Tommy Lloyd was a bit of a surprise hire at Arizona. One year in he was the Naismith Coach of the Year.
Judging head coaches after half a season is not reasonable. But it’s apparent who is off to a significant start so far, or at the extremely least who has their programs heading in the right instructions.
Let’s take a appearance at some of the first-year coaches who have began out strong in guys’s college basketball this season.
1. Jerome Tang, Kansas State (14-0, 3-1 Big 12): Tang was a long, reliedon assistant to Scott Drew at Baylor. He was there at the start in 2003, assisting to construct the Bears into a nationwide title group in2022 He was looking for the right gig to leave Waco and discovered it at Kansas State. Tang hasactually been spectacular, hence far, in structure the Wildcats into a legitimate Big 12 competitor. Keyontae Johnson was an unidentified. Kansas State was one of the locations that was thinkingabout letting him play after he collapsed at Florida in December2020 His play hasactually been incredible. So has that of holdover Markquis Nowell, who assoonas moved from Little Rock. This group hasactually been able to rating at will and chose up 2 beast roadway wins this past week at Baylor and Texas. Tang might be this season’s Tommy Lloyd and endedupbeing a nationwide coach of the year after one year, while leading his group into the 2nd weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
2. Dennis Gates, Missouri (13-2, 2-1 SEC): Gates was a veteran assistant to Leonard Hamilton at Florida State. He had success at Cleveland State in the Horizon and was extremely wishedfor in the training carousel this offseason. He’s been a struck so far in Columbia. Gates has a star in Kobe Brown. This team can protect. And the crowds and fan base haveactually been all on board for Mizzou. He got blasted at house by competitor Kansas and that might haveactually been a bad veryfirst impression. But then he turned around blitzed Illinois in St. Louis and Kentucky at house. The Tigers are looking strong for NCAA Tournament factortoconsider in Year 1.
3. Sean Miller, Xavier (13-3, 5-0 Big East): Miller is back at Xavier and the Miller 2.0 routine hasactually gone extremely well. Miller went to 4 NCAA competitions in 5 seasons, consistingof an Elite Eight. Miller has currently knocked off UConn at house and has the Musketeers poised to make a run towards the Big East title. He has combined a lineup that was mostly undamaged of holdovers and transfers. Jack Nunge has thrived under his watch and the mix of Colby Jones and Zach Freemantle hasactually been a difficult match. The addition of leading scorer Souley Boum, a excellent discover from UTEP, hasactually been another significant hit. Boum is the leading scorer for the Musketeers. Miller was exonerated through the NCAA examination about his time at Arizona and now has that in his rearview mirror as well.
4. Chris Jans, Mississippi State (12-3, 1-2 SEC): Jans led New Mexico State to a win over UConn in the veryfirst round of the NCAA Tournament. He has a shown track record of taking over a program that is a bit under the radar and thriving. There is still plenty of runway for this season, however therefore far he has the Bulldogs in a position to be a possible NCAA Tournament group. The wins over Marquette and Utah will have a excellent rack life for the Bulldogs. Beating competitor Ole Miss last weekend was a great veryfirst impression for everybody in the state. If he can get Mississippi State into the NCAA Tournament with a lineup controlled by transfers, he will purchase time to start structure a strong structure.
5. Chris Gerlufsen, San Francisco (12-7, 1-3 WCC): Gerlufsen took over for Todd Golden, who took the Florida task after the Dons’ narrow loss to Murray State in the veryfirst round of the NCAA Tournament. Moving up to head coach is neverever easy, however Gerlufsen hasactually done rather well. The Dons blasted Arizona State at house and almost got Gonzaga, structure a lead priorto losing it late. Will the Dons make the NCAA Tournament? It’s notlikely as an at-large, however he has madesure the Dons will be in the thick of every videogame in the WCC.
Other significant first-year employs so far: Matt McMahon, LSU; Thad Matta, Butler; Mike White, Georgia; Todd Golden, Florida; Frank Martin, UMass.
Andy Katz is a longtime college basketball author, expert and host. He can be seen on the Big Ten Network, as well as March Madness and NCAA.com, and he hosts the podcast “March Madness 365.” Katz worked at ESPN for almost 2 years and, previous to that, in papers for 9 years.
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