Staff changes in college basketball are the norm, no matter the stature of your program.

When those changes do take place, the type of change is oftentimes what signifies the stature of your program.

This time last year, Michigan Women's Basketball was readying to return plenty of familiar faces on the court,

while its assistant coaching staff was completely different.

That offseason, Toyo Wilson became the head coach at SMU, while Kim Barnes-Riko's other two assistants

moved on to similar roles with other power conference programs.

Earn your first sweet 16 birth?

Yeah, you're probably going to have to try to replace talent everywhere, including on the sidelines. Fast forward to the here and now. Certainly,

there's more continuity this offseason with Val Nainima and Harry Rafferty set to return. But

Arrico's coaching tree is continuing to cover more ground as Carrie Kerry Moore became a RICO's fourth assistant at

Michigan to parlay that into a head coaching opportunity with Moore heading to Harvard. So Moore's

hiring there, of course, created an opening here in Ann Arbor. Kim Barnes-Riko followed a similar

path to fill the position.

For a second straight season, Michigan plucked an outstanding assistant coach and

recruiting coordinator from a North Carolina-based power.

More from UNC, and now the newcomer Aaron Bath from NC State.

High energy, check.

Crazy experienced, check.

And fittingly enough, motivated by a really tough loss in the elite eight, check.

Time will tell if this is truly a great fit, if it does check all of the boxes.

But on paper, it feels like another reload for a coaching staff and for a steadily rising

Michigan women's basketball program.

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