The coaching carousel: Louisville is a winner, Duke is a loser and Tubby Smith is both

Late Monday night, the curtain fell on another thrill-packed edition of March Madness. However, the most intriguing part of each college basketball season, the deal-cutting coaching carousel, is still revved up and running.

Here are my winners and losers so far from the 2018 men’s college basketball coaching jobs twirl:

Winner: Louisville. U of L is already on NCAA probation as a result of the strippers/escorts for recruits scandal.

Because of the allegation that at least one, and maybe two, now-former Louisville coaches were involved in a scheme with Adidas to make a six-figure payment to secure a recruit, U of L is the school potentially in the most NCAA jeopardy as a result of the ongoing FBI investigation into corruption and fraud in college basketball, too.

Given that uncertainty hanging over Cardinals basketball, it is beyond a coup that new Cardinals Athletics Director Vince Tyra was able to land a coach as accomplished as the now ex-Xavier head man, Chris Mack.

Loser: Duke. Jeff Capel’s addition to the Duke staff in 2011 coincided with the Blue Devils’ recruiting shift toward the one-and-done milieu once ruled all but exclusively by Kentucky and John Calipari.

Now, it is conventional wisdom that the departure of the Blue Devils assistant from Mike Krzyzewski’s staff to become head coach at Pittsburgh is a major threat to Duke’s current ascendancy in luring one-and-done recruits to Durham.

Winner: Georgia. Yes, Tom Crean often seems over-caffeinated and can come across a bit goofy. That said, I’ve never understood the scorn that some direct toward the former Marquette and Indiana head man

Crean, 52, coached Marquette to a Final Four (2003) and guided Indiana out of the depths of the Kelvin Sampson-era NCAA scandal to three NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 trips (2012, ’13 and ’16).

Georgia now employs a coach with a 3-1 NCAA Tournament record against Kentucky — and there are not a whole lot of those on the market.

Loser: Tubby Smith. In the history of college basketball, there cannot have been many less self-aware coaching moves than Smith’s relocation from Texas Tech to Memphis two seasons ago.

In Memphis, Smith was working in a city with an NBA franchise where the local college coach needs to be a high-octane promoter. He was coaching in an urban area where navigating an unusually complex recruiting environment is required to keep local talent at home.

In other words, what was needed to succeed at Memphis were qualities pretty much exactly the opposite of Smith’s strengths.

That the Tubby/Memphis pairing ended after two so-so (19-13 and 21-13) seasons, with the Tigers’ home attendance and men’s basketball revenue plunging, was unsurprising.

Winner: Tubby Smith. After his ouster at Memphis, the ex-Kentucky Wildcats coach landed the head coaching position at his college alma mater, High Point.

In the Big South Conference, Smith’s decency as a person and his acumen as a bench coach should “play up” and his unwillingness to engage in what is required in big-time recruiting and lack of promotional ability should not matter so much.

If Smith, 66, can lead the North Carolina school to its first appearance in the Division I NCAA Tournament, it would be a fitting cap to a career that has already seen him lead five different programs to the Big Dance.

Meanwhile, unless Memphis figures out a way to break its contract with Smith, it is on the hook for the full $9.75 million of his buyout.

Loser: Memphis. In bringing former NBA star Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway back to his college alma mater as a head coach, Memphis is bucking a distinct hoops trend.

The recent track record of former pro basketball icons, such as Hardaway, who become college head coaches is abysmal.

In two seasons (1998-2000) as Houston head man, Clyde Drexler went 19-39.

Over three years (2009-2012), Isiah Thomas was 26-65 at Florida International.

Current St. John’s head coach Chris Mullen is 38-60 through three seasons.

This past winter, in his first year as Georgetown Hoyas head man, Patrick Ewing went 15-15.

None of those pro basketball luminaries have yet to produce even one winning season as a college head coach.

Memphis is betting that Hardaway’s background as a three-time, state championship-winning head coach at East High School in Memphis and his deep ties into the west Tennessee recruiting scene through the Nike EYBL program will lead to a different outcome.

Since Hardaway, presumably, will be able to get good local talent, that bet could pay off.

Still, Memphis is going against the prevalent winds of how similar hires have so far worked.

This story was originally published April 2, 2018 at 5:57 PM with the headline "The coaching carousel: Louisville is a winner, Duke is a loser and Tubby Smith is both."