ESPN’s Best College Hoops Hires

Agreed on both counts. Hardaway had one recruiting class, and it was rendered irrelevant because he cheated to get its headliner, a guy who quit on his team after three games and a benign punishment. (Again, the rules are stupid, but until they're repealed, you can't disregard them with such pomp and pride.) When college hoops resumes, I doubt Memphis will be a Final Four contender. To declare anybody a breakthrough hire after only two seasons is almost certainly absurd. And it will look that way in this case.

 

I'd say Washington State hiring Dick Bennett, which led to Tony Bennett, was an awfully productive hire. DB is not active but Wazzu deserves a mention for Tony. I'd also say Randy Bennett at St. Mary's has been as good a hire, or better, than about half of the ones on that list, as was SDSU's hire of Steve Fisher and Brian Dutcher, both within the 25-year window.

 

I was going to mention Fisher and Dutcher (I always considered them a package deal) until I saw they were only listing current coaches (whatever). The difference between that program now to what it was when Fisher was hired is like night and day.

 

Really pleased to see that Leonard Hamilton FINALLY gets credit. Wonder if enough folks in Tallahassee realize what they have while they're whining and groaning about football ...

Also glad to see Tony Bennett getting credit. It had been a long, long time since Ralph Sampson and (sorta) Olden Polynice and Bryant Stith. No one was pointing to Charlottesville as a viable player in the ACC, much less nationally.

Mark Few was far too low. Did anyone outside of Spokane really see Gonzaga as anything more than a one-tournament run when Dan Monson took the money and bolted for the Twin Cities?

And ... just a little premature with Penny Hardaway?

 

I do have a complaint about the list - granted by its nature it is a list generated in hindsight. But there were a lot of similar hires, similar coaches with similar backgrounds that for whatever reason didn't work. Shaka Smart at VCU is great, but Shaka at Texas sucks? Bruce Pearl at Tennessee is terrible, but great at Auburn? It makes no sense. Even the big swings - Avery Johnson at Bama, Drexler at Houston, Ewing at Georgetown may not make sense in the long term, but ADs aren't looking at five years down the road, they want to keep the alums financially engaged/re-engaged over the next year.

 

If we're looking at it like that, Sidney Moncrief's hire at Arkansas-Little Rock in 1999 was perfect. He was a former Razorback who was going to put the little sister school on the basketball map. His hiring news conference was covered live by Little Rock TV stations. Then he promptly went 4-24 his first season and quit.

 

Also see Drexler, Clyde and Mullin, Chris.