Plenty of coaching vacancies will open up again at the end of this season. As we noted earlier this week, a number of coaches are set up to fail in the coming months. How well did athletic directors fill vacancies during the past offseason cycle, particularly in the scramble during and immediately following the NCAA tournament?
The writers you’ll read below graded various hires in real time last April; today, they return to refresh the discussion on the best and worst hires in college basketball for 2015.
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PART I: THE WORST HIRE OF THE PAST CYCLE
JOSEPH NARDONE
Dave Leitao — DePaul is forever going to DePaul, isn’t it? Leitao used to coach for the program, had a mild level of success, and then left for greener pastures where he failed miserably (at Virginia). I won’t mince words here: This has as much to do with DePaul’s way of being for the three decades I’ve been on this planet as much as it does with Leitao.
For what it is worth, Leitao has a winning record for his career. He is also one of the few humans to win 20 games with DePaul in the post-Ray Meyer era, which he did twice. Yet…
Wait, I’ll stop right there. My mother told me if I had nothing nice to say, to not say it at all. I will forever root for you, Blue Demons.
RYAN PALENCER
Chris Mullin — St. John’s, a “close but not quite” program over the past few years, needed a proven coach. I felt the Red Storm could have done better than grabbing a first-time head coach. Sure, Mullin has the ties to St. John’s the same way he did to Golden State. The Warriors marked his first stopping place as an executive in the NBA. Similar to the Rick Barnes situation mentioned previously, Steve Lavin had reached his expiration date with the program, and Mullin will generate buzz around St. John’s. I am just not sure he will generate wins, and that is what the program actually needs to return to prominence in the Big East.
MATT ZEMEK
Leitao or Mullin? The answer is yes. That’s the worst hire. (Coach Yes has a really bad track record.)
Joe and Ryan have said everything which needs to be said. I will briefly touch on two new hires that might not be bad (certainly not as bad as Leitao or Mullin), but raise eyebrows in a less-than-positive way.
Steve McClain and Eric Musselman are credentialed coaches. McClain not only made the 2002 NCAA Tournament; his Wyoming team beat the criminally underseeded Gonzaga team with Dan Dickau — remember that game at The Pit in Albuquerque? Musselman has enjoyed two tours of duty as an NBA head coach, one with the Golden State Warriors and one with the Sacramento Kings.
McClain and Musselman both know their hoops. Yet, if you’re Illinois-Chicago and Nevada, don’t you need younger coaches — assistants looking for a first head coaching job who are ready to make their mark? UIC hired McClain because, as an Indiana assistant under Tom Crean, he felt he could recruit near Chicago. Nevada wants Musselman’s expertise.
Again, these are not bad hires, but both men are in their fifties. They don’t seem to hit the sweet spot in terms of what a lagging mid-tier program outside the power conferences generally needs.
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PART II: THE BEST HIRE FROM THE OFFSEASON
NARDONE
Steve Prohm — Iowa State found considerable success under Fred Hoiberg. Initially, when the Mayor left for the NBA, it made many ponder how the Cyclones would be able to deal with life after Hoiberg. This uncertainty emerged because Iowa State isn’t a traditional power or annual top-10 team, which it was becoming under Hoiberg. Then, like magic, Iowa State went to the mid-major level and grabbed one of the best coaches no one has heard of in the entire country. Prohm wasn’t a secret by any means, but he wasn’t one of those go-to names for big jobs such as a Shaka Smart or Gregg Marshall. There’s very little reason to think Iowa State won’t do as well under him as it did with Hoiberg — as long as he recruits at a level The Mayor would appreciate.
PALENCER
Shaka Smart – It was clearly time for Rick Barnes to move on from Texas. We all knew it, despite the unbelievable success he had at a football school. Texas was in an odd spot. It had the money to spend on a coach, and needed to make a splash to maintain relevance over the long term. Smart was the perfect hire. He is a fiery, passionate leader, someone who understands his players. He built a perennial contender at VCU. He is the perfect hire to keep Texas in contention in the Big 12 year after year.
ZEMEK
Bobby Hurley, Arizona State — This was a real coup for athletic director Ray Anderson. Hurley led Buffalo to its first NCAA tournament, and while one could make the argument that Arizona State is simply getting a hot coach on the rise — a coach who hasn’t made the Big Dance on a repeated basis — the counterpoint is that Hurley commands more respect than “just any other coach.” He won back-to-back national titles as a player. He was taught the game by his legendary father and by the even more legendary Mike Krzyzewski. He’s a street-tough coach with the smarts to match. He owns so many of the attributes a highly successful coach should in fact possess. He should be terrific at a program which can be good… but hasn’t had the dynamic coach which can make a sleeping giant awaken in Tempe.
Lute Olson turned Arizona into a hoops hotbed in the mid-1980s. Bobby Hurley can do the same in the Grand Canyon State roughly 30 years later.
