over the years, Bennett has often been courted by other programs hoping to lure him away from St. Mary's with the promise of greater resources, but Bennett always stayed put. For Rossini to be the one to pry him away, especially with a reported buyout of $2.65 million, it speaks volumes to the perception of this athletic department.
Without question, Bennett is the most accomplished coach to take over this program in quite some time. He'll have a Herculean task ahead of him - turning Arizona State into a winner and reigniting the fan base's interest in the program - but Bennett is clearly up for the challenge.