Grading the coaching hires

Dan Hurley is living his best life. A (minor) speaking role on Monday Night RAW? Not sure it’d get much better for an avid wrestling fan. Certainly beats working the transfer portal.

Let’s get to Monday’s news.

1. Grading the coaching hires

There were 64 college basketball coaching changes this season. It’ll take a few years before we actually know which hires were good, which were bad, and which were more of the same, but the Field of 68 crew got together to grade some of the more notable hires with initial grades.

Though, as Jeff Goodman says, you can’t fully grade a coaching hire until the staff is filled out.

STILL! Here’s a run at the grades, averaged out over six Field of 68 voters:

• A’s: Josh Schertz, St. Louis (A+), Chris Mack, Charleston (A+), Eric Musselman, USC (A-), Kyle Smith, Stanford (A-)

• B’s: John Calipari, Arkansas (B+), Pat Kelsey, Louisville (B+), Chris Holtmann, DePaul (B+), Danny Sprinkle, Washington (B+), Dusty May, Michigan (B), Kevin Young, BYU (B), Mark Pope, Kentucky (B-), Steve Lutz, Oklahoma State (B-), Cuonzo Martin, Missouri State (B-)

• C’s: Mark Byington, Vanderbilt (C+), Darian DeVries, West Virginia (C+), Jarrod Calhoun, Utah State (C), John Jakus, FAU (C), Andy Enfield, SMU (C-), David Riley, Washington State (C-), Jake Diebler, Ohio State (C-)

• D’s: Vance Walberg, Fresno State (D+)

If you have comments, be sure to check the Field of 68 social feeds all week where we’ll have graphics announcing the grades.

Some thoughts:

• That’s a lofty grade for Smith and represents his coaching acumen and success. But I am curious what would represent an A grade at Stanford? NCAA Tourney berths every three years? A program that consistently finishes in the top half of the ACC? Is that possible in today’s transfer world?

• Interesting grade for DeVries. He’s been to three of the last four NCAA Tournaments (in a 1-bid league), and won at least 24 games in five of his six seasons at Drake. The end results? Awesome. But he’s never had a team finish higher than 53 in kenpom (this season). Can he manufacture wins in the Big 12?

• One could argue DeVries didn’t get the same credit as Sprinkle and Lutz, both of whom have similar end results (both have three straight NCAA Tournament appearances), but their teams haven’t broken through with above-average performances.

• No clue if the Diebler grade is correct. I’m just guessing he’s gonna keep receipts.

As for three of the most notable hires — Calipari, Pope, Kelsey — I’ll leave those discussions to Goodman and Rob Dauster.

2. Did Virginia’s busy portal day salvage its spring?

So much for Virginia not doing anything quickly.

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