Evaluating The 1st Year College Basketball Coaches After Their Initial Season

Mark Adams (Texas Tech)

Not only Red Raider fans, but College Basketball fans were in complete shock last offseason when Chris Beard decided to leave Texas Tech for Texas. His top assistant at the time Mark Adams had the option of getting on the plane with Beard to Austin, but instead he stayed in Lubbock and was later soon named the new Head Coach of Texas tech. The first year under Adams couldn’t have gone much better, as Texas Tech finished 27-10 overall in route to a #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Texas Tech has very quickly built one of the best home court advantages in College Basketball, dating back to when Beard was there, but things were taken to another gear in 2022, especially when Texas came to Lubbock. Adams’ Red Raiders beat Texas in both games they played last season, with Texas Tech fans taking over both their own and Texas’ arena in each matchup. Similarly, to Beard, Adams built his team based on the defensive side of the floor but with even more emphasis on getting stops. Texas Tech wasn’t ranked in many Top 25’s entering last season, but got there based on their elite defensive play. The same thing will likely occur this offseason after losing a number of key contributors like Terrance Shannon Jr, Bryson Williams and Kevin McCullar. Adams however, will be vying to take Texas Tech to their 5th consecutive NCAA Tournament and will try to keep building the program to another level.

Chris Beard (Texas)

It might sound crazy to say that last season was a disappointment for Texas, considering they had a first year Head Coach that led the program to their first NCAA Tournament win since 2014. Given the expectations however, many were underwhelmed with the season Texas had after being the no doubt winner of the Transfer Portal last offseason. Texas added a plethora of impact transfers including Marcus Carr from Minnesota, Tre Mitchell from UMass, Timmy Allen from Utah, Devin Askew from Kentucky and Dylan Disu from Vanderbilt. These guys added to the players remaining from the Shaka Smart era, alongside a great coach in Beard gave Texas a preseason top 5 ranking, and they quite simply never became that team. The question for this season will be, can Texas get that chemistry right with a lot of players from the 2022 team back combined with an elite Transfer in Tyrese Hunter and two McDonald’s All-American Freshman in Dillon Mitchell and Arterio Morris. Texas never got on the same page last season, with so many new players and a first year Head Coach, but it was Beard’s second year in Lubbock where things really took off. In 2018, which was Beard’s second season after missing the big dance in 2017, Texas Tech went all the way to the Elite 8 and lost to the eventual National Champions Villanova. Texas fans can hope for something similar happening in Beard’s second season in Austin.

Hubert Davis (North Carolina)

Whether it was getting run off the floor by Kentucky at the CBS Sports Classic or losing by over 20 points to their in-state rival Wake Forest, there were many moments throughout the 2022 season, where it felt things just weren’t working out for North Carolina and the former Roy Williams’ assistant in his first year. Instead, Hubert Davis was in charge of one of the more impressive turnarounds leading North Carolina all the way to the National Championship game, despite not winning a Quadrant 1 game until late January. Davis did a really good job keeping together the core Roy Williams brought in before his final season in 2021, as Caleb Love, Armando Bacot, RJ Davis and Leaky Black all had major contributions along the way to get North Carolina that deep in the big dance. Where Davis also deserves a lot of credit however, is pivoting away from the traditional two big look at was a staple in Chapel Hill under Roy and bringing in Brady Manek as a stretch 4. Manek was an absolute star for North Carolina throughout their run, and his ejection in the Round of 32 game against Baylor, almost cost the Tar Heels. This season, Manek will be the only member of the “Iron 5” to not return to Chapel Hill, and that spot will instead be filled by Northwestern Transfer and leading scorer from last season Pete Nance. Hubert Davis is the kind of guy, when you meet him or speak to him, it is immediately clear why so many people buy in and want to play for him. There is a reason why North Carolina stuck with him throughout last seasons’ struggles and it worked out for them in a big way.

