NCAA Basketball: Ranking best head coaching hires from the year 2000

1. John Calipari (Memphis)

Let’s paint a picture. Dana Kirk builds a powerhouse in the 1980’s, though most of that success is wiped away from violations. Then, Larry Finch wins a few games before Tic Price is forced aside due to inappropriate relations with a student. By 2000, Memphis is looking for another new coach and hasn’t been in the NCAA Tournament in four years. To say they made a home run hire to get the program back on track is an understatement.

John Calipari took Massachusetts to the Final Four back in 1996 before spending the next four seasons in the NBA, three of which as head coach of the New Jersey Nets. A former assistant at both Kansas and Pittsburgh, Calipari was ready to bounce back to the college game and had already shown to be a capable recruiter and program builder, winning 11 NCAA Tournament games in his eight years at UMass.

His nine-year run with Memphis was legendary, even if the academic scandal involving Derrick Rose wiped out their 2008 run to the national title game. Memphis began the dominant force in Conference USA and won at least 21 games in all nine of his seasons.

In fact, Calipari’s teams won at least 33 games and made at least the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament in each of his last four years, all before Kentucky came calling in 2009. Considering that Penny Hardaway can’t even get this program back to the NCAA Tournament, Calipari’s success stands out in a very impressive way.

We’ve taken a deep dive into the best coaching hires from 2000; which of these coaches do you think make the greatest impact for their programs?