Fifty college basketball programs changed coaches this offseason, and most of them got it wrong. How do I know? Because for the first time in a year CBS SportsLine.com has wiped the mothballs off Ten for Tuesday so I can pick out 10 hires, breaking them down into the five best and five worst ... and I couldn't come up with the five best.
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| Check it out -- Kentucky blue seems to fit Billy Gillispie well. (US Presswire) |
A year later, Ten for Tuesday is just as nasty as it ever was.
Five best hires
Billy Gillispie, Kentucky: Not just a home run, this was a walk-off grand slam. In all of college basketball, and this includes that cute little bugger down there at Florida, Gillispie was the perfect hire for Kentucky. By the time he's done running Louisville out of the state, the Cardinals will be getting their mail in Missouri.
Bob Huggins, West Virginia: Huggins is more from the Gale Catlett school of coaching than the John Beilein school -- and some of you know exactly what I'm talking about -- but he'll win big at West Virginia. He won't win as big as Beilein, but Huggins will win enough to justify the Mountaineers' shameless pursuit of victory above all else.
John Pelphrey, Arkansas: Hard to give Arkansas too much credit for getting the right guy considering its first selection, Dana Altman, pulled a humiliating about-face after one day. But Pelphrey is the right guy. To whoever took a break from tying Arkansas AD Frank Broyles' shoes to make this hire for him ... well done.
Tommy Amaker, Harvard: Amaker is everything the Ivy League wants in a coach: smart, classy and fundamentally sound. He's not a great recruiter at the elite level, but that won't matter at Harvard. In fact, Harvard might be in store for a whole new caliber of recruit thanks to Amaker's fame from Duke, Seton Hall and Michigan. But similar to the Arkansas situation, it's hard for me to congratulate Harvard too much considering another leading candidate was that snake Mike Jarvis.
Jeff Bzdelik, Colorado: Actually this was the second best hire of the offseason. That doesn't mean it'll work. Make sure you understand that. For example, I could pour the best shampoo and conditioner in the world over my head, and I still won't have much hair. That's how it is at Colorado. The Buffaloes overachieved by landing Bzdelik, who will be an NBA head coach again some day. But it doesn't mean he can win there. That's one ugly bald guy of a basketball program.
And the five worst ...
Stan Heath, South Florida: It takes some doing to top this list, but South Florida managed by hiring Heath, who rode one (misleading) season at Kent State to a great job at Arkansas. After being fired from one of the best jobs in his league, Heath has been hired to take over the very worst job in the Big East. Think about that. When he's fired in three or four years, please refer to this story. Heath will be an absolute disaster at South Florida, and considering the cesspool he left behind at Arkansas, I'm already celebrating his imminent dismissal.
Steve Alford, New Mexico: Great college player. Average coach. Overrated guy. That's who New Mexico just hired. Who is Alford going to recruit for the Lobos, other than the recruits he stole from Iowa? Never mind what you hear on television or what you see when you look at his pretty picture. This is not a good guy, this is not a good coach, and this was not a good hire once the press conference ended and the work began.
Gregg Marshall, Wichita State: The perfect job for Gregg Marshall, a small-town Southerner, was the one he just left. Wichita State? In the Missouri Valley Conference? I don't see it. This is the best job in the Valley, and by sheer prestige and tradition Wichita State will remain a force to be reckoned with. With the right coach (Matt Doherty), Wichita State could have become the next Gonzaga. With Marshall? They'll be lucky to be the same old (disappointing) Shockers.
Mark Turgeon, Texas A&M: You probably disagree with me on this one, which doesn't mean you're dumb. In fact, it means you're smart -- every bit as smart as the people at Texas A&M. Which, come to think of it, means you're dumb. Sorry. See, Mark Turgeon had the best job in the Missouri Valley Conference, and in seven years there he parlayed that into one NCAA Tournament appearance. Now he's moving up to a much tougher league, only his new job is closer to the bottom of the Big 12 than the top. If he underachieves at Texas A&M like he did at Wichita State, the Aggies will be lucky to get into the NIT on an annual basis.
Todd Lickliter, Iowa: I'm stifling a yawn, but don't look at me like that -- competing Big Ten coaches are even ruder. They're stifling laughter. Lickliter was perfect at Butler. I mean, perfect. He was an alumnus, he was liked, and he was as dynamic as he needed to be to recruit in the Horizon League. At Iowa? Wrong guy, wrong place, wrong time. The Hawkeyes need a charisma infusion to restock a program that had slipped under Alford. Lickliter, who has never worked for a bigger league than the Horizon, doesn't have it. If it makes Hawkeyes fans feel better, the Iowa website quotes media luminaries Andy Katz of ESPN and Seth Davis of CBS as being in love with this hire. Don't feel too much better, Iowa fans -- I'm smarter than those knuckleheads.
