Connect the Dots: Wofford Expected to Replace Dwight Perry with a Former Terrier

What in the Wide World of Sports is a going on at Wofford? You don’t have to be an expert in SoCon basketball to connect the dots.

Allow me to share a few data points. Once I set the table, it’s easy to connect the dots.

Dwight Perry was Abruptly Fired

The former Kentucky walk-on was fired as the Wofford head coach just a few weeks before the start of practice for the 2025-26 season. He had a 48-43 record over three seasons. Dwight Perry was an interim coach who was promoted to the full-time gig. After his second full year as the head coach, the Terriers won the SoCon Tournament, advancing to the Big Dance for the first time since 2019.

A Report of NCAA Violations

On Thursday, On3’s Jeff Goodman reported six players were deemed ineligible for receiving improper benefits. The upperclassmen on the team were given a dining plan reserved for students who lived on campus. Those basketball players didn’t get into on-campus dorms, so they lived in off-campus apartments. Within 24 hours of these reported Level 3 violations, the players were reinstated.

Wofford Hires One of Its Own

Kevin Giltner is expected to be named the next head coach at Wofford, Matt Norlander reports. Giltner played at Wofford from 2008-12, where the Terriers went to two NCAA Tournaments under Mike Young.

Following his playing days, Giltner joined Young’s staff as an assistant coach at Wofford. He followed Young to Virginia Tech and has spent the last six seasons in Blacksburg.

Connect the Dots

It doesn’t take Pepe Silvio to figure this one out. Scott Hamilton of The Post and Courier in Charleston, SC connected them rather easily.

Most Level 3 violations are not discovered by the NCAA. They are self-reported. Did Wofford take a page from Tennessee’s playbook to oust Jeremy Pruitt? The Vols admitted their head coach gave recruits money in McDonald’s bags to run him out of Knoxville and hire Josh Heupel. It’s worked out pretty well for them in Knoxville.

Even though Perry reportedly signed a five-year contract extension this spring, it seems like a few folks wanted to bring back one of their own to lead the Wofford basketball program. Hamilton spoke to an attorney who gave two jaw-dropping quotes.

“The million-dollar question is what motivated Wofford to fire coach Perry and coach Anderson,” Scott Tompsett, Anderson’s Kansas City, Mo.-based attorney, said. “Having represented NCAA institutions, coaches and student-athletes in hundreds of infractions cases over 35 years, I’ve never seen an institution mismanage and aggravate a situation like Wofford has in this case.”

“The NCAA looked at Wofford’s self-report and effectively rolled its eyes,” Tompsett said. “But Wofford looked at the same set of facts and fired their two senior coaches who just coached the team to the SoCon championship and took them to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019. I’m dumbfounded.”

Dumbfounded is a good description of this case, but you should always expect the unexpected in the Wild World of college sports.