As the college basketball coaching carousel begins to spin faster by the day, one name keeps rising above the noise: Josh Schertz.
If you’re a Syracuse Orange men’s basketball fan trying to peer into a post–Adrian Autry future, this is the “smaller school” candidate everyone keeps whispering about. And for good reason.
Schertz isn’t just hot right now—he’s white-hot.
In just his second season at Saint Louis Billikens men’s basketball, the Billikens sit at 22–1, flirting with what could be the best season in school history. That alone would put him on every AD’s radar. But the résumé goes much deeper than one great year.
Before Saint Louis, Schertz built a juggernaut at Lincoln Memorial (Division II), turning it into one of the best programs in the country. Then he jumped to Indiana State and did something no one had done there since a guy named Larry Bird was on campus: he won big and consistently. Now, he’s proving that success wasn’t level-dependent. It’s coach-dependent.
That matters for Syracuse.
Schertz checks every box decision-makers claim they want. He’s an evaluator who finds players that fit his system. A developer who makes them better. A communicator players love. And an elite X’s-and-O’s coach whose teams are organized, disciplined, and extremely hard to guard. In other words, the opposite of chaotic.
So why is Saint Louis even worried about keeping him?
Because this cycle is going to be loud. High-major jobs will open. Pressure from fan bases will mount. And Schertz’s name will be at or near the top of most shortlists. He could have chased a power-conference job when he left Indiana State two years ago—but he didn’t. That tells you something.
He’s selective.
Schertz understands the trap. Jump too soon to the wrong “big” job and you’re fired in three years with nothing to show for it. That’s why Saint Louis made sense: strong basketball commitment, no football siphoning resources, and a league where winning is realistic. In many ways, it’s a modern version of what Shaka Smart had at VCU.
Could Saint Louis keep him? Maybe. The Billikens are one of the better A-10 jobs financially and structurally. But Syracuse isn’t Saint Louis. The Carrier Dome aura. The ACC platform. The chance to revive a blue-blood-adjacent program? That’s different.
If Autry is, as many believe, nearing the end of the line, Syracuse has to decide what it wants to be. A nostalgia-driven program clinging to its past? Or a modern operation willing to identify elite coaching talent before it becomes obvious?
Josh Schertz is obvious now.
And that’s exactly why Syracuse should already be paying attention.
