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NCAA Basketball: Stevens, Huggins among top head coaching hires of 2007

By Joey Loose

COLLEGE PARK, MD - MARCH 03: Head coach Mark Turgeon of the Maryland Terrapins and John Beilein of the Michigan Wolverines shake hands after a college basketball game at the XFinity Center on March 3, 2019 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
COLLEGE PARK, MD - MARCH 03: Head coach Mark Turgeon of the Maryland Terrapins and John Beilein of the Michigan Wolverines shake hands after a college basketball game at the XFinity Center on March 3, 2019 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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NCAA Basketball Tommy Amaker Harvard Crimson (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
NCAA Basketball Tommy Amaker Harvard Crimson (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

8. Tommy Amaker (Harvard)

Harvard basketball had not made the NCAA Tournament since 1946, back when things were pretty different in college basketball. The program wasn’t abysmal for all of their history, much of the last six decades had been less than successful. The Crimson turned the program in another direction, but this time they finally struck gold.

Tommy Amaker starred at Duke in the mid-80’s before joining Mike Krzyzewski’s coaching staff. After winning a pair of national titles as an assistant, Amaker began his head coaching career at Seton Hall. Four years later, he was taking over at Michigan, though that didn’t quite go as he had planned. In 2007, Harvard offered Amaker an opportunity to start over again and build his own program.

The marriage has been a success; not only has Amaker snapped that long postseason drought but he’s made the Crimson a perennial contender in the Ivy League. He led Harvard to four straight NCAA Tournaments, including a pair of first-round upsets along the way. Amaker has made great strides with the program, finishing atop the conference standings more times than not and leading the Crimson to their first-ever AP Top 25 rankings a few seasons ago.

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