In some shocking news on Friday, it was revealed that long-time Loyola-Chicago head coach Porter Moser would be leaving the small school that he has led to unprecedented success to become the head coach at Oklahoma.
This leaves a vacancy open that actually touches Michigan State in a few ways due to the fact that Drew Valentine, brother of Spartan legend Denzel Valentine, might be next in line for that head coaching position after spending the last four seasons on Moser’s staff at Loyola as an assistant.
Chicago Sun Times contributor Joe Henricksen said on Friday that he does ‘fully expect’ Drew Valentine to be named head coach of the Ramblers:
Fully expect Loyola assistant coach Drew Valentine to replace Porter Moser and be named the next head coach of the Ramblers.
— Joe Henricksen (@joehoopsreport) April 2, 2021
College basketball insider Jeff Goodman also expects Valentine to take the role:
Would be extremely surprised if Drew Valentine isn’t evelated to take Porter Moser’s spot at Loyola Chicago.
Denzel’s brother has been an assistant for the Rambers. https://t.co/7GIl3K27Qh
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 2, 2021
Aside from the obvious connection to Denzel, this affects the Spartans in another way, albeit one that has only been speculated on. Many MSU fans had hoped that Drew Valentine might come to Michigan State as an assistant coach. He had previously been on Izzo’s staff as a graduate manager after playing college ball for Oakland.
Valentine has started to get a lot of buzz in the college coaching community for his work with Loyola over their extremely productive four seasons during his tenure. Those hopes now seem to be up in smoke after Moser’s departure.
