The first firing of the 2026 women’s college basketball season has happened.
Virginia Commonwealth University announced Beth O’Boyle’s dismissal on Monday. Rams assistant Kirk Crawford will serve as the interim coach for the remainder of the season.
‘We want to thank Coach O’Boyle for her service to VCU and her dedication to our student-athletes. We will not renew her contract and she will not coach the remainder of the season. We wish her all the best in her future endeavors,” VCU athletic director Ed McLaughlin said in a statement. “We will begin a national search immediately.”
O’Boyle had been the head coach at VCU for 12 seasons, with an overall record of 191-168 which made her the winningest coach in program history. She won the A-10 regular season title in 2019, and in 2021 won the conference tournament to punch the Rams’ ticket to the NCAA Tournament — VCU’s lone trip to March Madness in her decade-plus tenure.
VCU had a 26-win season in 2023-24, but went 12-19 last season and are 8-15 so far this season. The Rams’ dip has come during a time where other mid-major programs around Virginia, including James Madison and city rival Richmond, have experienced consistent success and gone to the NCAA Tournament.
McLaughlin has publicly said VCU will push $5 million in NIL payments towards its men’s and women’s basketball programs. That, coupled with VCU having strong facilities, being in a competitive women’s basketball conference and being close to fertile recruiting ground in the DMV, had multiple agents and coaches describing the opening to USA Today Sports as an “elite” and “great” job.
So, who might fill the opening? Here’s a handful of names worth considering.
Gabe Lazo, Tennessee assistant
Widely regarded as one of the top recruiters in the sport, Lazo seems ready for the big chair. In two seasons at Tennessee, he helped Kim Caldwell sign multiple McDonald’s All-Americans while also pulling in talented players from the transfer portal. Prior to joining the Lady Vols, Lazo worked at Mississippi State, George Washington, Stony Brook and FIU, going to three NCAA Tournaments. After playing at FIU and Division II Barry, Lazo worked as a head coach in the high school and AAU ranks around Miami, where he was a three-time high school coach of the year and led his AAU team to the Nike Nationals. Because of his well-traveled career as a collegiate assistant, connections in the AAU world and reputation as an ace recruiter, Lazo could be a top candidate for several head coach openings this cycle — especially any jobs in his native Florida.
Neil Harrow, LIU head coach
Harrow is in his first season coaching the Long Island Sharks, but is having a ton of success. LIU is 8-2 in Northeast Conference play this season — the third time since 2012 they’ve had that many conference victories. But before arriving at FIU, Harrow was the associate head coach at James Madison for three years, where the Dukes went 79-26 and played in the NCAA Tournament in 2023, then made a run to the WBIT quarterfinals in 2025. Harrow was also an assistant at Troy for seven seasons, helping the Trojans earn four NCAA Tournament bids. A native of Scotland, he has also coached professionally in Spain and spent a season as an assistant for the WNBA’s LA Sparks. If LIU goes to March Madness in Harrow’s first season, his hire would be an easy sell.
Erin Dickerson-Davis, William & Mary head coach
Last season, Dickerson-Davis did something no other coach had done before: She took William & Mary to the NCAA Tournament. She’s 60-55 in four seasons as the head coach in Williamsburg, Virginia, which has historically been a difficult place to build a winning basketball program. Dickerson-Davis had a winning record in conference play in her first two seasons though, then guided the Tribe to the Coastal Athletic Association Tournament championship last season. A native of Chicago and a graduate of Northwestern, she was a candidate for the DePaul opening last season after the retirement of Doug Bruno, but she’s spent the majority of her coaching career on the East Coast. Dickerson-Davis had stops at Furman, La Salle, Towson, Georgetown and Wake Forest before landing the head gig at William & Mary. She’ll check a lot of boxes for VCU’s search committee.
Roneeka Hodges, Connecticut Sun assistant
If VCU wants to go outside the box, few assistant coaches in the WNBA have better reputations than Hodges, widely seen as a rising star in the coaching ranks. After a lengthy playing career that began with the now-defunct Houston Comets and ended with a club in Spain, Hodges worked two seasons in college basketball as an assistant at Old Dominion and Colgate, then landed on the New York Liberty’s bench. After the Liberty won the championship in 2024, she left for an assistant gig with the Connecticut Sun where she has an expanded role and more responsibilities. This year, Hodges is also a head coach in Unrivaled, guiding Phantom BC. VCU could do worse than taking a chance on Hodges.
Other potential names to watch: Howard head coach Ty Grace, Villanova assistant Michelle Baker-Sword, Johns Hopkins head coach Rodney Rogan, Illinois assistant Britney Anderson
