51. Kevin Willard, Seton Hall (52-59-122-98-49): Hard to believe that Willard is in his fifth year at Seton Hall but only just shy of forty years old. The results haven't been there, but SHU has historically been a tough place to win. The Pirates have shown improvement on the court this year, and more importantly, Willard nailed a strong 2014 class led by highly sought after NY recruits Isaiah Whitehead and Angel Delgado. If you can recruit NY at Seton Hall, you're on to something. If not, you will continue to be Seton Hall.
50. Cuonzo Martin, California (72-58-74-7-170): Martin went a respectable 32-20 in SEC games in three seasons at Tennessee and made a run to the Sweet Sixteen there last year. Then he jumped to California last offseason, at least in part because the Tennessee fanbase was behind him with pitchforks and torches ready to run him out of town for the high crime of not being Bruce Pearl. His players at UT continued to show support after he left which probably says more about him than winning 10 games in a lousy SEC.
49. Steve Alford, UCLA (44-19-19-15-81) - Steve Alford is 50 years old. I'm not sure whether I'm shocked he's that old now or that he's not older given that he's been coaching at national programs for 15+ years. Alford had a famously mediocre run at Iowa, wound up at New Mexico, won a bunch, lost to #14 seed Harvard, and wound up at UCLA in what was considered a surprising hire at the time. His success at UCLA last year was in no small part due to inheriting a strong roster with five guys now in the NBA. He did win four regular season and two tournament titles in six years in Albuquerque, but opinions of the Mountain West will vary. There's something inadequate about Alford.
48. Wayne Tinkle, Oregon State (115-105-136-223-60): Tinkle inherited a dead program with a roster that needed a complete overhaul and somehow has OSU in line for its first winning conference record since 1990. His only prior experience in the college game was at Montana, first as a player in the 80s then as an assistant and head coach for the past 14 years. Unless Oregon State completely falls apart next month, Tinkle is going to get major consideration for national COY awards which has to make him an intriguing candidate for future openings, but you wonder how much you learn about major conference coaching spending your whole life in Missoula, MT.
47. Steve Wojciechowski, Marquette (91): The second unknown Coach K protege on the list, Wojo ranks higher than Chris Collins due to the recruiting class he assembled in his first year including a McDonald's All-Americans and four top-100 players. It's a hell of a way to start. Given his pedigree and the even footing Marquette finds itself on in the Big East, Wojo could be one of the hottest coaches in the game in two years.
46. Steve Fisher, San Diego State (7-65-35-18-28): At this point it's cliche for an announcer to say something along the lines of "...And what about the job Steve Fisher has done with this San Diego State program", but that doesn't make it any less true. Fisher has consistently put together smothering defensive teams and SDSU is well on its way to a sixth straight tournament bid and sixth 25 win season in 7 years. And he does have a national championship ring. Unfortunately as good as he is, he turns 70 in a couple months. That's old.
45. Richard Pitino, Minnesota (188-48-53): He's Rick Pitino's kid. He runs an uptempo, pressing style like Rick Pitino. These are good indicators. That's about all you've got, other than an NIT championship in year one at Minnesota. He admittedly probably belongs lower on this list, but there's a reason people buy Powerball tickets rather than the Pick 4.
44. Danny Manning, Wake Forest (178-73-112): Not many college coaches have an extensive pro career, especially ones who played 15 years in the NBA. Maybe that means you just missed out on years of climbing the ranks learning at places like Wright State and UC-Irvine, but being a player is not without its learning opportunities, and Manning's NBA experience gives him some name recognition. He served 8 seasons on Bill Self's bench at Kansas and quickly turned around Tulsa so he's hardly some coaching neophyte either.
43. Johnny Dawkins, Stanford (98-36-44-36-30): Do Stanford fans like Dawkins or did they groan when the Cardinal eked into the tournament last year with a dozen losses and a double digit seed? He's been there seven years, and while Stanford might be the third best team in the Pac-12 this year, that's a hollow prize. It's clear that Dawkins isn't a bad coach, but it's fast becoming clear that you're not getting a national contender with him, and maybe not even a conference contender.
42. Steve Lavin, St John's (37-153-107-61-39): Lavin won a lot of games at UCLA, getting canned after one season. Seriously, the guy was almost a lock to get to the second weekend of the tournament. Now he's turned around St John's, and while there haven't been a ton of tournament appearances, it's a program that's been pretty dead for at least 20 years. And yet, if a major program hired Lavin, the response would be tepid at best.
41. Mick Cronin, Cincinnati (21-26-42-23-33): Watching Cincinnati is like watching paint dry, and hiring Mick Cronin to be your coach is like going to the deli and ordering a ham on white bread. Won't kill you, but completely uninspiring. Cronin has steadily guided Cincinnati back to perennial NCAA bids and despite his boring style he's been a truly outstanding defensive coach.
40. Archie Miller, Dayton (71-65-38-38): Miller had a chance to be one of the annual Stan Heath Memorial March Madness hires, guys who move onto a bigger job after one good run in the tournament. That's not to say that those guys never work out, but I'd venture that ADs looking to make a splash get a little over-exuberant in some cases. Miller returned to Dayton for a fourth season this year and so far, so good. There's little doubt that Miller will be a hot property until he decides to jump ship.
39. Larry Brown, SMU (186-30-26): Larry Brown is older than dirt and has been almost everywhere in the world. He's coached ten NBA/ABA teams, two college bluebloods (UCLA and Kansas), played at another in college (UNC), coached an Olympic Team, and now finally wound up in Dallas at SMU where the Mustangs landed (kind of...) the top guard prospect in high school basketball last year despite 25 years since their last NCAA tournament. I don't know what it would be like to have Larry Brown coach your team at age 82, but I'd be willing to bet it would entertain.
38. Lon Kruger, Oklahoma (32-115-49-33-13): Kruger has a habit of winning games, going from Kansas State to Florida to Illinois to UNLV (by way of the Atlanta Hawks) and finally to Oklahoma, winning at every stop, 550 times and counting. He's also got something of a lackluster tournament history, to say the least, coaching 24 seasons at those schools and making the second weekend of the tournament just three times. And he's one just won conference regular season title and one division title.
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