In 2017, I went to my editors and made the pitch: Let's resist vapid clickbait fodder and stop "grading" hirings before these coaches have even led one practice with their new teams, let alone been on the sideline for a single game. You can't properly grade something if you have no results from which to judge.
We can, instead, exhibit patience and actually grade athletic directors on their hirings a full four years after the coaches got those jobs. Sure it's antithetical to the entire premise of the sports internet's new consumption cycle, but I'm happy to say this is now the 10th edition of my Grade the Coaches Four Years Later exercise. Scroll below and you'll notice a few template updates, including naming the ADs responsible for making the hirings.
With it being 2026, we're looking back at the 2022 cycle, which in retrospect started a run on high-major coaching turnover that hasn't really stopped in the years since. Every March/April since 2022 has been especially crowded and highlighted by top-10 job openings. In '22, Mike Krzyzewski's one-of-a-kind career came to an end. Louisville opened, as did Florida. In total, 14 power-conference jobs changed, the most in one cycle ever (a record tied with other carousels in the 2020s).
I'm a notoriously fair but picky grader. Every job is different; there is no universal standard. For previous years, my report cards for 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021's hiring cycles are linked therein. For the updated template below, all ADs with an asterisk next to their name are no longer at that school. Let's hand out some letters.
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Overall record: 75-59 (.560) NCAA Tournament record: 1-3 Average KenPom finish: 69thAD responsible: Desireé Reed-Francois* Grade: B-
The Tigers have had three solid seasons and one bizarre bottom-out under Gates. In 2023-24, Mizzou finished 8-24 and didn't win a game in the SEC, a disastrous sophomore season that fortunately did not doom Gates' situation. In all other seasons, he's guided the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament: No. 7 seed in 2022, No. 6 in 2025, No. 10 in 2026. Just one March Madness win since he got there, but in those three tourney-level seasons, Missouri was also above .500 in conference play and twice had a top-10 per-possession offense. The best KenPom finish was the 2024-25 team that was upset in the first round of the tournament by Drake and finished 19th. Next season's team has a chance to be Gates' best yet, thanks to a bucket-getter/top-five 2026 prospect Jason Crowe Jr.
Overall record: 103-41 (.715) NCAA Tournament record: 7-2 Average KenPom finish: 27thAD responsible: Scott Stricklin Grade: A-
A national championship, an outstanding overall record and a return to prominence for Florida since bringing on Golden. UF has moved back into that space it occupied for the better part of a decade in the back half of Billy Donovan's career: It is one of the 10 best programs in the game. Golden, 40, has done so well so quickly that he's in the midst of his third contract negotiation with Stricklin. (Don't worry, Gators fans: He's not going anywhere anytime soon.)
Two factors stopped me from going with an A grade here. No. 1, I grade all four years equally. Florida was a forgettable 16-17 in Golden's first season, so he hasn't made the tournament every year since arriving. No. 2: The infamous Title IX investigation — which Golden was cleared of — was nonetheless a major negative mark against his name and the university as that probe played out for more than half of Golden's third season with the program. Nevertheless, the Gators are set to ascend again. Golden should have the preseason No. 1 team (just the second time in school history; 2006 being the other year) thanks to the returns of Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon, Boogie Fland and Rueben Chinyelu (who is going through the pre-draft process but will be back, barring a shocker).
Overall record: 70-65 (.519) NCAA Tournament record: 0-0 Average KenPom finish: 91stAD responsible: Bryan Felt Grade: C
I tend to grade on a curve depending on how tough the spot is. Holloway's at probably the second-toughest job in the Big East to DePaul. He hasn't made an NCAA Tournament yet, but remember that Seton Hall narrowly missed the Big Dance in 2024 due to numerous bid thieves. That team won the NIT, finishing with 25 wins. This past season, SHU was the fourth-best team in a down year for the Big East. The Pirates went 21-12 after comfortably being picked to finish last in the preseason. Locally, Holloway's gone 36-49 against Big East foes and has been one-and-done in the league tournament three times. It hasn't been as good as they'd hoped it would be through four seasons, but believe me when I tell you the Hall could be in a much worse place with a different guy in charge.
Overall record: 76-59 (.563) NCAA Tournament record: 0-3 Average KenPom finish: 56thAD responsible: John Cohen* Grade: C+
Jans was considered among the best fits in the 2022 cycle when he arrived in Starkville after coaching New Mexico State to four seasons of 25 or more wins in a five-year span. The Bulldogs were reliably decent in Jans' first three runs: NCAA Tournaments and 21 wins apiece in all of those three seasons. Year 4 was a big fall-off, though. MSU is emerging out of a dour 13-19 season that witnessed the school land outside the KenPom top 100 for the first time in 11 years. This is considered the least desirable job in the SEC, so for Jans to have won 56% of his games and made the Big Dance three out of four times, it's a win of a hire, even if last season dropped his grade into the C+ category.
Overall record: 87-77 (.530) NCAA Tournament record: 0-0 Average KenPom finish: 85thAD responsible: Barry Collier* Grade: D+
I never endorsed the hire from the outset. Matta had the credibility, but there were real concerns about his ability in the 2020s to keep up with an increasingly evolving industry. Matta lasted four seasons, never had Butler in the mix in the Big East and didn't stoke the flames in Indianapolis. His second stint at his alma mater was notable only for getting him to 500 career wins. (He left last month with his total sitting at 502.) Remember, Butler is only in the Big East because of what the school accomplished when Brad Stevens was the coach. It will likely never be an upper-echelon program in that conference, but it can consistently be in the 4-7 range if it has the right guy in charge. With Matta out, Stevens' former BU point guard, Ronald Nored, will try to be the guy to get Butler back to the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs last played in one in 2018.
Overall record: 60-70 (.462) NCAA Tournament record: 0-0 Average KenPom finish: 99thAD responsible: Scott Woodward* Grade: D
A sensible hire in 2022, McMahon arrived from Murray State, where he coached three NCAA Tournament teams in a five-year span and also recruited/developed Ja Morant into a top-two pick. At LSU, McMahon never got it going. The Tigers were mostly bottom feeders in the cutthroat SEC. The Bayou Bengals' best season under McMahon was the 17-16 run in 2023-24, and even then, it was only good enough for a 9-9 finish in that league. In the NIL era, McMahon wasn't given a lot of favors. LSU ranked near the bottom in basketball financial commitment over the past three years. LSU's leadership could have done more, but that lack of support was embarrassingly reinforced by his poorly handled firing in mid-March. Instead of cutting him loose immediately at the end of the season, LSU brass waited and lured Will Wade. Then McMahon was sent packing. At least he's rich like every other former LSU coach. McMahon was paid a little more than $8 million in additional compensation for the early termination.
Overall record: 65-40 (.619) NCAA Tournament record: 3-2 Average KenPom finish: 38thAD responsible: Greg Christopher Grade: C+
Miller is no longer in Cincinnati, of course, and although things are looking really good for him heading into Year 2 at Texas, I docked him from a B- to a C+ for how he handled a turbulent and furtive exit out of Xavier in March of 2025. He's essentially persona non grata in that city from here on out, particularly because he chose to return to Xavier after his firing at Arizona, only to say 'see ya' when things seemed to be trending in the right direction. Prior to his leave, Miller, at the very least, had Xavier in a better spot than it was in the four years prior under Travis Steele. In Year 1, the team was a 3-seed that made the Sweet 16 and finished with 27 wins. Year 2 was a duff at 16-18, but then the 2024-25 campaign saw Xavier squeak into the NCAAs in the First Four. I can't help but wonder if Miller would still be there had the second season been a lot better.