Ross Hodge vs. 61 Other First-Year Coaches: Where Does He Rank?

Year one of the Ross Hodge era didn't provide a ton of excitement for West Virginia fans aside from their upset wins over Kansas and BYU. They lost a handful of games they had no business losing, but the reality is, Hodge squeezed everything he could out of this team, and in my opinion, overachieved by winning 18 games.

The Mountaineers missed out on the NCAA Tournament, but it's not a sign of what's to come with Hodge at the helm. This is the worst this team will be under his leadership, and with a full year under his belt, he will be in a better position to land top talent out of the transfer portal.

The first year is always the toughest, and when you look around the country, you'll notice there are very few major success stories, particularly at the high major level.

To give you the full picture, I went through all 62 first-year head coaches and listed them in order by winning percentages. Of course, some are in the NCAA Tournament, so this list is not final, but it gives you a pretty good idea as to how things went for everyone. Below the entire group, I broke things down even further, ranking the high-major coaches.

All first-year coaches

1. High Point: Flynn Clayman (30-4, .882)
2. Virginia: Ryan Odom (29-5, .852)
3. McNeese: Bill Armstrong (28-5, .848)
4. Stephen F. Austin: Matt Braeuer (28-6, .823)
5. VCU: Phil Martelli Jr. (27-7, .794)
6. Navy: Jon Perry (26-8, .764)
T7. Miami: Jai Lucas (25-8, .757)
T7. South Florida: Bryan Hodgson (25-8, .757)
9. Villanova: Kevin Willard (24-8, .750)
10. Tennessee State: Nolan Smith (23-9, .718)
11. New Mexico: Eric Olen (24-10, .705)
T12. Saint Joseph's Hawks: Steve Donahue (23-11, .676)
T12. UC San Diego: Clint Allard (23-11, .676)
14. Texas A&M: Bucky McMillan (21-11, .656)
15. Iowa: Ben McCollum (21-12, .636)
16. Arkansas State: Ryan Pannone (20-12, .625)
17. Penn: Fran McCaffery (18-11, .620)
18. Colorado State: Ali Farokhmanesh (21-13, .617)
19. Murray State: Ryan Miller (20-13, .606)
T20. Lipscomb: Kevin Carroll (19-13, .593)
T20. Wofford Terriers: Kevin Giltner (19-13, .593)
22 NC State: Will Wade (20-14, .588)
T23. North Texas: Daniyal Robinson (19-14, .575)
T23. Texas: Sean Miller (19-14, .575)
25. Columbia: Kevin Hovde (16-12, .571)
T26. West Virginia: Ross Hodge (18-14, .562)
T26. Indiana: Darian DeVries (18-14, .562)
T26. Samford: Lennie Acuff (18-14, .562)
T26. Iona: Dan Geriot (18-14, .562)
T30. Alabama A&M: Donte Jackson (18-15, .545)
T30. Florida State: Luke Loucks (18-15, .545)
32. Fordham: Mike Magpayo (17-15, .531)
T33. Auburn: Steven Pearl (18-16, .529)
T33. UNLV: Josh Pastner (18-16, .529)
T35. Longwood: Ronnie Thomas (16-16, .500)
T35. Radford: Zach Chu (16-16, .500)
37. Florida A&M: Charlie Ward (15-16, .483)
38. Campbell: John Andrzejek (16-18, .470)
T39. Denver: Tim Bergstraser (15-17, .468)
T39. Minnesota: Niko Medved (15-17, .468)
41. Xavier: Richard Pitino (15-18, .454)
42. South Dakota State: Bryan Petersen (14-18, .437)
43. Grambling: Patrick Crarey II (14-19, .424)
44. Drake: Eric Henderson (14-20, .411)
45. Bellarmine: Doug Davenport (13-19, .406)
46. Maryland: Buzz Williams (12-21, .363)
T47. Cleveland State: Rob Summers (11-22, .333)
T47. Louisiana: Quannas White (11-22, .333)
T49. Central Michigan: Andy Bronkema (10-21, .322)
T49. Sacramento State: Mike Bibby (10-21, .322)
T51. UC Riverside: Gus Argenal (10-22, .312)
T51. Utah: Alex Jensen (10-22, .312)
53. Oral Roberts: Kory Barnett (10-23, .303)
54. Bryant: Jamion Christian (9-22, .290)
T55. Alcorn State: Jake Morton (9-23, .281)
T55. La Salle: Darris Nichols (9-23, .281)
57. Cal State Bakersfield: Mike Scott* (8-24, .250)
58. St. Francis (PA): Luke McConnell (7-24, .225)
T59. Chicago State: Landon Bussie (7-25, .218)
T59. IU Indianapolis: Ben Howlett (7-25, .218)
T59. North Florida: Bobby Kennen* (7-25, .218)
62. UL Monroe: Phil Cunningham (4-28, .125)

The brekadown

Finished with a winning record: 41
Finished .500: 2
Finished with a losing record: 2
Coaches with a higher win percentage than Ross Hodge: 25
Coaches with a lower win percentage than Ross Hodge: 33

High Majors

1. Virginia: Ryan Odom (29-5, .852)
2. Miami: Jai Lucas (25-8, .757)
3. Villanova: Kevin Willard (24-8, .750)
4. Texas A&M: Bucky McMillan (21-11, .656)
5. Iowa: Ben McCollum (21-12, .636)
6. NC State: Will Wade (20-14, .588)
7. Texas: Sean Miller (19-14, .575)
T8. West Virginia: Ross Hodge (18-14, .562)
T8. Indiana: Darian DeVries (18-14, .562)
10. Florida State: Luke Loucks (18-15, .545)
11. Auburn: Steven Pearl (18-16, .529)
12. Minnesota: Niko Medved (15-17, .468)
13. Xavier: Richard Pitino (15-18, .454)
14. Maryland: Buzz Williams (12-21, .363)
15. Utah: Alex Jensen (10-22, .312)

Finished with a winning record: 11
Finished .500: 0
Finished with a losing record: 4
Coaches with a higher win percentage than Ross Hodge: 7
Coaches with a lower win percentage than Ross Hodge: 6
Coaches who made the NCAA Tournament: 7