Former Ole Miss head basketball coach Andy Kennedy has emerged as the frontrunner and is on the verge of landing the UAB head job, according to hoops insider Jeff Goodman.

247Sports Evan Daniels is also reporting that Kennedy has agreed to a 6-year deal.

Following his 12-year tenure at Ole Miss, Kennedy was featured on the SEC Network in 2019-20 as an in-game analyst, studio analyst and sideline reporter. Kennedy played at UAB from 1987-90 and was an assistant there in 1995-2001. Robert Ehsan, UAB’s previous coach, was dismissed after leading the Blazers to a 76-57 overall record in 4 seasons.

Kennedy has had assistant coaching stops at South Alabama, UAB and Cincinnati before head coaching jobs at Cincy and Ole Miss. He was named the interim head coach at Cincinnati after Bob Huggins resigned.

Kennedy recorded 245 wins at Ole Miss from 2006 to 2018, appearing in the NCAA Tournament 2 times and the NIT 6 times.