As soon as once more CBS Sports activities presents our Candid Coaches collection, which spotlights related matters and points in males’s school basketball. Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander polled practically 100 coaches in current weeks on quite a lot of topics. Coaches spoke on background and have been supplied anonymity to supply unfiltered opinions. Right now, we take a look at the number of new faces in new locations.
Adjustments within the NIL panorama, and the frenetic nature of the switch portal, has accelerated the speed of turnover in school teaching.
To wit: 18% of the power-conference head-coaching construction flipped again within the spring. That’s 14 out of 79 jobs. That’s a very good chunk, and actually school hoops had 14 ACC/Huge East/Huge Ten/Huge 12/SEC flips for the second straight yr. So far as I can inform, 28 high-major teaching adjustments in a two-year interval is a university basketball file.
In 2025, we had makeovers at Maryland, Miami, Indiana Iowa, Villanova, Virginia, Texas and Texas A&M and nonetheless six extra within the big-boy leagues. A few of these hirings will flame out by 2030. Others will show to be residence runs, with maybe one, two or three of the coaches in new perches this yr fated to thrive for properly over a decade at their new colleges.
Candid Coaches: Who’s the very best X’s and O’s coach in school basketball proper now?
Gary Parrish
Which faculty made the very best choice in transferring ahead with its males’s hoops program over the following five-plus years? This was our query to just about 100 coaches and listed below are the outcomes of our survey.
Who was the very best rent of the 2025 hiring cycle?
Ben McCollum, Iowa
25%
Will Wade, NC State
22%
Sean Miller, Texas
21%
Ryan Odom, Virginia
9%
Buzz Williams, Maryland
7%
Niko Medved, Minnesota
5%
Others receiving a number of votes: Kevin Willard (Villanova), Ross Hodge (West Virginia), Alex Jensen (Utah)
Quotes that stood out
About McCollum
“I didn’t know much about him before he went to Drake. Just heard there was this high-level D-II coach, but I started studying his stuff this past year. They played a coach I worked with … I watched one game, locked in, and it’s just incredible what he does. I studied him more and more as the season went along. Then they beat Missouri in the NCAA Tournament. There’s more than just success in Year 1 (at Iowa). Longevity at that place. That feels like a really good fit for him and he’s bringing a couple of his good players. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t have immediate success there.”
“It should’ve never taken Ben this long to get a power-conference job. Look at his career record and accomplishments. Great coach. He’ll win consistently as long as his administration supports him.”
“McCollum I don’t know anything about, but seems like he’s a controlling tempo and defensive guy, so that will translate no matter what personnel they have. Also it seems like a perfect personality location fit for a new head coach. And his track record is super impressive.”
“Ben McCollum because of fit. From the region, winning at an insane clip and has shown now he can recruit and coach in the current landscape of D-I. Iowa fans will love his demeanor and style of play.”
About Wade
“He will thrive in this new era of college basketball. Someone was going to take a chance and NC State beat everyone to it.”
“I think it’s the gangster, Will Wade (laughing). Fits NC State perfectly. I think that’s a match made in heaven.”
“Always has been a really good coach and recruiter. This job fits him and his personality, but also what is needed there too. Someone who doesn’t give a shit about the blue bloods around him.”
“Perfect marriage with program. Passionate fanbase with deep pockets. Talent-rich region. Plays a fun style. Very good chance to win early and consistently in the weakest [Power Five] league.”
“What he was fired for the rules are different — look at Houston with Kelvin Sampson. He is the perfect fit to achieve at a high ceiling type of job. He is going to recruit, coach, and sell that program.”
About Miller
“He didn’t lose his job at an elite program like Arizona for not performing. He has the experience and the skill to be a perfect fit at Texas.”
“It’s not really close. He has proven he can win at an elite school (Arizona) and he is at Texas. It’s a place you are going to win at. And: Sean wins.”
“Perfect fit and has won big [at that level] already. Very smart hire. Ensures they will continue to be good after the worst four-year period in history. Went from multiple Elite Eights at a hoops-only school to not making tourney for four years. Major slide. [Texas] will be back.”
About Odom
“Some coaches get hired, it makes sense and is the perfect the place. For me, Odom is an easy choice because the program he went to is the most synergistic fit of all the guys. I’ve gotten to know Ryan and know UVa well based on having worked in that area. I know what UVa is about academically and non-athletically. When Ryan Odom was at UMBC, he invited me to his practice and I got to know him there. How he is as a coach, who he is, what he values and the university, it’s a perfect fit.”
“He has a personal connection to the university and he’s won everywhere he’s been: UMBC, Utah State, VCU.”
About others
Medved: “How can anyone discount what Niko Medved has done at each stop in his career? He inherited a disaster at Furman and in three years he won. Drake, he won. And what he did at CSU is beyond impressive.”
