NCAA Basketball: 10 best first-year head coaches through January of 2023-24 season

No matter what happens in the offseason, the college basketball season always delivers when the games start counting. Teams hit the court for nearly five months of basketball action while defending, outclassing, or failing to live up to all of those preseason expectations. Anything can truly happen in a sport that’s seen all kinds of drama over the years, though every program knows that nailing the offseason is of vital importance.

The way these teams nail the offseason is by utilizing the Transfer Portal effectively and the way that happens is with a strong coaching staff. Each and every season brings change around the country in these coaching circles, with a few dozen dismissals each year. Last season was no different, and there were several dozen head coaching changes among the D1 schools this previous offseason. Hiring the right head coach can mean a world of difference to any program.

Now that the calendar nears the end of January, that importance can be seen very clearly. We’re getting a clearer picture on where each of these college basketball teams stand, especially now several weeks into conference play. With the advent of the Transfer Portal, it’s quicker than ever to turn a program around but the opposite can happen just as easily.

Today our focus will be on those coaches from last offseason’s coaching carousel. We’re not awarding offseason heroes or looking at who we considered the best hires last April; we’re looking at what these teams have accomplished through nearly three months and ranking the coaches based on their success. We’ll be considering individual situations and presenting what has been a pretty successful round of hires, especially for at least ten schools.