PHOENIX -- After 25 years in the Bay Area, Randy Bennett is coming home to the Valley.

Sources report that Bennett, who grew up in nearby Mesa and led Saint Mary’s to 12 NCAA tournament bids since 2001, has agreed to a deal to become the 20th head coach of Arizona State men’s basketball.

Bennett has been especially good in recent years, leading the Gaels to the NCAA tournament each of the last five seasons.

The Sun Devils, on the other hand, haven't been to the tournament since 2023, with former ASU head coach Bobby Hurley failing to win a tournament game past the First Four in his 11-year tenure.

Bennett started his playing career at Mesa Community College, playing two years under his father, Tom, before transferring to UC San Diego.

In Bennett’s most recent year at the helm in Moraga, Saint Mary’s locked up a No. 7 seed in the Big Dance, but fell to Texas A&M 63-50 in the first round.

Before that, the Gaels pieced together a 27-6 record and clinched a share of the WCC regular-season title for the fourth straight season.

Bennett’s calling card is, without a doubt, his defense. Saint Mary’s has led the WCC in scoring defense in six straight seasons, including two years in that stretch where the Gaels held opponents to fewer than 60 points per game. 

Last year, Saint Mary’s gave up the seventh fewest points per game in Division I.

Bennett is also among the best at recruiting international talent, specifically building a pipeline to Australia. Two of the most notable Australian professional players of the 21st century, Matthew Dellavedova and Patty Mills, are Saint Mary’s alums.

This may be a key weapon in Bennett’s attempt to keep rising sophomore center Massamba Diop in Tempe. 

Diop, a Senegal native and future NBA draft prospect, was the Sun Devils’ second leading scorer in the 2025-26 campaign. Additionally, Bennett is represented by The Team, the same sports agency that represents Diop and a collection of his teammates.

Further, Bennett’s move could pay dividends for ASU’s transfer portal class. The Gaels only had one senior on their roster in 2025-26 and featured a wide selection of sophomores and freshmen in the rotation.

The centerpiece of that squad is rising senior forward Paulinas Murauskas, who poured in 18.4 points and 7.6 rebounds per game on his way to being named to the All-WCC First Team for the second season in a row.

On top of that, Murauskas is no stranger to college basketball in the Grand Canyon State. Before spending two years at Saint Mary’s, the Lithuania native played his freshman year under Tommy Lloyd, another WCC product, at Arizona in 2023-24.

In the backcourt, rising junior guards Mikey Lewis and Joshua Dent both dropped over 13 points per game, with Lewis putting on one of the best individual performances in college basketball this season with a 31-point outburst in the Gaels’ win over No. 9 Gonzaga on Feb. 28.

Between Bennett’s departure from Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga’s departure from the West Coast Conference, Saint Mary’s could see a mass exodus of players. Bennett will hope to make ASU a landing spot for many of these players.

As for the outlook of the Sun Devils’ program, the hiring of Bennett indicates an apparent shift in standards at Desert Financial Arena as the arena itself prepares for a renovation.