NCAA Basketball: Top 10 impact head coaching hires from 2010 offseason

9. Kyle Smith (Columbia)

Over the course of recent history, it’s been the same couple teams dominating the Ivy League, so it may not be a surprise that the Lions haven’t sniffed the NCAA Tournament in over fifty years. It feels like Columbia is always trying to start again to rejuvenate success, and the same was true as they hunted for a new coach in 2010.

This time, the answer was Kyle Smith, revered then and now as one of the smarter minds in the game. Though a native of Maryland, all of his previous coaching experience had come on the West Coast. He had spent nearly a decade each as an assistant at San Diego and under Randy Bennett building Saint Mary’s into a potent mid-major. Smith packed his bags and took over his own program back on the East Coast.

Smith didn’t end that long NCAA Tournament drought, but he made legitimate progress in his six years at Columbia. The Lions struggled initially, but by his fourth season had won 21 games and finished third in the Ivy League. His sixth season ended not only in 25 wins but the CIT championship. Smith departed for San Francisco in 2016, though it’s impossible to say he didn’t leave this Columbia program in better shape than what he inherited.