I missed this on Monday, but Colin Cowherd had an interesting segment on his radio show where he discussed “great jobs” in college basketball with ESPN commentator and former Indiana coach Dan Dakich.
According to Cowherd, the entire segment stemmed from an argument that he had with his staff about just how good the Iowa State job is. His point was that it’s an OK job that was made to look great by a great head coach in Fred Hoiberg. (He’s right.) This led them to Indiana and whether or not that is still a great job. (It is.)
Here are the seven programs that Cowherd listed as the great jobs in college hoops: Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, UCLA, Arizona, Indiana and Kansas. You can’t disagree with any of those, although I personally think that UCLA is closer to not being a “great job” than Indiana is.
There are two more names that I would throw into the mix here: Texas and Louisville.
I’ve said for a long time that I think Texas is the most underrated job in the country. There an argument to be made that it’s the best job in college basketball outside of Lextington, Durham, Chapel Hill and Lawrence. When you combine the money the school and athletic department has, the team’s facilities, the lack of pressure to win, the salary, the chance to live in Austin, Texas, and the insane amount of talent in the state in which UT is the brand name university, it’s no wonder that the Longhorns were the team to finally steal Shaka Smart away from VCU.
Louisville’s situation is a bit different. The program generates a ton of revenue, they play in arguably the most gorgeous arena in college basketball, there is a ton of tradition in the program and they have a fan base that will sell out preseason scrimmages.
Since it’s June and I don’t have much else to do, here’s my top ten for the best jobs in college hoops. Feel free to tell me why I’m an idiot in the comments:
- 1. Kentucky
- 2. Kansas
- 3. Duke
- 4. North Carolina*
- 5. Texas
- 6. Arizona
- 7. Indiana
- 8. Louisville
- 9. Michigan State
- 10. UCLA
*North Carolina would be No. 1 on my list if they weren’t staring down the possibility of missing at least one postseason in the near future.
Anyway, you can listen to the full segment here.