New face, new place, big wins: Here were the best Year 1 coaches in college basketball for the 2024-25 season

A year ago, college basketball had its busiest cycle of coaching turnover ever. There were 68 job changes, a record high over the sport’s 100-plus year history.

Inevitably, there were going to be some big hits and big misses right off the bat. The ones that hit really did make a mark. 

So today, I’m taking one more look back at the 2024-25 season and handing out some quick dap for the coaches who were able to take a new job and earn some instant credibility. Which schools made a coaching switch and found success without having to wait until Year 2 or Year 3? I’ve got an even dozen detailed below.

At the high-major level, the bar to clear is obvious and non-negotiable: Did you make the NCAA Tournament? If the answer is yes, you are listed here today. Mid-major hirings are judged a bit differently, but we also had a few of those who qualified for March Madness right away with a new coach as well.

None of these coaches are guaranteed to be as good next year as they were last season, but it sure does help in this hyper-transfer era. A number of the coaches/schools listed below have done quite well for themselves in the portal over the past month. 

2024-25’s most immediately successful high-major hires

Kentucky: Mark Pope

Pope brought in an eclectic group of transfers and freshmen and produced something historic in Lexington. The Wildcats beat eight top-15 teams last season, the most in program history and one of the most ever in a season by any team. In addition to that, UK wound up involved in some of the most entertaining games of the season, most notably its 106-100 win on Jan. 4 over eventual national champ Florida. Kentucky finished 24-12 and lost in the Sweet 16 to intra-conference rival Tennessee, but within those 24 wins, conquests over the likes of Duke, Gonzaga, Louisville, Florida, Tennessee (twice) and Illinois were all included.  

The Wildcats are immediately losing Andrew Carr, Lamont Butler, Amari Williams, Koby Brea and Jaxson Robinson, but the foundation they built will be looked back on fondly. Kentucky finished sixth in the deepest conference in college basketball history, and underwent a brand overhaul in the post John Calipari era. It could’ve been better, but not by much. Pope did a really good job in Year 1 and he’s got a team that could be preseason top 10 heading into Year 2.

Michigan: Dusty May

May didn’t need much time to regain Michigan’s prestige in college hoops. The Wolverines went from eight wins under Juwan Howard to 27 in May’s first season, which included a Sweet 16 run as an under-seeded No. 5 in the South Region, ultimately falling to No. 1 overall seed Auburn. Michigan’s 19-win turnaround ranks among the five largest in power-conference history.

May worked it well in the portal in 2024, most notably making a twin-tower starting duo of 7-footers play well off each other in a way no other team was doing. Vlad Goldin followed May from FAU, while Danny Wolf made the Ivy League jump from Yale and turned himself into a probable top-20 pick. Wolf was also one of the five best transfers last season. The Wolverines finished second in the Big Ten and have taken that momentum and built up arguably the best 2025 portal class to this point.

BYU: Kevin Young

Like Pope and May, Young got his team to a quality NCAA Tournament seed and a Sweet 16 showing right away. A big win for a program that last made it to the second weekend of March Madness back during the days of Jimmer. (Who just retired!) BYU got ahead of the pace this past season after going 26-10, ranking top-10 in offensive efficiency and earning a No. 6 seed. 

Young’s Cougars finished fourth in the Big 12, going 15-7 against league foes and hitting a hot streak in the final six weeks of the season that put them among the sport’s best by mid-March. BYU ultimately bowed out of the tournament against Alabama, which needed a tournament-record 25 triples to kill off the Cougars. Young’s team next season should be even better. The Cougars are poised to be one of the “It” programs of 2025-26 due to AJ Dybantsa’s potential; he’s the potential No. 1 overall NBA pick come 2026.  

Louisville: Pat Kelsey

Most of it was good until the very end, when Kelsey’s team got a gift: Despite being oddly under-seeded (as a No. 8) in the NCAAs, they did only have to travel to Lexington for the first round. There, Creighton brought the wood and quickly ended U of L’s season with an 89-75 outcome in the first game of the first round. Other than that? Kelsey did a really good job in a mediocre ACC. But the conference’s quality is not on Louisville. The Cards went 27-8 overall, including a 20-3 record vs. ACC opponents and tying Clemson for second in the league. Louisville matters again. A very good thing for college basketball.

