NCAA Basketball: Top 10 worst coaching hires of the last decade

10. Jim Crews (Saint Louis – 2012)

The only hire in our top 10 who started as an interim, Jim Crews was given the keys to the Saint Louis program on a permanent basis in 2013 after the passing of Rick Majerus. Known mostly for his success at Utah, Majerus had begun to build Saint Louis into something special prior to his death, leading the team to a 25-8 record and an NCAA Tournament 9 seed in his final coaching season.

For Crews, his time in Saint Louis was preceded by 17 average seasons at Evansville (4 NCAA Tournament bids) followed by 7 dreary years at Army. Crews had just been hired in 2011 as Majerus’ top assistant (replacing Porter Moser, who left for some success at Loyola). Promoting within was not a surprise, though it may not have been the best long-term decision.

Initially, Crews kept the train rolling right along at Saint Louis, with two more NCAA appearances and very solid seasons. Unfortunately, success did not follow Crews, who lived off what was left of Majerus’ program and could never quite build it up himself. The program plummeted to a 10-21 finish in 2015, adding an 11-21 mark in 2016, two dismal seasons in a tough A10, before finally pulling the plug on Crews. With the facilities and conference affiliation that Saint Louis has, these kinds of results were simply unacceptable.

The hiring of Travis Ford has brought new optimism to the program, but he’s only just starting to see some results in year three. Jim Crews is not a bad person in any way, this is just to say that he certainly wasn’t ready for such a high-profile opportunity, even if it was technically at a mid-major.