The best and worst of the 2016 college basketball coaching carousel

After grading the coaching changes of 2016, a quartet of writers picked some superlatives for this spin of the coaching carousel.

The coach who is the best hire for his new school is ... Jamie Dixon (TCU)

GARY PARRISH: Why some Pitt fans were so anxious to rid themselves of a coach who had taken the Panthers to 11 of the past 13 NCAA Tournaments is something I'll never understand, frankly. But their nonsensical lack of appreciation -- combined with an administration that actually made it easier for Dixon to leave than it would've otherwise been for him to leave -- was good news for TCU. Because in life and sports, timing is everything. And if there were ever a time for Dixon's alma mater to lure him to the Big 12, this offseason was the time. And TCU got it done.

And now Dixon is getting it done.

He hired former UNLV assistant Ryan Miller last month, which led to Wednesday's commitment from former UNLV pledge Jaylen Fisher. The 6-foot-2 point guard is ranked 64th in the Class of 2016. That means he'll soon be the highest-rated prospect to enroll at TCU since Blake Adams enrolled in 2003, according to 247Sports' data base. Simply put, Dixon is going to win at TCU for the same reason he won at Pitt -- because he's one of the best, and consistently good, coaches in college basketball. It's rare for a place lacking history like TCU to be able to hire an established and successful coach still in his prime like Dixon. But TCU did it. And that's why TCU is the coaching carousel's biggest winner.

The coach who is the best fit for his new job is ... Brad Underwood (Oklahoma State)

CHIP PATTERSON: Of the Big 12 jobs open during this coaching carousel, Oklahoma State has the most recent NCAA Tournament experience with three trips in the last four years. Brad Underwood was going to have plenty of opportunities before the NCAA Tournament started, but Stephen F. Austin's impressive showing in the first weekend accelerated the process of moving Underwood back to the Big 12, where he was an assistant for both Bob Huggins and Frank Martin at Kansas State.

Oklahoma State's basketball program isn't hurting, it's just moving in a new direction with a coach who caught fire with something special in the Southland. Underwood won 89 games in his first three seasons as a head coach and only lost to a conference opponent once in the regular season. Most importantly, Underwood beat West Virginia, something the Cowboys haven't done in two years. Underwood was ready to take on a major conference challenge and Oklahoma State was looking for a spark. Best fit of the cycle.

The coach who is most fortunate to land his new job is ... Josh Pastner (Georgia Tech)

GARY PARRISH: It's no secret that Pastner was on the outs at Memphis with his administration and fans. The only thing saving him was a $10.6 million buyout that Memphis simply could not afford to pay. But the administration, I'm told, did advise Pastner to pursue other jobs or risk a humiliating midseason termination next season. So he did. And after several candidates rejected Georgia Tech, Pastner got an offer. And Memphis actually agreed to pay him to go to Georgia Tech.

That's a fact.

According to the contract, Pastner was obligated to pay Memphis $500,000 if he left for another job. But Memphis so wanted to make sure he left for Georgia Tech that it basically said, "Hey, forget about that $500,000 you owe us. Instead, we'll pay you $1.255 million if you please accept a six-year contract worth $11 million from Georgia Tech."

Amazing, right?

Memphis really paid Pastner $1.255 million it did not owe him just to make sure he'd accept a contract worth $11 million from Georgia Tech. So now he's guaranteed to make more money than Memphis owed him if he'd stayed at Memphis. And he now has a fresh start in a career that had taken a bad turn. Seriously, who's more fortunate than that?

The coach who is the strangest fit for his new job is ... Mike Dunleavy (Tulane)

SAM VECENIE: Yeah, this one totally came out of left field. Dunleavy, the former coach of the NBA's Lakers, Bucks, Blazers and Clippers, had been out of coaching for six years. Heck, this was so completely odd that when Tulane's athletic director was first emailed about Dunleavy's interest in the job, he assumed the email meant that it was about Mike Dunleavy Jr., currently playing for the Bulls. So how did we get here?

Dunleavy has no coaching experience on the collegiate level, and wasn't exactly successful in the final four years of his coaching career before going into a pseudo retirement. Heck, in his last 15 years as an NBA coach, Dunleavy only made the playoffs five times. I'm not sure there's much in the way of evidence that he's even a good coach for modern basketball. But he's a big name, and here he'll be in the AAC, which is quickly turning into a heck of a mid-tier league due to the level of coaching in the league. Larry Brown is a Hall of Famer. Kevin Ollie is a national champion. Mick Cronin has been highly successful. Kelvin Sampson and Tubby Smith are widely regarded as superb Xs and Os coaches. Fran Dunphy has been splendid since taking over for John Chaney. Heck, when a guy like Frank Haith, who despite his faults has won 66.2 percent of his games over the last nine seasons, is the seventh-best coach in the league, you know that it's turned into a tough group of leaders.

Whether or not Dunleavy turns into a college coach that can bring Tulane back to basketball prominence remains to be seen. However, one thing is certain: this one totally came out of nowhere, and because of that it's brought national attention to the program in a way that it hasn't seen in a long time.

