Grading Every Men’s College Basketball Head Coaching Hire So Far

College basketball’s coaching carousel has slowed down as the world waits for North Carolina to make a hire. As the Tar Heels weigh their options, SI has grades for the biggest hires so far.

After just one year at NC State, Will Wade is heading back to LSU, the program that fired him just a few years ago. | Zachary Taft-Imagn Images

Late March is a complicated time for college basketball coaches. Some are still very much grinding tape, preparing their teams for their next tournament games. For UConn’s Dan Hurley, Illinois’s Brad Underwood, Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd and Michigan’s Dusty May, all attention is on the Final Four games that lie ahead this weekend, as just two victories separate them from college hoops immortality.

For the other 360-plus coaches in Division I, everything is in flux this time of year. Many of them have entertained and taken new jobs over the last few weeks, and are trying to get their houses in order ahead of the opening of the transfer portal, which opens on Tuesday, April 7—one day after the national championship game.

The top of the sport has seen significant upheaval, and it isn’t done yet. The job at North Carolina remains open, and if the Tar Heels poach a top sitting head coach, it could cause even more ripple effects across the country. But even before UNC makes its hire, the coaching carousel has been spinning furiously over the last few weeks.

With most major openings filled, here are Sports Illustrated’s grades for the biggest coaching hires in the country, including all of the filled Power 5 openings so far.

Grades for every major men’s college basketball hire so far

1. Arizona State: Randy Bennett
2. Boston College: Luke Murray
3. Butler: Ronald Nored
4. Charleston: John Groce
5. Cincinnati: Jerrod Calhoun
6. Creighton: Alan Huss
7. Georgia Tech: Scott Cross
8. Kansas State: Casey Alexander
9. LSU: Will Wade
10. NC State: Justin Gainey
11. Providence: Bryan Hodgson
12. South Florida: Chris Mack
13. Syracuse: Gerry McNamara
14. Utah State: Ben Jacobson

Arizona State: Randy Bennett

Arizona native Randy Bennett had been the head coach at Saint Mary's since 2001, before taking over at Arizona State. | James Snook-Imagn Images

After 25 years at Saint Mary’s, in which he built the Gaels program into a consistent NCAA tournament team, importer of international talent and a reliable foil to Gonzaga in the WCC, Bennett heads to his native Arizona to take over the Sun Devils. In a stacked Big 12, the Arizona State job is not an easy one, especially as Tommy Lloyd has developed Arizona into a true powerhouse. But Bennett was accustomed to going toe to toe with an in-conference Goliath at Saint Mary’s. In the process, he built a clear identity and strong culture, both of which will serve him well as he makes a move to the desert.

Grade: A

Boston College: Luke Murray

Luke Murray will depart Dan Hurley’s UConn staff to take over another New England program, the ACC’s Boston College. | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

The Eagles have been in the doldrums since firing Al Skinner in 2010, with the program’s four coaches since his dismissal (Steve Donahue, Jim Christian, Earl Grant and interim coach Scott Spinelli) posting a win percentage just north of 40%. The program hasn’t reached the NCAA tournament since Skinner led the Eagles to the Big Dance in ’09. It is frankly impressive, given that poor recent history, that B.C. was able to land an assistant with Murray’s impressive résumé.

Known as the offensive guru on Dan Hurley’s staff at UConn, Murray (whose father, the legendary comedian and actor Bill Murray, is a fixture at his son’s games), has also worked under Sean Miller and Chris Mack, among others. It is Hurley who he has continually gravitated toward, though, serving on his staffs at Wagner and Rhode Island before rejoining him with the Huskies in 2021. Together, they’ve won a pair of national titles and once again find themselves in the Final Four in ’26, after an incredible comeback win vs. Duke on Sunday.

After nearly two decades working his way through the coaching ranks, Murray will lead his own Power 5 program in 2026–27. With Boston College basketball, nothing is certain, but this is about as exciting a hire as you could expect given where the program has been over the last few decades.

Grade: A

Butler: Ronald Nored

Ronald Nored starred for the great Butler teams that went to back-to-back national championship games under Brad Stevens. | Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Butler was one of many programs to bring an alumnus home to fill its coaching vacancy. Nored was a key member of the Bulldogs teams that made back-to-back national championships, and he’s coached at virtually every level of the sport in the U.S.—high school, college, the G League and the NBA. Most of that has come as an assistant, though he did lead the G League’s Long Island Nets as head coach from 2016 to ’18. After playing for and working under Brad Stevens at Butler and in the Celtics organization, Nored has been an assistant to Rick Carlisle and Quin Snyder in his last two stops. The move to head coach in the Big East, a league in which he’ll have to compete with Dan Hurley and Rick Pitino, is a big step, but Nored has cultivated some pretty impressive experience since graduating from Butler nearly 15 years ago.