Kelsey wasn’t Louisville’s first, second, third or fourth choice, but that didn’t stop him from making the most of a terrible situation he was inheriting. The program sunk to unthinkable depths under Kenny Payne, winning just 12 games the past two seasons. Kelsey matched that by Jan. 11 — doing so despite losing multiple players to injury. Now he’s brought back some good pieces and had a huge NIL budget to work with again, putting the Cards in position to be a top-10 roster heading into the fall.

Arkansas: John Calipari 

As I wrote in March, it was a turbulent season for the Razorbacks under their new leader, Calipari. But any season that ends with a Sweet 16 appearance for the Hogs has to be assessed a success. This is a program, after all, that had a Sweet 16 drought from 1997-2021. Calipari finished with a 22-14 mark, including a win at Kentucky on Feb. 1 (when few gave a lagging Arkansas team any shot) and an ugly-but-we’ll-take-it upset win over No. 2 St. John’s in the second round of the NCAAs.

The Hogs did it in spite of injury issues for much of the season. They did it in spite of an offense that resembled some of Calipari’s most frustrating schemes in the back half of his Kentucky era. Winning in March cures many ills, and so it was the case for Arkansas. Year 1 in Fayetteville was tumultuous for many weeks, but by the end (even with that cringey loss to Texas Tech in the Sweet 16), it’s fair to call it a success. 

Vanderbilt: Mark Byington

The Commodores brought on Byington, who oversaw a mid-major powerhouse James Madison team go 32-4, beat Wisconsin and make the second round of the NCAAs in 2024. He arrived in Nashville, underwent a grueling roster flip, and managed to more than merely tread water in the treacherous SEC. The league was historically elite thanks to teams like Vandy just as much as the Floridas, Auburns, Alabamas and Tennessees. 

Under Byington, the ‘Dores broke on through with a 15-3 start, ultimately finishing 20-13 and with a 59-56 loss to Saint Mary’s in a 7/10 first round matchup. Sustaining relevance at Vanderbilt is historically one of the most challenging asks of any program at the power-conference level. But if he keeps it up, Byington will be a hot name on the coaching carousel once again.

Mid-major noisemakers in Year 1

When it comes to mid-majors, I don’t require an NCAA Tournament trip in order to receive some recognition. That said, making it to the Dance is reason for automatic inclusion. There were three places with first-year coaches that broke through on Selection Sunday. I’ve also included three more mid-major coaches who hit the 20-win threshold in their first tours at their new digs.

Drake: Ben McCollum 

Quite clearly the biggest mid-major winner of last season. Only three teams finished the season with as few as four losses: national champion Florida, Duke and McCollum’s Drake Bulldogs, who went 31-4, won an NCAA Tournament game and earned a too-low No. 11 seed after owning the Missouri Valley. McCollum earned the Iowa job in short order after obliterating the bar for success at that level. In winning nearly 89% of his games, McCollum is off to one of the best starts by a D-I coach ever. That’s why Drake’s the only school listed to lose its coach less than 12 months after hiring him.

Utah State: Jerrod Calhoun 

Something about this program that enables almost anyone to come in and produce good results. Calhoun got his chance and posted an impressive 26-8 record, which included a No. 10 seed in the Big Dance. Utah State was summarily bounced by UCLA in round 1, but still: 26 wins and a 16-6 record against Mountain West teams is a sweet follow-up to Danny Sprinkle going 28-7 and making the second round of the NCAAs the year before. 

Mount St. Mary’s:Donny Lind 

Imagine getting your first chance at being a head coach and taking a mid-major to the NCAAs right away. Not easy. But it’s what Lind did in the MAAC. The Mountaineers went 23-13 and even earned some NCAA Tournament cash by beating American in the First Four, earning the right to get walloped by Duke two days later.

Charleston: Chris Mack 

Mack was as good as advertised: a 24-9 debut season in the CAA, including a one-point semifinal loss in the league tournament. No NCAA Tournament, but a quality first year. The 55-year-old Mack has an envious mid-major NIL budget and figures to have a squad that ranks among the 10-15 best mid-majors in the sport next season.

James Madison: Preston Spradlin

Spradlin arrived here after taking Morehead State to a pair of NCAA Tournaments. The Dukes were part of a four-way tie atop the Sun Belt (13-5) and ultimately finished 20-12. A good foundation. It would be no surprise if Spradlin had the Dukes back in the Big Dance in 2026 or 2027.

Marshall: Cornelius Jackson 

I can’t list JMU and not include Marshall. Under Jackson, the Thundering Herd — in the same conference as JMU — finished just one game behind the Dukes (12-6) and ultimately matched with 20 wins. A nice introduction at a program with just one NCAA Tournament this century.