NCAA Basketball: 3 underrated Power 6 coaching hires from 2023 offseason

The coaching carousel has all but spun to a stop in NCAA basketball. As new hires try to get their staffs and recruits and transfers in order, it’s a good time to assess those in new jobs at the Power 6 level.

The biggest change in the power conferences was arguably the departure of Jim Boeheim, who clumsily called it a career after 47 years at Syracuse. He was replaced by a longtime assistant who has been waiting in the wings, Mike Hopkins … err, Adrian Autry, actually, as Hopkins ran out of patience after Boeheim’s previous retirement dalliance.

The Orange’s former conference, the Big East, had a number of notable moves. Ed Cooley traded one Big East program (Providence) for another (Georgetown), a hire “outside of the family” for the Hoyas. Rick Pitino, meanwhile, is making his major conference return with the St. John’s Red Storm.

Ole Miss also made a big splash, although not necessarily for the right reasons. They brought Chris Beard out of his brief sabbatical following his exodus earlier in the season following his arrest for an incident with his partner. It’s a controversial hire, to say the least, and could blow up in the face of the Rebels.

With the college basketball coaching carousel calming down, let’s take a look at some of the Power 6 hires flying under the radar.

It’s hard for there to be sleeper hires at this level. There are not many jobs changing hands and all of the moves are rather high-profile. Still, we’ll do our best.

Here are three underrated coaching hires at the highest level of the sport.