NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 353 D-I head coaches for 2018-19

353. Lance Irvin (Chicago State)

• Overall record: 2-8

The first year head coach enters a troubling situation all around at Chicago State with no head coaching experience, though he has nearly two decades of experience as a D-I assistant, most recently with Southern Illinois in 2012. Having spent the last six seasons as a high school assistant, this is quite the jump for Irvin, but there’s nowhere to go but up for the Cougars.

352. Richard Barron (Maine)

• Overall record 0-8

One of the strangest coaching hires of 2018, Richard Barron recently spent six seasons as the women’s basketball coach at Maine. He can boast 15 years as a women’s assistant coach but he’s never worked in D-I men’s basketball. Maine isn’t a great program and Barron faces a challenge turning things around.

351. Carson Cunningham (Incarnate Word)

• Overall record: 4-5

Another first year head coach, Cunningham joins Incarnate Word after spending the last five seasons at NAIA Carroll College of Montana, where he had decent success. Before that, his only experience was six seasons at Andrean HS in northwest Indiana. There hasn’t been a lot of success for Incarnate Word, but Cunningham could jump up this list in the future if he can win games in San Antonio.

350. Dylan Howard (Alabama A&M)

• Overall record 0-8

Elevated to interim head coach for the 2018-19 season, Howard boasts eight years of D-III head coaching experience at Hardin-Simmons and North Park. He also has experience as an assistant at Robert Morris and Morehead State, but he’s heading up a dismal SWAC program, so don’t expect big things in his interim season.

349. Tony Pujol (North Alabama)

• Overall record 2-6

A former high school basketball coach from Miami, Pujol spent eight years under Anthony Grant at VCU and Alabama. Two years at Wyoming preceded his current hiring at North Alabama in April 2018, a school in their first year of D-I basketball. Pujol does boast a dozen years of D-I experience, which makes me believe once he gets his bearings, he could prove to be a good hire.

348. Eric Skeeters (Delaware State)

• Overall record 2-7

Hired back in July, Skeeters spent the last two seasons as an assistant at UMBC, on staff when the Retrievers upset #1 seed Virginia. He spent the last two and a half decades bouncing around various D-I coaching staffs, but this isn’t the ideal situation to start a career at an unstable program.

347. Andre Payne (Mississippi Valley State)

• Overall record 27-113

Payne has been with MVSU since 2014 but not much has happened since his hiring, just 25-106 in those four seasons. He does boast 13 years as an NAIA head coach (5 years at Texas College, 8 years at Wiley), but neither of those stints was extraordinary.

346. Darrell Walker (Little Rock)

• Overall record 4-4

The former head coach of the Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards only finds himself this low because he has no experience as a college coach and Little Rock really struggled since Chris Beard left in 2016. As long as he doesn’t have an Isiah Thomas-like tenure, things should go smoothly for the Trojans in the near future.

345. Jean Prioleau (San Jose State)

• Overall record 5-32

Prioleau has served on the staffs of coaches like Mark Turgeon, Tom Crean, Greg McDermott, Jim Christian, and Tad Boyle, but San Jose State is a struggling program, going just 4-26 in his first year last season. Expectations are low for the Spartans but there’s only so much Prioleau can do at the worst program in the Mountain West.

344. Austin Claunch (Nicholls State)

• Overall record 5-4

Claunch just took over this year from Richie Riley, who departed to take the South Alabama job. Simply put, he doesn’t have a lot of experience. He’s only 29, has served just two years as a full-time assistant (the last two seasons at Nicholls), and might not be able to continue the moment that Riley left with the program.

343. Dan Earl (VMI)

• Overall record 29-70

Before being hired by VMI in 2015, Earl had spent nine years on the staff of Ed DeChellis, for five seasons at Penn State before following him to Navy in 2011. Unfortunately, he’s just 24-66 and has yet to compete in the Southern Conference, with the same low expectations continuing in his fourth year.

342. Mike Balado (Arkansas State)

• Overall record 13-26

We begin year two for Balado at Arkansas State, though fans will want more than an 11-21 season in the future. He joined the program after spending the last four years with Rick Pitino at Louisville. Much of his previous coaching experience came as an assistant in the southeast, so at least he should be able to recruit the area.

341. Jon Harris (SIU-Edwardsville)

• Overall record 22-72

Harris came to SIU-Edwardsville after spending seven years as an assistant to Cuonzo Martin, at Missouri State, Tennessee, and California. Even though much isn’t expected of this OVC program, going 21-67 in his first three seasons is pretty underwhelming.