NCAA Basketball: Ranking the 10 best head coaching hires of 2022 offseason
By Joey Loose
Less than one month ago, the Kansas Jayhawks were crowned national champions, winning the 2022 NCAA Basketball Tournament. What has transpired in the month since has been a flurry of activity, mostly coming from players entering the Transfer Portal or declaring for the NBA Draft. This flurry has not just been limited to the players, as there have been a number of coaches on the move in the previous month as well.
Each year’s coaching carousel brings intrigue and drama, though we’ve seen quite the movement in the last few years. Last offseason saw Arizona, Indiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Texas all fill significant openings, but this year might just have a similar level of intrigue. Mike Krzyzewski stepped away after more than four decades at Duke; a large handful of SEC jobs have new coaches, and we’ve even seen a great number of former head coaches return to the game at intriguing schools.
The importance of hiring the right head coach cannot be understated, and the recent success of certain programs is all the evidence you need. Last season, Arizona parted ways with Sean Miller after a disappointing final few seasons, but new head coach Tommy Lloyd had Arizona as a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament, putting together an impressive roster. Certainly, there are examples of the opposite happening as well. Especially in today’s game, it’s important as ever to utilize the Transfer Portal and to build the right kind of team; these coaches are being judged quicker than ever.
Today we’ll be sifting through this year’s coaching changes and identifying the ten best hires made this offseason by these programs. Obviously, none of these coaches have coached any games at these schools (in their current stints), so we’ll be judging these hires based on fit, experience, and even early returns in their first months putting together next season’s roster. Without further ado, let’s get right into this, knowing full well that a number of great hires could not be highlighted, as we limit our focus to just ten.