The most surprising hire is ... Kevin Stallings (Pittsburgh)

CHIP PATTERSON: For about 15 minutes on March 22 fans believed that Pitt's replacement for Jamie Dixon, who officially took the TCU job the day before, might be Sean Miller. KDKA was reporting that Miller was in Pittsburgh, had been offered the job and there was "a 50 percent chance" he would take it. Pitt fans were fired up at the potential of Miller's return to the alma mater -- the same reason Dixon left -- for about 15 minutes, and then Sean Miller was pictured in Tucson.

Not only was Miller spotted in Tucson, but he released a statement that took his name off the list of potential candidates. For a Pitt fan that was readying for the Miller era, March 22 was devastating.

Five days later, Pitt fans were introduced to Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings. Stallings had the Commodores in the NCAA Tournament in six of the last ten years, but so did Jamie Dixon. The list of reported candidates included up-and-comers, but the eventual hire was one of the longer-tenured coaches in college basketball. It caught plenty of people by surprise, particularly after the drama from earlier in the week. Pitt fans will be receptive to Stallings' vision for the program when it includes better finishes in the ACC standings and a second weekend appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

The coach with the biggest rebuild at his new job is ... Marvin Menzies (UNLV)

SAM VECENIE: Look, the easy answer here would probably be Rutgers, given the scorched earth that Eddie Jordan left in his wake. Jordan represents the downside of bringing in a former NBA coach to make a splash, as discussed above with Mike Dunleavy. Steve Pikiell has his work cut out for him, but I do think that he'll have a better shot of turning that around than most anyone else would.

Instead, let's talk about a program with much more history than Rutgers that will also take a rather large effort to get back to true prominence. UNLV fired Dave Rice back in January, was left waiting during a large portion of the coaching carousel after trying to get involved with Rick Pitino and flirting with Mick Cronin. They settled on Chris Beard, only to have him spurn the program and return home to Texas when Tubby Smith took Texas Tech. To replace him, they turned to Menzies, who has made the NCAA Tournament in five of the last seven years at New Mexico State. Seriously, that's pretty impressive!

The problem is, he's been left with a roster that has very little left. Stephen Zimmerman, Patrick McCaw, Derrick Jones Jr., and transfer Chris Obekpa decided to declare for the draft instead of play at the university. Ben Carter and Jordan Cornish have transferred, and others have left the program due to dismissals or other various reasons. Basically, the Rebels and Menzies are currently left with only four signed scholarship players at the moment, with freshman Justin Jackson committed but not signed and apparently looking around and unexpected to end up there.

So yeah, Menzies has a barren roster, a program that's really struggled over the last few years, and an athletic department that hasn't exactly won rave reviews over the last year. It might not be Rutgers given the inherent advantages UNLV has in recruiting (fertile ground with Findlay Prep and Bishop Gorman in their backyard, the idea of living in Las Vegas), but it's certainly not going to be easy for Menzies to get this thing rolling again.

The coach with the best chance to win immediately at his new job is ... Scott Nagy (Wright State)

MATT NORLANDER: Maybe an off-the-radar pick, but let's acknowledge how good a coach Nagy is. He was considered by some to be a lifer at South Dakota State, but in reality that wasn't the case. Yes, he took the program from D-II power to D-I legitimacy. He averaged 23.3 wins over the past six seasons and made three NCAA tournaments. He's underrated nationally. He was a deserving candidate for this gig, which was surprising in its opening to begin with. Billy Donlon averaged 18.2 wins in his six seasons with the school. No NCAA tourney showings, but the team did win 22 last season. It's only lost two players to transfer since Nagy came on. It was a really strong group on defense last season, and a large portion of the roster will be returning. Of all the coaches in one-bid leagues who took on new jobs, Nagy could have the best chance at reaching the tournament next year. Bryce Drew is now gone at Valpo, and Oakland lost its best player -- Kay Felder, who would've been an All-American candidate next season -- meaning Wright State should be in the mix.

The coach with the most pressure to win immediately at his new job is ... Tubby Smith (Memphis)

MATT NORLANDER: Like it or not, Smith will be under the gun right away. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first being, in terms of fan bases with expectations, Memphis is a top-10 pressure cooker of a gig in the country. Just the way it is. Smith's resume is really strong, though. While some fans are still a bit confused over the hire, it felt like a good portion were OK with Smith (he'll by 65 by the time next season starts) replacing Josh Pastner. But you don't get a lot of time at Memphis. The league isn't top-notch but it's still tough and you're coaching against UConn, Cincinnati, Temple, SMU and Tulsa. The roster has some changeover. And Smith demoted the father of his star player, moving him from assistant to an advisory role. The father is Keelon Lawson. The son is Dedric, who was one of the best freshmen in the country last year. Best case scenario: Smith coaches eight years at Memphis and retires with one final run through college hoops, maybe a few second-weekend appearances in the tournament. Worst case? He stalls from the get-go, lasts just three seasons, and Memphis has to completely start over again, chasing the ghost of John Calipari.