2026 College Basketball Coaching Grades: UNC C, LSU A-
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- North Carolina hired former Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone as the final piece of the 2026 Power Five carousel, earning a C grade as the source questioned the fit given Malone's 449-293 record with Nikola Jokic versus 61-101 without him.
- LSU welcomed back Will Wade from NC State — the only hire of the cycle coming directly from another high-major head coaching job — and drew an A- for the high-risk reunion despite the NCAA allegations cloud under which Wade originally left Baton Rouge.
- Randy Bennett left Saint Mary's after 25 seasons for Arizona State, earning an A- based on delivering twice as many NCAA Tournament appearances as ASU managed over the same quarter century.
- Boston College tapped UConn's Luke Murray — the offensive architect behind the Huskies' two national titles — for an A grade, though BC hasn't reached the NCAA Tournament in 17 years and has cycled through four coaches since 2010.
- Cincinnati hired alum Jerrod Calhoun from Utah State (A-) hoping to end a Tournament drought stretching back to 2019, while Providence brought in Bryan Hodgson (B+) armed with more than $10 million in NIL resources.
- Syracuse turned to alum Gerry McNamara (C+), who had lifted Siena from 4-28 to an NCAA Tournament berth, but a faction of boosters had pushed for a hire outside the Boeheim lineage after Adrian Autry went 49-48 in three seasons.
- NC State handed the keys to first-time head coach Justin Gainey (B-) after Wade's one-year departure, while Kansas State landed Casey Alexander (B+) from Belmont, where he went 166-60 over seven seasons and built a reputation for developing overlooked talent.
- Creighton (Alan Huss, B), Butler (Ronald Nored, B+), and Georgia Tech (Scott Cross, B-) rounded out the cycle, with five of the 12 hires being alumni returning to their alma maters.
Why it matters: The 2026 Power Five carousel skews heavily toward retreads and alums — only one of 12 hires came from another high-major head coaching job, and the cycle's two splashiest names (Malone at UNC, McNamara at Syracuse) drew the lowest grades. Programs betting on a single high-profile name to jolt a struggling roster are the ones taking the longest odds heading into 2026-27.
