Raise your hand if the Knicks have asked permission to interview you for their head coaching job.
Or maybe it’s easier to ask for people who didn’t get asked.
Either way, it’s Silly Season again in Dolan-land, as the NBA’s most incompetent and controversial owner has seen fit to fire a head coach who took his team deeper into the playoffs than it had gone in a quarter century. Surely, no owner would make such a seismic change without having a surefire backup plan, right?
Right?
When the Dolan and the Knicks let Tom Thibodeau go, intense speculation initially turned to the question of whether Jay Wright would come out of retirement for the chance to coach a team that has three of his former Villanova players on the roster. Wright declined, just as many of us predicted. Assuming the Knicks do in fact hire a replacement for Thibodeau at some point, they will almost certainly bring in a coach from within the NBA.
Still, the turn of events raises an intriguing question. If the Knicks or any other NBA team wanted to find a suitable replacement from the college ranks, whom should they choose?
The question is complicated by the fact that college coaches have had a spotty record when trying to make a leap to the pros. The list of those who worked out (Brad Stevens, Billy Donovan) is a lot shorter than the list of those who didn’t (Fred Hoiberg, Mike Montgomery, John Calipari, Leonard Hamilton, and most disastrously of all, Jerry Tarkanian and John Beilein). Still, if an NBA team wanted to fill the job with someone currently in college, there is no shortage of suitable candidates.
I’ve provided my top 10 here, but I’ll add the caveat that I did not pay a whole lot of attention to whether these men would realistically want to make this move. Many of them have had the chance to go to the NBA in the past and turned them down. My purpose here is to name the guys who I think would do the best job.
Here, then, from the bottom up, is my top 10:
10. Jon Scheyer, Duke
Scheyer is only 37 years old, he has been a head coach for just three seasons, he has made only one Final Four, and he has the best job in college basketball — if not all of basketball. Even if he adds to those numbers as he gets older, it would be hard to convince him to leave his alma mater. Still, I believe Scheyer has the intellect, the temperament and the vision to be a successful NBA coach. Following a legend like Mike Krzyzewski was supposed to be career suicide, but Duke has not missed a beat under Scheyer, especially with regard to recruiting. His business savvy was evident in his decision to be the first college coach to hire a General Manager. Since Scheyer invented the position, virtually every football and basketball program across the country has hired one. That type of out-of-the-box thinking would bode well at the next level.
9. Nate Oats, Alabama
Alabama is supposed to be a football school, but Oats has turned it into a basketball powerhouse using an analytics-heavy, three-point-centric offense that would augur a seamless transition to the pros. Before coming to Alabama, Oats’ prior head coaching experience was four years at Buffalo and 11 years at Romulus (Mich.) High School, so it would be a significant cultural adjustment. But he has a knack for getting on his players without berating them, which NBA players would very much appreciate.
8. Dan Hurley, UConn
Hurley came a lot closer to taking the Lakers job last summer than most people realize, but as he unraveled while his team lost several games in the early going, it became evident that coaching NBA players would require a major behavioral adjustment. Hurley, however, would not take an NBA job without understanding that. Histrionics aside, he is unquestionably one of the top tacticians in the sport. He would thrive in the X-and-O world of the NBA, and his two NCAA championships would bring him instant credibility.
7. Mark Pope, Kentucky
Pope played six years in the NBA for three different teams, so he is plenty familiar with that world, even though his playing career ended 20 years ago. Pope runs a pro-style offense at Kentucky and his people skills are unmatched. His egoless leadership and bottomless optimism would be very useful during the long seasons.
6. Todd Golden
Golden might only be 39 years old, but in leading the Gators to a national championship he has established himself as a rising star — not unlike another former Florida coach, Billy Donovan, who has made one of the most successful transitions to the pros of any college coach. Golden made his reputation as an analytics maven dating back to when he was an assistant at Columbia. He is an efficient delegator and superb motivator, and being so close in age to his players would help him relate in a way that the older candidates on this list would not.
5. Kelvin Sampson
Sampson has proved himself to be at the very top of his profession, and unlike most everyone else on this list, he has previous NBA experience as an assistant for six years with the Bucks and Rockets. Sampson may be 69, but I have no doubt that he has the energy and competitiveness required to be a successful pro coach at this stage of his career. The main question with Sampson is that he has found his greatest success in college by building cultures based on effort, toughness, defense and offensive rebounding. It’s far more difficult in the NBA to win games just by playing harder than your opponents. Sampson can X-and-O with the best of them, so if he decided to lean into that and adapted his communication methods accordingly, then he would have the same type of success in the NBA that he has had in college.
4. Tom Izzo
Izzo, 70, has had a couple of flirtations with NBA teams, most notably the Cavs and Hawks. He turned them both down so it’s hard to imagine he would say yes now. However, Izzo is still full of energy (not to mention piss and vinegar), and he brings a deep credibility that will give him command of the locker room on day one. There is no coach who better manages the balance between being able to motivate players in the strongest of terms yet spending time away from the court to develop relationships. That’s why his players know he always has their best interests at heart even while he is cussing them out. Those communication skills would serve Izzo very well if he ever decided to finish his Hall of Fame career in the NBA.
3. Mark Few, Gonzaga
Few throws off a goody two-shoes Richie Cunningham vibe, but don’t let the smooth taste fool you. This man loves to win, and he has done a lot of it at Gonzaga. Most significantly, Few gained experience working with NBA coaches and players while serving as an assistant to Steve Kerr on the U.S. Olympic team that won the Gold at the 2024 Paris Games. Few is smart but humble, and he never makes things about him. That’s a combination that pro players, not to mention owners and executives, would very much appreciate.
2. Bill Self, Kansas
Self has quietly been approached by NBA teams in the past and has turned away the opportunities. He’s only 62, and though he has spent his entire career in college, he has coached lots of guys who went on to have success in the NBA. His two NCAA championships and four Final Fours would give him instant credibility with the pros. Self is a fiery competitor but he also has an aw-shucks, cheerful, even-keeled demeanor that is built for the long haul of an NBA season.
1. Rick Pitino, St. John’s
If you think the 72-year-old Pitino is too old, you should try keeping up with him for a day. Set your alarm early, because he’s at the gym 5 a.m. every morning pumping iron and getting ready to kick some butt. He has more energy than people half his age, and he would have no problem commanding the respect of an NBA locker room. I wouldn’t be dissuaded by the fact that he hasn’t coached it the league in 24 years, either. The man is a basketball junkie who watches pro games constantly and still has a lot of friends in the league. Pitino has a great team lined up at St. John’s for the fall, but the Long Island native would have to think long and hard before turning down the chance to come back to the team he rooted for his whole life.