Grade: B-

Charleston: John Groce

John Groce led Akron to a host of NCAA tournament appearances, turning the Zips into the MAC’s most consistent program. | Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

The Cougars are establishing themselves as one of the more attractive mid-major programs in the country, and a destination job for ascendent coaches—both at the start of their careers and midway through, for those in need of a jolt. Former coaches Earl Grant and Pat Kelsey each moved from Charleston to ACC jobs (Boston College, Louisville respectively), while a former Cardinals coach, Chris Mack, just left the Cougars to take over USF. In steps Groce, the former coach at Illinois whose struggles in the Big Ten fell between highly successful runs at MAC programs Ohio and Akron.

Groce took the Bobcats to the NCAA tournament’s round of 32 in 2010 and the Sweet 16 two years later, upsetting No. 3 seed Georgetown in the first tournament trip, and No. 4 Michigan and No. 12 USF in the second, before taking No. 1 North Carolina to overtime in a regional semifinal loss. He turned Akron into the most consistent MAC program, with four tournament trips in the last five years. Groce’s name was floated for some of the power conference jobs open in this cycle; his decision instead to go to the CAA in what is a lateral move on paper shows just how attractive the Cougars are. There are far worse things to be than a springboard in modern college basketball.

Grade: A-

More: The 25 Best Men’s College Basketball Coaches of the Past 25 Years

Cincinnati: Jerrod Calhoun

Jerrod Calhoun is one of many coaches to take over at their alma maters in this hiring cycle. | Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Another homecoming hire for a school alum, Calhoun brings an impressive small-school résumé back to his alma mater. Before his two-year stint at Utah State, in which he won 55 games and made the NCAA tournament in both seasons (with a win over Villanova in 2026), Calhoun finished a seven-year run at Youngstown State with back-to-back 20-win seasons, just the second and third for the program since its move to Division I in 1981. At Division II Fairmont State, he made the NCAA tournament four times in five years, including a finish as the national runner-up in 2017.

Calhoun was a student assistant under Bob Huggins while at Cincinnati, and became an assistant coach for him at West Virginia. He led an impressive Aggies offense, which ranks 26th in KenPom. (Cincinnati was 133rd this season.) At 44, he is still a very young head coach, but one with pretty extensive experience leading programs—and winning at a pretty high level in the process.

Grade: A-

Creighton: Alan Huss

Alan Huss steps in for Greg McDermott, after rejoining the Creighton staff as McDermott’s heir apparent. | Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images

There wasn’t much drama when Greg McDermott stepped aside at the end of the 2025–26 season. Huss returned to his alma mater this year as head-coach-in-waiting, after a very successful two-year stint at High Point, one that set up the Panthers to beat Wisconsin and give Arkansas a serious challenge in this year’s Big Dance. Huss has a 56–15 record with one NCAA tournament appearance as head coach. His offenses were among the best in the mid-major ranks. 

Had Creighton not drawn Huss, who was an assistant for the Bluejays from 2017 to ’23, back to campus, it was only a matter of time before he landed an opportunity to lead another major conference program elsewhere. There’s a lot for the fans in Omaha to like about this hire, even after he was on staff for a Creighton team that went 15–17 to end McDermott’s tenure.

Grade: B+

Georgia Tech: Scott Cross

Scott Cross steadily built Troy into a Sun Belt power, and hopes to engineer a similar turnaround at Georgia Tech. | William Purnell-Imagn Images

The Yellow Jackets have been wading through the wilderness for upwards of two decades now, with just one NCAA tournament appearance (2021) since Paul Hewitt led the program to March Madness in 2010, his second-to-last season with the program. Brian Gregory, Josh Pastner and Damon Stoudamire each finished with losing records in their stints in Atlanta, with just five seasons above .500 between them. To replace Stoudamire, Georgia Tech moved quickly to bring in Cross, a steady hand with successful tenures at Troy and UT Arlington. 