Earl Grant (Boston College)

Earl Grant came into a tough situation at Boston College, with the Eagles not making the NCAA Tournament since 2009 and not having a winning record in conference since 2011. Despite struggling for a majority of the season, Boston College showed signs of optimism at the end of the season, beating both Pittsburgh and Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament, before suffering a heartbreaking loss to Miami at the buzzer. The majority of that team will be returning to Chestnut Hill this season, and it should be one of the better teams Boston College has had in the past decade. Grant deserves credit for building a solid core that improved throughout last season, and should hopefully do the same with another season together in 2023. A lot of that core was brought in from the transfer portal, including Makai Ashton- Langford, Quinten Post and T.J Bickerstaff. While it is never easy for a first-year coach to have a team full of new players, Grant built his team around these new players and stuck with them to see improvement. The ACC as a conference should be deeper and improved compared to last season, but there is no reason why Boston College can’t be a surprise team. Grant has also gotten commitments from Class of 2022 power forward Prince Aligbe and combo guard Donald Hand, who rank among the 10 highest-rated recruits Boston College has ever landed. Despite only going 13-20 a season ago, there isn’t much more Grant could have done in his first season at Boston College and the Eagles could be in for a bright future under the former Head Coach of the College of Charleston’s leadership.

Ben Johnson (Minnesota)

Many people expected Minnesota to be among if not the worst team in Power 6 College Basketball last year, in the first season of the Ben Johnson era. Minnesota finished significantly better than those expectations picking up a handful of surprising wins along the way, and this season’s much improved roster should have Golden Gopher fans excited for what is to come. Minnesota finished 13-17 overall and went 4-14 in the Big Ten. Even though those numbers don’t jump off the screen, the expectation to many was that Minnesota would have trouble winning just one conference game and the fact they won 4 considering how deep the Big Ten was a season ago exceeded expectation. George Washington Transfer Jamison Battle emerged as one of the best transfers and better players in the Big Ten, averaging 17.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Johnson also added from the Transfer Portal this offseason, by bringing in a hometown kid in Dawson Garcia, who was a former Top 40 recruit coming out of High School and could make a fierce one-two punch alongside Battle. Unlike Boston College in the ACC, the Big Ten loses a ton of talent from last year and the league should decline a tad, in terms of the quality of good teams there. Minnesota showed last year they could win when not many people expected them to, including beating future NCAA Tournament teams in Michigan and Rutgers alongside going to Mississippi State and winning in Starkville. With another year under the guidance of Johnson, alongside an improvement in talent, it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see Minnesota keep catching people off guard in the Big Ten.

Tommy Lloyd (Arizona)

The first year of the Tommy Lloyd era in Tucson couldn’t have gone much better, as he led the Wildcats to a 33-4 overall record on the way to a #1 seed in the big dance and Arizona’s first Sweet 16 appearance since 2017. What made this team so impressive was the fact that Lloyd took a lot of players that were brought in by his predecessor Sean Miller and helped a lot of them take their game to a different level. Ben Mathurin was one of the most improved players in all of College Basketball, going from a pretty good player as a Freshman to a great player and future lottery pick under Lloyd’s watch as a Sophomore. The space and pace offense that became so fun to watch at Gonzaga, also worked in a big way at Arizona this past season with Dalen Terry also going from a decent player to first round pick in the NBA Draft in the span of one season. This season will be another big test for Lloyd, considering he will have to win with his own players that he brought in, unlike last season. Arizona will have veterans in Azuolas Tubellis, Kerr Kriisa, Pelle Larrson and Oumar Ballo returning, but also added in a big way, bringing in Courtney Ramey from Texas and a top 25 recruit in Kylan Boswell. With UCLA and USC heading to the Big Ten in 2024, the future is unknown for Arizona but with Lloyd in charge, Arizona should continue to win in a big way no matter what conference they’re in.

Porter Moser (Oklahoma)

After bringing Loyola Chicago to the 2018 Final 4 and the 2021 Sweet 16, Moser headed to Norman, Oklahoma last offseason and the Sooners had a so-so Year 1. After losing 6 of their top 9 scorers from the 2021 Oklahoma team that made the NCAA Tournament, the Sooners finished 8th in a very good Big 12 with a 19-16 overall record. While that might not look great from the outside, Oklahoma did have some big wins throughout the season including over the defending National Champions Baylor to knock them out of the Big 12 Tournament, plus they beat Texas Tech and Iowa State who both played in the NCAA Tournament. I have big expectations for the Sooners in year #2 under Moser. Oklahoma will add Nevada transfer Grant Sherfield, who has scored over 1200 points in his college career, to go alongside Jalen Hill and Tanner Groves who both return in the frontcourt. At Loyola, Moser’s teams won based primarily on their play on the defensive side of the floor, guarding their hearts out every time they took the floor. That continued at Oklahoma last season, with the Sooners ranking 51st in the country out of 350+ teams in scoring defense. That number should only improve this season, with more time playing in Moser’s system and improved scoring. Alongside Sherfield, Oklahoma also added George Washington transfer Joe Bamisilie, who averaged over 16 points per game last season and should step in right away and score the basketball. With new pieces and more of a scoring punch in the backcourt, to go alongside an experienced frontcourt, Oklahoma should be in for a big jump in their second year under Moser’s direction.

