330. Jerrod Calhoun (Youngstown State)
- Overall record 11-30
Calhoun, who spent six seasons coaching under Bob Huggins, spent five years heading D-II Fairmont State before heading to Youngstown in 2017. The programs hasn’t produced much success in recent times, and Calhoun limped to an 8-24 in year one, with some optimism for the future; though the ceiling at Youngstown isn’t very high.
329. Brian Collins (Tennessee State)
- Overall record 2-5
Hired in 2018, the former ETSU and Illinois State assistant also boasts three successful years heading Columbia State CC (where Jay Joyner was his predecessor). With former coach Dana Ford off to Missouri State, Collins has a chance to build something solid in the OVC before he likely also leaves for a different job.
328. Dusty May (Florida Atlantic)
- Overall record 6-2
Having spent the last seven years as an assistant to Mike White at both Louisiana Tech and Florida, May was hired in 2018 to lead an FAU program that couldn’t make the Tourney under Mike Jarvis, Matt Doherty or former Detroit Pistons coach Michael Curry. He has his work cut out for him, though he did play for Bob Knight at Indiana.
327. Clifford Reed (Maryland-Eastern Shore)
- Overall record 126-175
Reed is another interim head coach, but he spent nine and a half years as head man as Bethune-Cookman as well (2002-2011). Nothing is guaranteed in an interim year at a struggling MEAC program, but he did end up 125-167 with Bethune-Cookman. If he can improve on last year’s 7-25 record in Bobby Collins’ last year, then maybe he can keep the full-time job.
326. Montez Robinson (Alcorn State)
- Overall record 46-56
His 44-50 record in three years at Alcorn State is pretty solid, but the team was 8th in the SWAC last season and struggled. He has 13 years of assistant coaching experience, though it’s mostly at Kennesaw State and Bethune-Cookman (not under Reed), and it’s hard to imagine him doing big things at Alcorn State.
325. David Patrick (UC Riverside)
- Overall record 2-7
Another first year head coach, the godfather of Ben Simmons came to UC Riverside after four years an assistant at LSU and two years with Jamie Dixon at TCU. He probably doesn’t have any more godchildren to build up his program, but the Australian does have an extensive recruiting pipeline to tap into, and the Big West is a place he can build a winning program.
324. A. W. Hamilton (Eastern Kentucky)
- Overall record 4-4
Before his hiring this season, most of Hamilton’s experience came at Hargrave Military Academy. He spent five years as an assistant to Kevin Keatts before spending six years as the head coach himself, leaving in 2017 to join Keatts at NC State. EKU has struggled in recent years, so Hamilton has quite a job ahead of him, but he’s capable of turning a Keatts-like turnaround.
323. Juan Dixon (Coppin State)
- Overall record 5-36
Former Terrapin and NBA point guard Juan Dixon enters year two at Coppin State, ending last year at just 5-27. Though the record was bad, it takes time to build an MEAC team up and it wouldn’t surprise me to see Dixon end up at a slightly better school within a few years.
322. Scott Pera (Rice)
- Overall record 10-30
Named Mike Rhoades’ successor in 2017, Pera’s first year at Rice ended at just 7-24. The former Pennsylvania high school coach has also spent six years with Herb Sendek at Arizona State, while also spending time at Penn and at Rice. Maybe not completely a knock on Pera, but Rice is just not expected to be good and it will take quite an effort to change that.
321. Chris Ogden (UT-Arlington)
- Overall record 3-5
Ogden is another first year coach taking over an underachieving program. He played for and spent eight years coaching under Rick Barnes before spending the last two seasons aiding Chris Beard at Texas Tech. He’s relatively young and it might take a few years for him to develop as a good head coach.