4. Steve Wojciechowski (Marquette)
Al McGuire led Marquette to national prominence (and a national title), while Tom Crean and Buzz Williams put hard work in to build this program again. Now it’s on Wojciechowski to build consistency with the Golden Eagles, though the last few seasons have shown this promise.
Wojciechowski played college ball at Duke in the mid 90’s and returned to the Blue Devils as an assistant in 1999. He’s one of many branches of Mike Krzyzewski’s impressive coaching tree and played a large role in this program for many years. He spent fifteen years on staff, assisting the 2001 and 2010 title teams at Duke. A name mentioned for many openings, he finally left Duke when Marquette’s job came open in 2014, giving him his first shot as a head coach.
Despite rebuilding in his first season, Wojciechowski has still had a solid tenure with the Golden Eagles. He’s made just two NCAA Tournament but was upended in the first round in both seasons. This past year’s team finished 2nd place in the Big East. With Markus Howard coming back next season, his team should continue to contend at the top of the conference, though it certainly won’t be easy.
It’s easy to argue that Marquette has underperformed under Wojciechowski. On the other hand, last year’s 24-win campaign was definitely a step up for these Golden Eagles. Looking ahead, Wojciechowski could be on the shortlist to replace Krzyzewski at Duke, but he might need a few more impressive years at Marquette to prove his case. He’ll be without the Hauser twins but should still have enough talent on this roster to produce an NCAA Tournament run.