Cross isn’t quite a household name, but he has built two programs up into regular contention. His work with Troy has been particularly impressive; the Trojans won 20-plus games in five straight seasons to end Cross’s tenure including a pair of NCAA tournament trips in 2025 and ’26. The jump up to the ACC is a big one, and time will tell whether he will be the coach to finally get the Yellow Jackets over the hump and effectively tap into local Atlanta talent, but at the very least he should raise the floor of a program desperate to get out of the conference basement.

Kansas State: Casey Alexander

Casey Alexander built a consistent winner at Belmont, and takes over for a Kansas State program that was anything but consistent under Jerome Tang. | Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Bruins somewhat stunningly never actually participated in the NCAA tournament during his time in Nashville, qualifying for the canceled 2020 Big Dance. He’d win 26 games and capture the OVC and MVC regular-season crowns in 2021 and ’26, respectively, but could not secure automatic bids to March Madness in the conference tournaments. 

A coach with just one tournament trip (2018 with Lipscomb) may be a tough sell for a Power 5 program, especially after it reportedly set its sights on Calhoun only to lose out to a conference foe, but Alexander’s floor at Belmont is remarkably high, he runs an effective, exciting offense and he has a strong reputation for discovering talent. The transfer portal era means many of his best players left Nashville for greener pastures after emerging at Belmont. If he can keep them in Manhattan, Kans., this hire could pay dividends.

Grade: B

LSU: Will Wade

Will Wade is back in Baton Rouge for a second run with the Tigers after being fired following a recruiting violation scandal in 2022. | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Well, this is complicated!

On paper, LSU’s move to bring back Wade makes all the sense in the world. Wade was thriving in Baton Rouge before being brought down by recruiting violations that, just a few years later with the advent of NIL, would be of little concern. After a year away, he landed the job at McNeese, bringing the Cowboys to back-to-back NCAA tournaments. He returned to the Power 5 in 2025–26 with NC State, bringing the Wolfpack to the First Four. NC State’s late-season slide is perhaps the biggest on-court knock against Wade’s coaching. After an early February win over Virginia Tech, the Wolfpack were 18–6 with a 9–2 ACC record. They would go on to lose eight of their last 10 games including a tight First Four matchup against Texas.

As NC State’s season came to an unceremonious close, rumors began to pop up that the Tigers could move away from Matt McMahon and bring Wade back, with those rumors becoming reality late last week. Given NC State athletic director Boo Corrigan’s comments on the matter, it is hard to feel good about how Wade’s return to LSU went down. However, there may not be a more teflon coach in college basketball right now, which is saying something given some of the coaches who have come through the sport throughout its history. If we put any karmic concerns aside, it is hard to think this hire won’t work, even if the hire is followed by a trail of slime.

Grade: B+

NC State: Justin Gainey

Justin Gainey, who is set to become the head coach at NC State, helped Rick Barnes and Tennessee reach three consecutive Elite Eights as an assistant. | Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

After the whiplash from Will Wade’s quick departure last week, it is no surprise that the Wolfpack looked to one of their own to fill the opening. In steps Gainey, a former NC State guard who interviewed for the job a year ago, but was edged out by the flashy Wade, who returned to the LSU program that fired him amid recruiting scandal just a few years ago. 

Gainey is a first-time head coach, which always brings challenges, especially for a program that hopes to compete in the ACC just a few years removed from a shocking ACC tournament championship and Final Four run in 2024. He has a strong reputation as a recruiter and defensive coach, and Rick Barnes, his boss at Tennessee over the last five years, gave him a ringing endorsement for a potential return to Raleigh as the Wade rumors wore on. 

“Justin has an incredible feel for the game, really understands players. He works at it,” Barnes said last week. “Terrific recruiter. Understands the NIL era today. If NC State knew what I knew, they would be begging him to be their next head coach because he’s ready not just for NC State, he’s ready to be the head coach of the University of Tennessee or any school in the country. He’s that good.”

It is hard to ask for a better recommendation than that, though Gainey’s hire comes with plenty of risk. The Wolfpack compare themselves directly to a Duke team that has dominated the ACC over the last few years and North Carolina, which is gearing up for its own hire to replace Hubert Davis. Gainey is the first coach brought in to lead the program without previous head coaching experience at either the college or NBA level since the 1940s, when the program brought in Everett Case. Like the other inexperienced alumni returning to their schools on this list, there’s a ton of upside and plenty of downside to this approach.

