Sources: Texas fires Terry after falling in First 4

Texas has informed men’s basketball head coach Rodney Terry he has been fired, sources told ESPN.

Terry led the Longhorns to the Elite Eight in 2023 after taking over midseason for Chris Beard, then went to the NCAA tournament in each of the past two seasons. Texas lost to Xavier 86-80 in the First Four on Wednesday.

This ends Terry’s second stint in Austin after also spending nine seasons as an assistant coach under Rick Barnes from 2002-11, helping the Longhorns reach the 2003 Final Four. He served as the head coach at Fresno State from 2011-18, going to the NCAA tournament in 2016, and then spent three seasons as the head coach at UTEP from 2018-21.

Terry returned to Texas when Beard was hired in 2021. He took over as the program’s interim head coach in December 2022, when Beard was suspended and ultimately fired a month later after a felony domestic violence arrest, a charge that was later dismissed. Terry guided Texas to the Big 12 tournament championship and a 2-seed in the NCAA tournament, before making a run to the Elite Eight that year.

Following the Longhorns’ defeat to Miami in the regional final, Terry agreed to a five-year deal to become the school’s long-term head coach.

Terry’s teams failed to get out of the first weekend of the NCAA tournament in each of the past two seasons. Texas went 21-13 in 2023-24, earning a 7-seed. The Longhorns went 19-16 overall and 6-12 in SEC play this season.

Xavier’s Sean Miller is expected to be among the top targets for Texas, sources told ESPN. Athletic director Chris Del Conte did extensive legwork on Miller before promoting Terry to the job in 2023.

The search for Terry’s replacement is expected to unfold quickly. Del Conte has shown in recent searches in baseball, women’s basketball and football that he has a candidate lined up to take the job before firing the coach. For example, he hired Steve Sarkisian to be the school’s head football coach hours after firing Tom Herman in January 2021.

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