TJ Otzelberger (Iowa State)

There wasn’t a coach in College Basketball last season that did more with less, than TJ Otzelberger at Iowa State. Just one season after winning only 2 games and going winless during the Big 12 conference slate, Iowa State found themselves making not only the NCAA Tournament, but a Sweet 16. The regular season started off with a bang for the Cyclones as they built an impressive tournament resume beating the likes of Xavier, Memphis, Creighton and Iowa, combined with winning enough Big 12 Conference games to secure a bid. Despite losing significant contributors in Izaiah Brockington and Tyrese Hunter, this version of Iowa State will be much deeper than last year’s after bringing in transfers including Osun Osunniyi and Jaren Holmes from St. Bonaventure, Hason Ward from VCU, Jeremiah Williams from Temple and Tre King from Georgetown. This depth will come in handy, as Iowa State only played six guys for more than 18 minutes per game last season. Since he arrived in Aimes, it’s been clear that Iowa State is the perfect spot for Otzelberger to coach. While the loss of Hunter, who just won Big 12 Freshman of the Year and will likely play in the NBA hurts, Iowa State is better equipped to deal with it now after adding a ton of transfers, then we could hope for. As an Iowa State Assistant from 2006-2013 under two different Head Coaches, Otzelberger knows what it takes to win in Aimes and there aren’t many guys that could have done what he accomplished last season after walking into such a tough spot.

Micah Shrewsberry (Penn State)

There was a rare occurrence of many successful first year Head Coaches last season, that some others went a little under the radar, despite having really nice seasons. Micah Shrewsberry at Penn State would fall into this category after Penn State struggled a bit early but really finished the season nicely. Unlike years past, many first year Head Coaches got their team to the NCAA Tournament, which isn’t always realistic depending on the situation they took over. Penn State has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2011, which is the 4th longest drought among Power 6 schools. Penn State would have heard their name called on Selection Sunday in 2020 had the NCAA Tournament not been canceled, and the Pat Chambers era came to a screeching end shortly after. Last season, after an up and down regular season, Penn State came to play in the Big Ten Tournament beating both Minnesota and Ohio State in the first two rounds before narrowly losing to Purdue in the quarterfinals of the tournament. For a team that only was able to win 7 games during the Big Ten Conference season, winning 2 at the most important time is really something you can build on, especially early in a Head Coaches tenure. Penn State will be returning both of their top leading scorers from a season ago in Jalen Pickett and Seth Lundy, and both of them can create offense and score the basketball. With many of the 2022 NCAA Tournament teams in the Big Ten losing major production, Penn State can easily be a sleeper team in the Big Ten if they can build upon how they ended last season.

Shaka Smart (Marquette)

When you have been following College Basketball for long enough, it becomes clear how important fit is in terms of being a successful Head Coach. That directly applies to Shaka Smart, as it was clear from very early in during his Texas tenure that the fit was not right. Despite bringing in a ton of talent to Austin that later turned into future NBA players, Smart could never really get things going at Texas compared to the crazy success he had at VCU. Texas went 0-3 in the NCAA Tournament under Smart, with the worst loss coming in 2021 when Texas was upset by #14 seeded Abilene Christian as a #3 seed. That was the type of loss that Smart knew would be hard to recover from so he went back to his home state of Wisconsin to take over at Marquette. The Steve Wojciechowski era at Marquette was very similar to the Shaka Smart era at Texas, in the sense that there was a ton of talent brought in, but it never directly translated into wins. This past season, after losing 6 of their top 7 scorers from 2021, Marquette finished 5th in the Big East with a 11-8 conference record and earned a #9 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Even with the season ending in somewhat disappointing fashion, no one can argue that Marquette significantly overachieved in 2021 and the future should be bright. Shaka looked more comfortable within his first month at Marquette, than at any time during his run at Texas, which is a great sign for Golden Eagles fans.

