NCAA Basketball: Best head coaching hire from each of last 25 seasons

2008: Tom Crean (Indiana)

In the previous offseason, there were impressive hires made at a number of schools, with those three we mentioned all leading their programs to the Final Four. 2008 paled in comparison, with a number of power conference programs making hires that just wouldn’t work out, like at LSU, Providence, and South Carolina. It wasn’t the prettiest tenure, but Crean floats to the top of the list this time.

Crean got his early experience in his home state of Michigan, including a pair of stints on staff at Michigan State, including as a full-time assistant on Tom Izzo’s first coaching staff. Crean’s own head coaching career began in 1999 at Marquette, where he’d recruit Dwyane Wade and lead the Golden Eagles to the Final Four just a few seasons later. Indiana was in need of a savior after Kelvin Sampson’s scandal left the program with probation and other violations to sift through.

While Crean didn’t put up any banners or shatter expectations, he led the Hoosiers program out of the darkness, surviving three horrible years as he rebuilt this program in the early 2010’s. With stars like Victor Oladipo and Cody Zeller, he led the Hoosiers to a pair of Big Ten titles and three Sweet Sixteen appearances. His tenure ended less ceremoniously in 2017, but his impact was certainly felt, especially when successor Archie Miller couldn’t even lead Indiana to the Big Dance.