Examining the College Basketball Coaching Carousel

I will admit, it has been a long two weeks without college basketball. I miss it. Almost like when your girlfriend goes abroad for the semester.....you know she's coming back eventually, but it seems she'll be gone for eight years (unless she cheats on you, then all bets are off). Since college hoops isn't coming back for awhile, I figured now would be a good time to look at the coaching carousel, which has been extremely active this year. Here are some a few of the hires that I liked and few that didn't exactly light the world on fire.


Good Hires


Billy Gillipse - Kentucky - Despite the slimeball move of leaving A&M after agreeing to a contract extension (honestly, what are the point of contract in college athletic anymore?) I still think he is the best young coach in college basketball. Perfect for rebuilding the Kentucky program. Just look at the wonders Gillipse did at doormats UTEP and Texas A&M. In my opinion, Gillipse is a better fit at Kentucky than Donovan would have been.

Stan Heath - South Florida - Still not exactly sure why he was fired after making back to back NCAA Tournament appearance at Arkansas, but Stan Heath actually lucked out. Not only does he get to leave the insane fanbase in Arkansas, he gets to coach in the Big East. While he has some rebuilding to do at USF, it not like their isn't a large recruiting base in Florida.


John Beilein - Michigan - Great move by Beilein. He took the West Virginia program as far as it could go. Time to move to Michigan, a school that should be rivaling Florida and Ohio State for two sport supremacy.


Bad Hires


Bob Huggins - West Virginia - The least surprising coaching move of the offseason was Huggins bailing on K State (the only school that would give him a chance) after one season for a paycheck. Great character influence on the student athletes of West Virgina. I have a hard time seeing the Mountaineers being successful without Beilein's quirky offense. West Virginia isn't exactly teeming with basketball talent. As I have said before, never trust a man who wears one of those garbage bag jackets to a basketball game.


Frank Martin - Kansas State An unproven assistant coach taking over the #1 ranked recruiting class in the country....sounds like trouble to me. I guess it worked for Larry Coker, for a few years anyway.


Steve Alford - New Mexico - There is something fishy about someone leaving a Big ten school to got to New Mexico. His Iowa team perennial underachieved in the postseason outside of the Big Ten tournament and has survived on name recognition for awhile now.


Jury Is Still Out


Greg Marshall - Wichita State - Good hire by Wichita State, but didn't you think that Marhsall could have gotten a bigger job after what he has been doing for years at Wintrhop? This either means that the Missouri Valley is considered a top flight conference by many coaches or Marhsall is aiming too low.


Tubby Smith - Minnesota - Now we get to how well of a coach Tubby Smith really is. He takes over a Minnesota that has been in shambles for a few years now. I say that it takes a few years, but Tubby is eventually successful at Minnesota. Look at what he did at Tulsa and Georgia.


Jeff Bzdelik - Colorado - After coaching the Denver Nuggets and Air Force, Bzdelik only needs to coach Colorado State to achieve his goal of coaching every basketball team in the state of Colorado. Curious to see the transition from ultra-disciplined kids at Air Force to party school underachievers at Colorado.