By Kevin Sweeney

Milwaukee thought it had its head coach of the future.

Just a year ago, following the stunning firing of Rob Jeter, the Panthers hired Michigan assistant LaVall Jordan to be its head coach. Jordan seemingly had the program headed in the right direction after one season, but he left for Butler 8 days ago following the hiring of Chris Holtmann at Ohio State.

Now, Milwaukee will look to one of the top candidates from last season’s search to take over the reigns of the program.

Multiple media outlets are reporting that Northwestern assistant Pat Baldwin has been hired as the head coach of Milwaukee. CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish was first to report this news. Baldwin spent 4 seasons on Chris Collins’ staff at Northwestern and helped lead the Wildcats to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in program history. Baldwin has also worked on staffs at Missouri State, Loyola-Chicago, and Green Bay, so he has deep ties to the midwest region.

Baldwin was a standout guard for Northwestern during his playing career, and has gained a strong reputation for his work developing guards such as Blake Shib (Loyola), JR Blount (Loyola), Marcus Marshall (Missouri State), and Bryant McIntosh (Northwestern).

At this time, Milwaukee has one scholarship available for the 2017-18 season. However, as we saw last season when Jeter was fired, it is very possible that the Milwaukee roster could see plenty of turnover as a result of this coaching change. Currently, the Panthers return 4 starters from last season’s team, which looks to continue the momentum from a surprising run to the Horizon League title game.