Craig Smith (Utah)

Smith was one of my favorite hires in the cycle of the 2021 offseason, considering he led Utah State to the NCAA Tournament in 2019 and 2021, plus Utah State won the 2020 Mountain West Tournament before the world shut down and would have gotten in then as well. Year 1 in Salt Lake City didn’t go particularly great for Smith as the Utes finished 11-20 overall and 4-16 during Pac 12 play. It is important to remember that at every job Smith has gotten to so far, it hasn’t started easy, but eventually things got going.  When Smith was at South Dakota State, he took over a program that had gone 32-56 in the three seasons before he got there. By his 4th year, South Dakota State went 26-9 and was ready for a bigger challenge. Utah State couldn’t get over the hump of finishing over 500 but got to the NCAA Tournament in only Smith’s second year in charge. Utah has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2016, and Utah hasn’t won more than 20 games in a season since 2018. Many people had the thought that Utah could have been significantly better last season with a healthy Branden Carlson, who was Utah’s leading scorer but missed 7 games in mid to late January with an ankle injury. Carlson will be back for his 4th season in the program, alongside guys like Marco Anthony, Rollie Worster and Lazar Stefanovic who will also be returning for a second year in the program. Smith also brought in some transfers including Mike Saunders Jr from Cincinnati and Ben Carlson from Wisconsin to help shoulder the load, but Utah will need a big bounce back season in order to succeed in 2023.

Tony Stubblefield (DePaul)

DePaul currently has the longest drought of any Power 6 team, since the last time they made the NCAA Tournament. Tony Stubblefield is looking to take the Blue Demons to their first NCAA Tournament since 2004 and he did a solid job during his first season in charge. The Blue Demons finished 15-16 overall and 6-14 during Big East Conference play. Those were the most Big East Conference wins DePaul has had in a season since 2019 and DePaul even had some big wins during the non-conference slate. DePaul went into the KFC Yum Center and beat Louisville in December and even though it was your vintage Louisville team, that win meant a lot for DePaul considering how bad they’ve been in recent years. Despite being a somewhat pleasant surprise in the Big East last season, DePaul finds themselves in a tough spot losing both of their leading scorers from last season in Javon Freeman- Liberty and David Jones. Freeman-Liberty turning pro was understandable but losing Jones to another team in your own conference in St. Johns has to sting. Jones broke onto the scene last season for DePaul averaging 14.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game as a Sophomore. If DePaul could have kept just one of these guys they would be in a much better position. Stubblefield did add some solid transfers in Caleb Murphy and Umoja Gibson plus return guys like Nick Ogenda and Jalen Terry who have played for Stubblefield. Year 2 for Stubbelfield looks like a challenge, but DePaul exceeded our expectations last year and can do the same this season.

Mike Woodson (Indiana)

The consensus opinion was that Indiana was crazy to bring in a 63-year-old Mike Woodson to coach College Basketball for the first time, but a year in it has worked out for Indiana. The Hoosiers program just never felt right under Archie Miller despite bringing in many talented players and similar to Tommy Lloyd at Arizona, Mike Woodson deserves credit for keeping the core group of Archie Miller’s players together in the program. Guys like Trayce Jackson- Davis, Race Thompson and Jordan Geronimo will be returning for their third and fourth years in the program, and Woodson has also brought in talented transfers like Xavier Johnson and Miller Kopp, alongside premier Freshman like Tamar Bates, Jordan Hood- Schifino and Malik Reneau. Last year Woodson led Indiana to their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2016 and the Hoosiers even won a game against Wyoming to advance out of the First 4 in Dayton. As mentioned previously with Minnesota and Penn State, there will be a lot of talented players leaving the Big Ten from last season including Jaden Ivey, Johnny Davis, Keegan Murray, Kofi Cockburn and more. Indiana is returning the most talent from anyone in the league and they will enter next winter as the favorite to win the Big Ten conference. Last year at many times it felt like Indiana had turned a corner and was finally learning how to win close games. In the Big Ten Tournament Indiana was playing Michigan in the 8/9 game and the expectation was if Indiana loses this game they won’t be hearing their names called on Selection Sunday. After being down 20+ points in the first half and 13 at the break, Indiana outscored Michigan 46-28 in the second half behind 24 points from Trayce Jackson-Davis and 17 points from Xavier Johnson. Both of those guys will be back this season trying to lead Indiana to their first Final 4 since 2002 and first Big Ten Title since 2016. Indiana also beat the #1 seed Illinois following that massive Michigan win to secure a tournament bid for 100%. And went toe to toe with a very good Iowa team in the semifinals. This will be the most anticipated Hoosiers Basketball season since at least 2016 thanks to Mike Woodson and the job he’s done in the first year and chance running the program.