When you think back to 1996 and go through today there are some college basketball head coaches who have knocked their jobs out of the park.
Roy Williams has won three national championships since being hired by North Carolina in 2003. Bill Self hasn’t had a year where he failed to win a Big XII and his Kansas Jayhawks won it all in 2008. Jay Wright has taken Villanova to new heights and a pair of national titles while Tom Izzo has led the Michigan State Spartans to eight Final Four appearances and a national championship in 2000.
Those are the obvious ones to best hires in that run. What about the other, not so obvious great hires?
Those obvious names made the list with Williams one, Wright two, Izzo three and Self four.
John Calipari at Kentucky, Tony Bennett at Virginia and Mark Few of Gonzaga are all on the list as well. A name Notre Dame fans are plenty familiar with checked in at 14th as well.
14. Mike Brey, Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2000)
Brey chose his mentors well. When you’ve been an assistant to both Morgan Wootten (DeMatha High School, 1982-87) and Mike Krzyzewski (Duke, 1987-95), you’re tough to beat in that category. The Fighting Irish have been to 12 of the 19 NCAA tournaments that have been played since his hiring, and ND nearly beat team of the decade Kentucky in the 2015 Elite Eight.
There isn’t much to complain about here if you’re a Notre Dame fan or Brey supporter. Perhaps Leonard Hamilton at Florida State being ranked eighth might seem as a bit of a slight but Hamilton has had the Seminoles playing at a higher level than Notre Dame the last couple of years.
Whatever the case it’s nice to see Brey get some national love for a program that had an entire decade without an NCAA Tournament appearance before his arrival.
Makes you really miss what could have been with Matt Doherty, doesn’t it?