NCAA Basketball: Ranking best head coaching hires from the year 2001

10. Bob Knight (Texas Tech)

Prior to 2001, Texas Tech wasn’t exactly a name in the college basketball universe. They had turned a fantastic 1996 season into a Sweet Sixteen run, but their next five years in the Big 12 under James Dickey had been less than successful. With four straight years under .500, Texas Tech needed new blood in charge of this program, and boy did they get it.

Hall of Fame head coach Bob Knight embraced the Red Raiders after his controversial departure from Indiana a year earlier. The former Ohio State forward and Army coach won three national titles during his nearly three decades as the General in Bloomington. Swept aside following allegations in 2000, his hunt for a new coaching job landed him with the Red Raiders and he immediately got to work.

In his very first season, Texas Tech won 23 games and was back in the NCAA Tournament. They were a Sweet Sixteen team in 2005 and made four trips to the Big Dance in his six and a half years in charge. He turned the program over to son Pat in early 2008, but certainly produced real results for this program. Clearly, he didn’t have the impact he had with his outstanding run at Indiana, but the Hall of Famer breathed real life into the Red Raiders.