NCAA Basketball: Top 10 impact head coaching hires from 2009 offseason

By Joey Loose | Jun 14, 2021

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 08: Head coach Tony Bennett of the Virginia Cavaliers cuts down the net after his teams 85-77 win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four National Championship game at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

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NCAA Basketball Hampton Pirates head coach Edward Joyner, Jr (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images) /

9. Edward Joyner (Hampton)

Earlier in the decade, Hampton was on top of the world after upsetting 2-seed Iowa State in the first round of the 2001 NCAA Tournament. The Pirates have been unable to top that success and turned the program over to a new voice by 2009. This program was still certainly in solid shape, competing for MEAC titles, but the next coach did a little better than his predecessor, who had failed to reach the Big Dance.

Edward Joyner did not have a lot of coaching experience when Hampton made him their next choice. He had played and coached at Johnson C. Smith, a D2 university in North Carolina, for just over a decade. The last three years had been on Kevin Nickelberry’s staff with the Pirates before the decision was made to promote him to the top job.

Joyner remains with Hampton even twelve years later and the results have been satisfactory. He has led the Pirates to three NCAA Tournament appearances and a host of other postseason bids. He has helped lead the Pirates into the Big South after some dominant play in the MEAC in their final few seasons. Joyner has kept Hampton in solid shape despite change in the college basketball world.

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