ESPN’s Best College Hoops Hires

Generally solid list. I’d say Bennett and Few should be higher because the programs they took over were not exactly blue bloods.
There is one on this list who has no business being proclaimed a great hire just yet. Take a look and chime in with your guess.

Ranking the 25 best college basketball coaching hires of the past 25 years

 

Penny Hardaway is getting a lot of credit there for one recruiting class.

I don't know that I would have Sean Miller on this list.

 

If he can have Pitino on that list, he should include Beilein and Stevens

 

It says active coaches only. So no Beilein or Stevens.

 

Beilein clearly would have been if eligible.

"They must know something in Morgantown, because the Mountaineers' past two hires have been Huggins and John Beilein. Not bad at all."

 

They’re wrong on Jaime Dixon. Best hire at Pitt in the last 25 years was Ben Howland, who went to back-to-back sweet 16s and brought in Dixon as an assistant.

 

I was on the road with Northern Arizona when Howland took that job. I technically broke the story but working for a tiny daily with no real web presence, you wouldn't have known it. Ha.

 

Pleasantly surprised to see Leonard Hamilton so high.

 

This is off on a bit of a tangent, but I hit a podcast the other day that was basically Bob Huggins, Frank Martin, and Andy Kennedy swapping stories. Some about hoops, some about going out drinking, but it's fun if you care.

https://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/4/0/d/40...88282892&hwt=fa99307a8f2c64b78bc1ace6e1f1b0f5

 

Took Leonard a while to get going and fight off the dopey FSU fans who wanted him fired every year. But once he found a groove with the players he wanted that were talented and mostly willing to stay 3-4 years, he's got an annual tournament program.

 

And getting an annual highly-ranked one-and-done (or quick-developing two-and-done like Devin Vassell and Dwayne Bacon) who is willing to play in an ensemble rotation because he knows he’ll get to develop as a defender: Jon Isaac, Patrick Williams, Scottie Barnes ...

 

Obviously I'm double-biased but what the fuck has Penny won at Tiger High, and how can Rick Barnes be left off, given what he inherited, given that he had the Vols at No. 1 for a month and now has Tennessee's recruiting class at a schools-best No 4 for next year (I'd tell you where Memphis is ranked but I quit looking at No. 50.).