In this section, we’ll breakdown guys hired out of the NBA and guys hired after being fired elsewhere.
NBA Guys:
Since 2010, 8 guys have been hired from the NBA. This doesn’t include Fred Hoiberg who Nebraska hired last year. Hoiberg’s trip to the NBA and back to college wasn’t unexpected. Secondly, he hasn’t had an opportunity to put his stamp on the Nebraska program.
Of the 8 hires, it’s been a mixed bag. Mike Dunleavy to Tulane in 2017 was bizarre at the time and the results weren’t good. Eddie Jordan took the Rutgers job following the Mike Rice disaster and failed to record a winning season. Chris Mullin came from the NBA with no coaching pedigree and while managing a tournament bid, his tenure at St. John’s wasn’t very good. Avery Johnson was a bust at Alabama and his successor has been wildly successful.
There are 3 guys still coaching who came from the NBA. Two are school alum, Patrick Ewing at Georgetown and Juwan Howard at Michigan. Ewing has spun his wheels while Howard has Michigan inline for a 1-seed in his 2nd season, something even his predecessor didn’t accomplish. Both coaches arrived with solid pedigrees within the coaching world unlike Chris Mullin.
Jerry Stackhouse is at Vandy and while his team was bad last year and better this year, he’s staring 2 consecutive sub-100 KenPom seasons in the face.
Larry Brown was brought into SMU to rejuvenate the program and did just that.
It’s a small sample size but dipping your toes into the NBA for your coach hasn’t been a recipe for success.
Fired and Rehired:
There have been 16 of these type of hires since 2010. I’ve classified 5 of these as failures and 6 as good hires. There are 5 still I’d classify as works in progress.
Some of these coaches come with baggage. They include Bruce Pearl, Mark Gottfried, Billy Gillespie and Kelvin Sampson. Some had worn out there welcome elsewhere. Those include Tubby Smith, Rick Barnes, Johnny Dawkins, Bruce Weber and Mike Anderson.
I classify Mark Gottfried as a failure at NC State because of his NCAA run-ins. Billy Gillespie was eventually fired at TCU. Ernie Kent was fired at Washington State while Dave Leitao and Brian Gregory are currently floundering at DePaul and South Florida respectively.
Tubby Smith was a success at Texas Tech, taking them to the tournament before bolting for Memphis. It set a foundation that Chris Beard has built upon. Bruce Pearl has taken Auburn to a Final 4 (this could go the other way with the NCAA investigating and all), Rick Barnes has been fantastic at Tennessee and Johnny Dawkins took UCF to a tournament and before this season hadn’t had a losing record there. Kelvin Sampson has done wonders at Houston.
I placed Bruce Weber as a success as he did help Kansas State to a share of a Big XII title and given the challenges of coaching there with Kansas looming large, I think he’s done a respectable job. That said, a fresh start might be needed there.
The jury is out on Tom Crean at Georgia, Jeff Capel at Pitt, Mike Anderson at St. John’s, Mark Fox at Cal and Ben Howland at Mississippi State. Howland is now in his 6th year in Starkville and was probably a tourney team last year. They won’t be this year but I don’t know the realistic expectations at Mississippi State. Of the bunch, Jeff Capel seems to have the most momentum forward.
As we can see, it’s a mixed bag hiring fired coaches. Pearl and Sampson have been wildly successful but at least in Pearl’s case, the law is closing in. As is sometimes the case, a change of scenery can do wonders like it did for Rick Barnes.
Is it the way to go? Of the guys listed, only Bruce Pearl managed to get his program to a Final 4 and as often as there’s been success, there has been failure.
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