Jensen: “I had a chance to spend a year with Alex when I was [younger]. He has a way about him. Humble, exceptionally smart, obviously very knowledgeable about the game but doesn’t try to outsmart himself. He has a feel for people.”
The takeaway
With our “who’s the best player?” and “who’s the best team?” survey questions this yr, I’ve been pulling out information from the archives to point out who gained these Qs in years previous. Let’s do the identical for immediately’s examine, because it’s a query we’ve requested relationship again to 2014.
Current winners of this query — with hyperlinks to return and see how the coaches voted annually — are …
2024: John Calipari to Arkansas. Means too quickly to inform, however he was objectively not the very best rent in Yr 1. 2023: Rick Pitino to St. John’s. A straightforward alternative not so way back and it’s actually wanting like the appropriate decide as of immediately.2022: Shaheen Holloway to Seton Corridor. A good vote that yr, however a miss, as Holloway was employed in the identical yr as Jon Scheyer, Todd Golden, Dennis Gates and Chris Jans.2021: Chris Beard to Texas. It ended disastrously. Shaka Good completed second, and that tracks. Tommy Lloyd to Arizona wasn’t even top-five!2019: Fred Hoiberg to Nebraska. He completed properly forward of men who proved to be higher their colleges: Nate Oats, Mick Cronin, TJ Otzelberger and Eric Musselman.2018: Chris Mack to Louisville. Mack beat out the Appropriate Reply by one proportion level that yr: Dan Hurley to UConn.2017: Archie Miller to Indiana. An apparent miss. Brad Underwood to Illinois is the clear finest rent from 2017; he took second to Miller that yr.2016: Brad Underwood to Oklahoma State. Sure, Underwood had two power-conference jobs in two years. Beard to Texas Tech or Greg Gard at Wisconsin wound up as probably the most fruitful hires, although.2015: Shaka Good to Texas. He comfortably gained, with Ben Howland to Mississippi State being second. The Appropriate Reply got here in third that yr with 12% of the vote: Tennessee hiring Rick Barnes.2014: Buzz Williams to Virginia Tech. Similar to 2018, the highest vote-getter that yr beat out the main vote-getter by 1%: Bruce Pearl to Auburn got here in second.
I really like asking this query yearly to get a learn of coaches’ opinions on their contemporaries. That stated keep in mind the winner is way from assured to be the very best of their hiring class. Within the 10 earlier iterations of this query, it’s truthful to say coaches acquired it proper with the No. 1 decide possibly two occasions.
That doesn’t imply McCollum gained’t show to be glorious. After profitable 395 video games (and 4 nationwide titles) in 15 seasons at Division II Northwest Missouri State, the Iowa native walked into D-I at Drake and went 31-4. The match with the Hawkeyes looks like it may change the dynamic within the Huge Ten within the subsequent decade if McCollum’s philosophies are adaptable on the high-major degree.
I anticipated Wade to complete top-three after we introduced this query, and actually he took the 2-slot. His confidence and persona profile matched with NC State’s place within the Triangle pecking order has quite a lot of coaches desperate to see if the Wolfpack generally is a nationwide issue within the subsequent two years. That’s going to be a enjoyable one to observe.
And with Miller, he’s been up for voting on this query earlier than, only a few years in the past when he went to Xavier. He has extra wins than any coach on this yr’s cycle. He goes to Texas, with the concept that he can do greater than he did at Xavier. With the brand new income sharing guidelines in place, we’ll see if that winds up being the case. Miller has lengthy been known as among the best coaches with no Ultimate 4 to his identify. He’d like to shed that label as shortly as potential in what must be his closing cease in school teaching.
Huge image, I take a look at McCollum to Iowa, Wade to State, Medved to Minnesota, Odom to Virginia, Alex Jensen to Utah, Luke Loucks to Florida State, and many others. … and I don’t assume there’s been a carousel cycle up to now decade the place there have been extra “fits” that align with teaching fashion, faculty, background, geographical ties than what we have now in 2025. It’s why, though coaches needed to choose one reply, plenty of guys I spoke with gave their second-choice votes to the likes of Medved and Odom.
Even Jai Lucas and Bucky McMillan — neither of whom has been a high-major coach till this yr — every obtained a vote. This can be a promising, comparatively younger class of coaches getting into new gigs. It’s not nearly who they have been after they gained the job, it’s about how they will adapt within the subsequent few years. Faculty sports activities is in both Stage 3 or 4 of in all probability a five-stage mega-shift, and solely the coaches who perceive the terrain and learn how to map-read, pivot and modify will nonetheless be holding on to those jobs, or higher ones, 5 years from now.
Earlier 2025 Candid Coaches questions
