Top Coaching Jobs - #5

With Indiana facing certain sanctions from the NCAA for the next several years, the Hooisers were still able to land Tom Crean. Roy Williams left the Kansas Jayhawks for North Carolina in 2003. Kansas was able to replace him with Bill Self, from Illinois, who just recently turned down Oklahoma State to stay at Kansas.

It makes you wonder, what are the Top 10 coaching jobs in college basketball? We here at Drinking the Forty consulted with some of the finest basketball experts in the country to find out. Hey, if ESPN can pull random people off the street and call them experts, then we can too.

Here is our Top 10, based on a program’s national persona, recent success, fan base, facilities, history and tradition, and potential for future success.

#5.) Kentucky Wildcats

Another storied program that is in a period of transition. Things had started to come unraveled in Lexington under coach Tubby Smith, who grew tired of the extreme expectations of the Big Blue and saw the writing on the wall. With Smith heading to Minnesota, he left the Kentucky program depleted and in need of a minor rebuilding job.

After a disastrous hiring search, Kentucky was able to make a great hire in Texas A&M coach Billy Gillespie. He immediately came in and instilled his defensive minded, tough, winning attitude and was able to salvage what was a very sub-par Kentucky team. Under Gillespie you could see the transformation taking place during the season, as he began to put his imprint on the program.

Kentucky is a program where 20 wins and tournament appearances aren’t enough. Over the last seven seasons the Wildcats have posted 169 wins and a .728 winning percentage. But that wasn’t enough for Big Blue. One of the most demanding and rabid fan bases in all of college basketball, the Wildcat faithful expects Final Four appearances and National Titles.

Under Adolph Rupp, the Kentucky Wildcats became one of the most successful and storied programs in the game. That tradition grew even more under the championship teams of Rick Pitino. With seven championships and 13 final four appearances, Kentucky is one of the most historic programs in college basketball. They are nationally known and respected.

But in the last several years, recruiting has been down, and Kentucky has fallen behind Tennessee and Florida in the SEC. Kentucky hasn’t been able to maintain the level reached by Rick Pitino, and Tubby Smith became burned out with the expectations and pressure that this Kentucky job brings. Whether it is warranted or not, there’s the Derby and Wildcat basketball in Kentucky, and that’s it. The scrutiny and pressure that comes with this job is second to none, and Billy Gillespie will have to work hard to please his critics.

Gillespie has a style of basketball that wins in the NCAA Tournament and is a proven recruiter. He’s young and highly motivated and is probably the type of hire that could end up getting the Kentucky program back on top. While the Kentucky program has been down the past few years, it won’t stay there for long. And that’s why they come in on our list at number five.

#6.) Indiana Hooisers
#7.) Florida Gators
#8) Michigan State Spartans
#9.) Connecticut Huskies
#10.) Arizona Wildcats

We're taking it up a notch

Just when you didn't think it could get any crazier after Steve Alford was indeed leaving Iowa for New Mexico, it did. Tubby Smith is leaving the Kentucky Wildcats, where he has won a national championship and coached the past 10 seasons, for that basketball juggernaut, Minnesota.

While the pressure on Tubby Smith continued to rise over the past three semi-disappointing seasons, Florida won a national championship, Tennessee returned to prominence, and Vanderbilt started playing basketball again. During this period, it had appeared that Tubby had grown tired of the pressure packed situation, as one could begin to wonder while watching him on the sidelines, whether Tubby had a pulse. I'm not sure if this counts as a retirement from basketball, or whether he could get more naps while coaching in the Big Ten, but Tubby Smith will take over a Minnesota program that is absolutely delighted to get him. You can't particularly blame him though, the pressure had overwhelmed him at Kentucky, and for $1.8 million dollars a year at a program that will be delighted with an NCAA birth every year without expectations rising for at least 10 years, I'd go too.

The interesting part of this story will be the off-season coaching carousel that will ensue. With Iowa, Michigan, and Kentucky all searching for head coaches, there should be a long list of names moving locales. Kentucky is at the top of that list, with its tradition and fan base, it is probably one of the top 10 coaching jobs in the country. Whatever schools they go visit, the coach there will at least have to listen. Among early mentions for the position, are Billy Donovan (Florida), Tom Crean (Marquette), Tom Izzo (Michigan State), John Calipari (Memphis), Mark Few (Gonzaga), Mike Brey (Notre Dame), Rick Barnes (Texas), Billy Gillespie (Texas A&M), and Jay Wright (Villanova). While Donovan is extremely unlikely, any other candidate on that list would at least have to listen. Wherever they do get their head coach from, it should set off a chain reaction leading to several coaches switching programs.

So many decisions and variables factor into these decisions, such as timing, money, the program, the coaches current program, their relationship with that program. You never know which coach would surprisingly turn down an offer and another coach surprisingly accept an offer. Needless to say it's frightening to see Barnes' name on that list, and while I like to think he wouldn't leave, he's from North Carolina and Kentucky is a basketball first, historic program. Let's just hope that Kevin Durant stays, and the point is moot.