Providence: Bryan Hodgson

After an impressive one-year turnaround at South Florida, Bryan Hodgson returns to the Northeast to take over Providence. | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

After coming up under Nate Oats as an assistant at Buffalo and Alabama, Hodgson has speedrun his climb through college basketball’s head coaching ranks so far. Providence will be his third different head coaching job in just four years, after a pair of seasons leading the program at Arkansas State and one year at South Florida, in which he took the Bulls from 13–19 to 25–9, winning the American and reaching the NCAA tournament. He emerged as one of the biggest names to know in this hiring cycle in the process.

If there is a downside to this hire by Providence, it is that Hodgson is not shy about making the jump to a bigger job the moment that he feels he’s ready. For a program that is still smarting from the loss of Ed Cooley to Big East rival Georgetown, but after a swing-and-miss with Kim English over the last three years, a quick Hodgson move would likely come after a similarly rapid turnaround. That is the kind of problem that the Friars should hope to have.

Grade: A-

South Florida: Chris Mack

After flaming out at Louisville, Chris Mack resurfaced as Charleston, where he posted two strong seasons. Now, he’s on to USF. | Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images

After a tumultuous run at Louisville, Mack’s career is back on the upswing.

The 56-year-old coach, who took home multiple national coach of the year awards during his impressive run at Xavier, saw his tenure with the Cardinals derailed by COVID-19. Louisville was 24–7 and surely NCAA tournament-bound for the second straight year before the pandemic led to the cancellation of March Madness. The Cards would go just 13–7 the following year and he was fired after a 6–8 start to the 2022–23 season.

Mack somewhat quietly took over the well-moneyed CAA program at Charleston in 2024, going 45–20 over two seasons, parlaying that stint into the South Florida job. The Bulls moved quickly to make a surprising hire after losing Hodgson to Providence, and now Mack, with 15 years of head coaching experience under his belt, takes over an ambitious program that is investing heavily in athletics. In Mack, they now have a big-name, veteran coach with four Sweet 16s and an Elite Eight under his belt.

Grade: B+

Syracuse: Gerry McNamara

Before entering coaching, Gerry McNamara became one of the most beloved Syracuse players of all time, helping the Orange to their only national championship in 2003. | Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

The dismissal of Adrian Autry, the former Jim Boeheim assistant-turned-successor as Orange head coach, opened the door for the program to go outside of the family for the first time in generations and take a step away from the Boeheim tree. With a new athletic director, former Toledo AD Bryan Blair, taking over for Syracuse alumnus John Wildhack, that seemed like an even more distinct possibility. But after a failed pursuit of Saint Louis coach Josh Schertz, the Orange have instead tabbed one of the most beloved players in program history (and another former assistant from the late-period Boeheim staffs) in McNamara, who comes over after a strong two-season stint as head coach at Siena, in which he led the Saints to the 2026 NCAA tournament and took No. 1 overall seed Duke to the brink as a 16-seed.

That game, as well as an impressive run to the MAAC championship despite a depleted roster that had McNamara play the same five starters for all but a few seconds in the Duke game, reflects well on his in-game coaching ability. However, he still has a thin résumé for a coach taking over one of the winningest programs in college basketball history, and another failed stint for a former Boeheim assistant could leave lasting damage. At the same time, there may be no coach who can better energize fans and boosters, giving this hire extreme boom-or-bust potential.

Grade: B-

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Utah State: Ben Jacobson

Ben Jacobson has overseen some of the greatest Cinderella moments in NCAA tournament history at Northern Iowa. | Denis Poroy-Imagn Images

Jacobson felt like a Northern Iowa lifer. He led the Panthers program for 21 years, posting a 397–259 record with four MVC regular season and five conference tournament titles, leading to a handful of NCAA tournament berths—and some of the tournament’s greatest moments. Any college hoops fan will remember at least two of them: Ali Farokhmanesh’s dagger against Kansas in 2010 and Paul Jesperson’s half-court heave to sink Texas in 2016. Even in non-tournament seasons, Jacobson’s teams were incredibly consistent, winning at least 20 games 11 times and 30 games twice during his tenure.

He joins a Utah State program that has flown under the radar as one of the best mid-majors in the country, with an impressive 14 tournament appearances since the turn of the century. Three of its last four coaches have moved up to power conference jobs after their time with the Aggies (with the lone exception being Ryan Odom, who left for VCU before later taking the Virginia job). 

USU represents a logical step up for Jacobson, only surprising because of his longevity at UNI. And the Aggies get a proven winner who should keep a good thing rolling in Logan as the program transitions to the new-look Pac-12 in 2026–27.

Grade: B+

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