Coaching Carousel: Grading College Basketball’s New Hires

Head Coach. Arizona State. UNKNOWN . Inc. <p><strong>Former Coach: Herb Sendek (fired)</strong></p><p>After a long courtship with Duke assistant (and former Oklahoma head coach) Jeff Capel ultimately yielded nothing, the Sun Devils are the only power conference basketball program still staring at the drawing board. The hope is that Sparky will land <strong><a href=

A-. <p><strong>Former Coach: </strong><strong><a href=. Head Coach. Penn. STEVE DONAHUE

DePaul. DAVE LEITAO. D-. <p><strong>Former Coach: Oliver Purnell (resigned)</strong></p><p>DePaul’s basketball program continues to exist as a perpetual dumpster fire. Just as Oliver Purnell seemed to have things going in the right direction, the turnaround expert gave up on the job. He officially resigned, and there is speculation that he would have been fired had he not. However it seems odd that DePaul would fire the only person that has allowed the program to show signs of life in over a decade. DePaul responded by making the least attractive hire of any program in the country, bringing back former coach Dave Leitao, who had been coaching in the D-League before being summoned back to Chicago. Leitao has a proven record of mediocrity at the school (two NIT bids and an NCAA appearance before bolting for Virginia). Duplicating that would technically be a huge upgrade, but it also admits to supporters of the program that expectations are not high in Chicago. </p>. Head Coach

Nevada. ERIC MUSSELMAN. A. <p><strong>Former Coach: Dave Carter (fired)</strong></p><p>The Mountain West has evolved into an incredibly deep league. Despite down years from usual conference powers New Mexico and UNLV, the conference still put three teams into the NCAA Tournament (with a fourth team, Colorado State, being criminally snubbed). Nevada who was once the class of the WAC conference came to the Mountain West with intentions of challenging the conference’s elite. Dave Carter wasn’t the man for that job. However, Eric Musselman very well could be. Even with a head coaching job open at his alma mater of San Diego, Musselman chose to revive Nevada. It’s a good fit for a young coach who’s nabbed two brief stints of NBA head coaching experience pretty early in his career. Nevada has reason to believe in a resurgence with Musselman at the helm, which makes the Mountain West even deeper from top to bottom. </p>. Head Coach

BEN HOWLAND. A. <p><strong>Former Coach: Rick Ray (fired)</strong></p><p>Ben Howland was fired from UCLA after a run that included three straight Final Four appearances. If he were to get to one Final Four in Starkville, he could probably run for mayor (as long as <strong><a href=. Head Coach. Mississippi State

A-. <p><strong>Former Coach: Alan Major (resigned)</strong></p><p>Saying goodbye to Alan Major means bidding adieu to one of the most ridiculous <a href=. Head Coach. Charlotte. MARK PRICE

B-. <p><strong>Former Coach: Donnie Tyndall (fired amid NCAA investigation)</strong></p><p>The Volunteer basketball program has had two consecutive coaching tenures end due to the results of an NCAA investigation. First Bruce Pearl was let go after an infamous BBQ and recruiting fiasco (only for him to re-spawn like some sort of coaching zombie in order to take over at Auburn), and now Donnie Tyndall gets the ax for channeling Hillary Clinton while checking his email. It’s clear that the Vols were in search of reliability and stability, and they found both of those traits in Rick Barnes. In the process, it doubles as another big name addition to the SEC coaching family (Calipari, Donovan, Howland, Barnes, Pearl, Stallings, Martin — that’s a solid group). The question is whether or not Barnes has anything left in the tank. Barnes’ late career arch at Texas essentially mimicked that of their former football coach Mack Brown. Barnes stayed long enough to be an institution, and then long enough to be ran out of town. It will be interesting to see if this change of scenery invigorates Barnes, or if Tennessee will only shift to being the SEC’s equivalent of Texas — the conference’s perennial underachiever.</p>. Head Coach. Tennessee. RICK BARNES

Head Coach. St. John's. CHRIS MULLIN. A-. <p><strong>Former Coach: Steve Lavin (“mutual agreement to part ways”)</strong></p><p>For weeks, I campaigned for Steve Lavin to be retained as the head man at St. John’s. The failures of Lavin’s tenure could be attributed to bad luck just as well as they could be blamed on him. Still after five years at the helm two NCAA Tournament appearances was not enough to whet the appetite of one of college basketball’s winningest programs. After beginning talks for a contract extension, the negotiations apparently went the way of an WWE contract signing and Lavin left the talks without a job. After Lavin rejuvenated the program, only a home run hire would justify running him off, but St. John’s great <strong><a href=

A. <p><strong>Former Coach: </strong><strong><a href=. Head Coach. Alabama. AVERY JOHNSON

Texas. SHAKA SMART. A+. <p><strong>Former Coach: Rick Barnes (fired)</strong></p><p>Shaka Smart has been the crown jewel of up and coming college basketball coaches for quite some time now. Since leading VCU to a Final Four berth in 2011, he’s essentially been on borrowed time as the Rams’ head coach. Overtures have been plentiful over the past four years, but Smart lived up to his name, and sat tight while waiting for a job that was truly too good to pass up (Anthony Grant probably wishes that he did the same). Smart finally decided to pull the trigger on a change of scenery, when it was Texas that came calling. The Texas job is a fitting reward for Smart’s patience, but the Longhorns have to be thrilled to be welcoming one of the best young coaches in college basketball. Rick Barnes was an institution in the Lone Star State, but his presence had become stale. Smart will act as defibrillator for a program that returns tons of talent (most notably <strong><a href=. Head Coach