Eight coaches under the most pressure to win this season
Our 2016-17 season preview continues with a look at eight coaches under the most pressure to win. Check back each day for more college hoops preview content.
Steve Alford, UCLA
Why the pressure is on: Whereas Alford’s first two UCLA teams peaked in March and reached the Sweet 16, his third season in Westwood ended in disaster. The Bruins dropped eight of their last 10 games and plummeted to 15-17 overall, a performance so bad that empty seats abounded at Pauley Pavilion and fans flew planes over campus towing banners calling for Alford’s firing. Alford subsequently wrote a letter apologizing for the poor season and pledging to return a previous one-year contract extension, but that gesture alone won’t assuage a fan base that continues to view the fourth-year coach with a skeptical eye. The only way he can win over UCLA fans is to restore the program to its former status as a perennial contender for conference titles and Final Fours, a goal that isn’t entirely far-fetched given the half dozen elite recruits Alford has landed in the 2016 and 2017 classes. UCLA gave Alford a ridiculously coach-friendly contract that initially included a $10.4 million buyout, but that figure drops to $5.2 million after April 30, 2017 and $2.6 million after April 30, 2018. The more reasonable that number gets, the more pressure there is on Alford to either prove he’s the right coach for the job or to find a soft landing spot at another program.
Kim Anderson, Missouri
Why the pressure is on: Even for a coach who inherited an NCAA investigation into rules violations and a roster lacking sufficient talent or discipline, Anderson’s first two seasons at his alma mater have been a massive disappointment. Missouri went a combined 19-44 and finished last in the SEC both seasons amid a hail of decommitments, transfers and dismissals. Anderson has ample playing time to offer incoming freshmen, yet the longtime Division II coach has struggled to recruit premier talent. No Rivals 150 prospect in the 2015 or 2016 classes signed with the Tigers even though seven players hailed from the state of Missouri. New athletic director Mack Rhoades gave Anderson at least one more season to turn things around last spring in part because the timing for a coaching change was not ideal with the NCAA investigation still unsettled and potential APR violations still looming. For Anderson to earn more than a one-year reprieve, he’ll need to make inroads in recruiting and mold a freshman- and sophomore-heavy roster into a team that can make a leap in the SEC standings.
Orlando Antigua, South Florida
Why the pressure is on: When South Florida plucked Antigua from John Calipari’s staff in March 2010, athletic director Mark Harlan hoped the former Kentucky assistant could elevate the Bulls program by recruiting and developing top talent. So far progress has been frustratingly slow. Battered by injuries, suspensions and player defections, South Florida went 9-23 in Antigua’s debut season and 8-25 last year. Worse yet, Antigua’s brother was forced to resign from the staff this past summer after the NCAA began investigating South Florida for possible academic fraud. Harlan publicly has been supportive of Antigua, but with attendance at the newly renovated Sun Dome dwindling, the third-year coach may need to demonstrate some semblance of progress this season to get another one. Incremental progress is possible if Antigua can build around standout sophomore guard Jahmal McMurray and capitalize on improved depth, but longterm hope dimmed considerably when prized recruit Troy Baxter backed out of his letter of intent in August.
John Groce, Illinois
Why the pressure is on: Even though Illinois has endured a rash of disciplinary problems and three years without an NCAA tournament appearance, new athletic director Josh Whitman offered Groce a strong vote of confidence last spring. On the same day he fired football coach Bill Cubit, Whitman called Groce “a first-class individual and an excellent leader” and insisted he’s “really comfortable” with Groce’s performance. One reason for Whitman’s patience is that an unfathomable rash of injuries has contributed to Groce’s recent woes. Projected starters Leron Black, Mike Thorne and Tracy Abrams combined to play a total of 15 games last season, leaving Illinois hopelessly shorthanded at point guard and in the frontcourt. The other reason for Whitman’s faith in Groce is his 2017 recruiting momentum. Despite losing priority target Jordan Goodwin to Saint Louis in August, Groce still has a strong three-man class highlighted by five-star center Jeremiah Tilmon. A surprise NCAA bid would surely guarantee Groce gets to coach that class, but even modest improvement and a trouble-free winter off the court would go a long way.
Johnny Jones, LSU
Why the pressure is on: While Jones was already known as a talent collector rather than a developer entering last season, his inability to capitalize on Ben Simmons’ lone season in Baton Rouge cemented that reputation. LSU suffered bad losses to the likes of Charleston, Houston, Wake Forest, NC State and Marquette in non-league play and never truly recovered, yoyoing between a precarious perch on the bubble and the fringes of the NCAA tournament hunt thereafter. Too often the Tigers displayed poor shot selection on offense and failed to exert maximum effort with any consistency on defense, as evidenced by an embarrassing 71-38 SEC tournament loss to Texas A&M that provided a fitting conclusion to a wasteful season. Jones has consistently recruited well and boasts a solid 80-51 record at LSU, yet the sense he’s underachieving has put his future in Baton Rouge in doubt. There is pressure on him to make the NCAA tournament this season even with only Antonio Blakeney and Craig Victor back among last year’s top six scorers.
Richard Pitino, Minnesota
Why the pressure is on: Pitino’s third season at Minnesota was so awful that finishing 8-23 wasn’t the worst part, nor was needing until Feb. 18 to record a conference victory. More embarrassing than that was the Gophers’ inability to stay out of trouble off the floor. In February, three players received season-long suspensions after sex videos surfaced on the social media sites of freshman Kevin Dorsey. That same month, Minnesota also dismissed guard Carlos Morris for “conduct detrimental to the team.” Then in May, center Reggie Lynch was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault, though charges were never filed. Optimism for the program’s future centers around the return of promising guard Nate Mason and forward Jordan Murphy and the arrival of a heralded recruiting class, but Pitino can’t count on patience from his administration. Not only did Minnesota hire a new athletic director in May, school president Eric Kaler singled out the basketball program during the introductory news conference. Said Kaler, “I’m profoundly disappointed in the continuing episodes, poor judgment, alleged crimes, and it simply can’t continue.”
Lorenzo Romar, Washington
Why the pressure is on: While Romar led Washington to two Pac-12 titles, three Sweet 16s and six NCAA bids from 2004-2012, he has not met that standard in recent years. The Huskies have missed the past five NCAA tournaments and have finished .500 or worse in league play each of the past four seasons. Romar’s ability to recruit and develop NBA talent has become a double-edged sword as his supporters point to the strong classes he has lined up and his detractors note that future pros haven’t always translated into successful seasons. NBA draft picks Terrence Ross, Tony Wroten. C.J. Wilcox, Dejounte Murray and Marquese Chriss have each played for Washington during this five-year stretch without an NCAA bid. Washington doesn’t return a single player who averaged more than 7.5 points last season, yet there’s reason for optimism because — you guessed it — some heralded prospects are on the way. