College basketball coaches affect a program in every way, from game day strategy to the culture of academics to the looseness of a locker room. It all starts at the top.
When the head man changes, however, everything changes. Thus, here are five first year coaches to keep an eye on this season, as they take over new programs.
1.) Shaka Smart, Texas
Smart takes over a UT program longing to get back to the days when former coach Rick Barnes had them in the conversation for conference titles and deep run into the NCAA Tournament. Luckily for him, he’s stepping into a relatively loaded cupboard, specifically with veteran guard Isaiah Taylor, who considered jumping to the NBA after last season.
2.) Steve Prohm, Iowa State
Oh hey, Coach Prohm. Here’s your top ten team who is coming off of a shocking NCAA Tournament upset, and whose fanbase is ready to see all of the team’s potential realized on the court. Try to make that happen, all while filling the shoes of a local legend…okay? That’s life for Steve Prohm right now.
3.) Will Wade, VCU
Speaking of taking over for a legend, Wade is now tasked with filling the shoes of a coach that took the program to new heights, and got the Rams into every living room across the country if they really wanted to. Expectations have been tampered a bit, but still, the first signs of trouble with the new regime will come under quite a bit of scrutiny.
4.) Bobby Hurley, Arizona State
Two years at Buffalo and he’s off to the desert, where he recently said it was more about the conference than the actual program. Nice, coach. But Hurley needs to make an impression quick. The next tier of programs behind Arizona is wide open, and if ASU wants to find some sort of consistent relevancy, surprising the conference this season would go a long way towards the effort.
5.) Ben Howland, Mississippi State
He’s back! The program has suffered a number of injuries this offseason, but nonetheless, Howland is still getting perhaps the best pure scoring freshman in America with Malik Newman. Whether or not he can play defense up to Howland’s standards remains to be seen, but one has to think that coach will let him run a little bit loose in year one.
