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

8. Tad Boyle (Colorado)

Colorado had an opening, as Jeff Bzdelik was off to Wake Forest despite not exactly succeeding with the Buffaloes. The program had been in just two of the last 40 NCAA Tournaments and wasn’t exactly a consistent basketball program. They would also join the Pac-12 just a year later, though they didn’t know this as they picked someone with previous Pac-12 experience to head the program.

Himself a Colorado native, Tad Boyle played under Larry Brown at Kansas before beginning his coaching career at the high school level. He spent time on staff at Oregon and Tennessee under Jerry Green and also spent nearly a decade on the staffs of Mark Turgeon, most notably at Wichita State. He had just spent four seasons completely rebuilding the Northern Colorado program into success at the D1 level, though Colorado presented that new challenge for him.

Boyle has gotten Colorado back into contention these last eleven seasons. After joining the Pac-12 in 2011, he proceeded to lead the Buffaloes to three straight NCAA Tournaments, leading the program to five total to this point. The program has finished 5th or higher in the conference in all but three seasons, winning at least 21 times in all those seasons as well. Colorado is finally consistent thanks to Boyle’s impact.