John Brannen – Cincinnati (A-)
When Mick Cronin departed for UCLA, Brannen was one of the names quickly brought up that made sense for a number of reasons. He had elevated nearby Northern Kentucky, making the new D-1 team one of the best programs in the Horizon League. He had experience as an assistant and interim head coach at Alabama and has experience on the national stage. Brannen has shown the ability to recruit and won’t even have to move, as Cincinnati is mere miles from NKU. His lack of bigtime experience or connection to the program is understandable, but this was a great match for both parties.
Mike Schrage – Elon (B+)
More than twenty years after being a student assistant for the Indiana basketball team, Schrage gets his first chance to be a head coach. He was on the support staff at Duke for nearly a decade before following Johnny Dawkins to Stanford. He spent the last three years under Chris Holtmann at Butler and Ohio State and his experiences make him a worthy candidate to become head coach. He likely wasn’t Holtmann’s most important assistant, but his connections make this a nice hire. Elon hasn’t seen much success recently though, so Schrage has a lot of work ahead.
Jay Young – Fairfield (B-)
The Marist alum has spent the last fourteen years on the coaching staff of Steve Pikiell at Stony Brook and Rutgers but also boasts head coaching experience. Young has worked at junior college level and led D-2 New Haven for five seasons, though without extraordinary results. This Fairfield program has been trending in the wrong direction since Ed Cooley left the program in 2011. Young isn’t exactly a hire that will excite people, but the Stags certainly could have done far worse. The bottom line is that Young has familiarity with the area and might just be able to put together a competitive MAAC roster when given a few seasons.
Jamion Christian – George Washington (B+)
Christian’s decision to leave Siena after just one season as head coach drew some ire. He worked briefly on Shaka Smart’s staff at VCU before taking over his alma mater, leading Mount St. Mary’s twice to the NCAA Tournament as head coach. He built progress with the Mountaineers and was beginning to turn the Saints around in his first season. There’s significant work to be done for George Washington to compete in a tough Atlantic-10, though this was likely one of the best hires they could have made of a young up and coming coach. He’s not a big name, but will that matter? How long until Christian leaves for a better job this time, or will he last that long in DC?