Mark Byington Evaluates Vanderbilt Basketball Assistant Coaching Hires

NASHVILLE—At this stage, Mark Byington’s analysis of how good this Vanderbilt team will be relative to his first two could be way off. He knows he’s got a few proven pieces at the top of the roster and the biggest frontline he’s had to date, but everything is still in flux with just three returning players and three new staff members. 

Byington has hopes that this Vanderbilt team can go further than the program has gone at any point throughout his tenure, but that can only happen if he can set the foundation over the next few months. 

“There’s so many things that have gotta get into place,” Byington told Vandy on SI. “That’s a big portion of what we’re working on this summer.” 

Byington’s three new assistants need time to get acclimated, but he’s okay with that. He has longstanding relationships with all three that lead him to believe that they’re right for his program at this stage. More importantly, he’s confident that they share the mission of taking Vanderbilt to places it’s never been before as a program. 

In a 34-minute interview, Byington’s clearest message was that he’s making sure his program isn’t complacent after a season in which it won 27 games and was one shot away from reaching the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Byington won’t come out and declare that the program is hunting for a Final Four berth, but he can’t see why that isn’t attainable and can’t be an aspiration that it has. 

When Byington met with now-assistant Rodney Terry–who joined the staff in the spring after Kenneth Mangrum’s departure to Georgia Tech–he articulated that if the program was being put in baseball terms, he felt that it was rounding second base on its way to finding home plate. Byington has respected Terry ever since he got to UNC Wilmington in the years following Byington moving on, but he wanted to make sure that he was still hungry to win at the highest level. He believes he received a resounding positive response from Terry in that regard. 

It was only two seasons ago that Terry led Texas to the NCAA Tournament before being let go in favor of now-head coach Sean Miller. That experience allows him to understand what Byington is going through as an SEC head coach, which Byington values. Terry spent the last year on the sidelines calling games for SEC Network–where he called a few Vanderbilt games–and scouting for the New Orleans Pelicans, but he was chomping at the bit to get back in the business. 

And Byington was equally as enthusiastic to be the one to give Terry a chance. He recalls Terry being an elite assistant for a number of years and believes his relationships on the recruiting trail will make a difference for Vanderbilt. 

“Rodney Terry is a steal for us, truthfully,” Byington said. “He knows the league, has been successful in the league. He’s recruited at an extremely high level with one-and-done players to professional players.” 

Byington also believes Vanderbilt will benefit from the recruiting acumen of Joel Justus–a former NC State, Ohio State and Kentucky assistant that joined the staff after Jon Cremins’ departure from the program. Byington tried to get Justus to join his staff when he took the Vanderbilt job in 2024, but Justus had already committed to joining Jake Diebler at Ohio State when Byington called him and didn’t want to back out of his promise. 

Two years later, though, the timing was right. 

Byington and Justus have had a long-standing relationship as a result of their shared alma mater–UNC Wilmington–and have kept tabs on each other over the years. Now, Byington is leaning on Justus to recruit at a high level–which Byington says he’s “elite” at doing–and to be a sounding board for him on the offensive end. Byington has called the majority of Vanderbilt’s plays in his first two years, but he tells Vandy on SI that he might hand off some of those responsibilities–including some playcalling duties–to Justus. Byington also says Justus will pick up some of the general-manager-esque responsibilities that Cremins handled before his departure. 

“I think he’s got a tremendous basketball mind,” Byington said. “I just have a trust level. He knows modern-day basketball. He understands how all this works.” 

In a way, Byington demonstrated his acumen for understanding modern-day college basketball by hiring former Link Academy head coach Chad Myers as his Director of Recruiting. Byington says Myers’ role isn’t quite that of a GM, but that he’s uniquely equipped to elevate the level Vanderbilt recruits at. 

Vanderbilt was deep in the mix for Myers’ former player—five-star guard Davion Thompson—-and has landed five-star recruit Gabe Nesmith since Myers joined the staff. 

Byington coached Myers when Myers was a player at Hargrave Military Academy. Since then, Byington has seen Myers become entrenched on the recruit circuits and in high school circles.

“Chad’s another person who really understands the dynamics of modern recruiting and how it works,” Byington said. “He’s extremely tight with agents, he’s been in grassroots, he knows every side of the recruiting process. He also understands development. 
And so his main two things are going to be recruiting and development of our players.”

Byington doesn’t have any declarations in regard to whether this is the best staff he’s assembled to date, but it’s his most experienced since taking the Vanderbilt job a few cycles ago and has the most recognizable names to date. 

Perhaps they could develop his best team to date.

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