Western Michigan is expected to hire UT Rio Grande Valley's Kahil Fennell to be its next head coach, sources told ESPN.
Fennell just led the Vaqueros to their best conference record in program history. They finished 19-14 overall and 14-8 in the Southland, good enough for a third-place finish. UTRGV beat NCAA tournament team McNeese back in January and ultimately fell in the semifinals of the conference tournament to McNeese in three overtimes. The Vanqueros' KenPom ranking of No. 115 this season was the highest in program history.
In two seasons at UTRGV, Fennell finished 35-29 overall.
Prior to getting hired at UTRGV, Fennell was an assistant under Mark Pope at BYU for two seasons and was under Chris Mack at Louisville for four seasons, first as the program's director of basketball operations before being promoted to assistant coach in 2021-22.
Fennell will replace Dwayne Stephens, who was fired after four seasons earlier this month. Stephens went 42-84 in his time with the Broncos.
Western Michigan is planning to provide more revenue share money to the men's basketball program for the upcoming offseason, sources told ESPN, and the program is expected to be in the top half of the MAC when it comes to resources.
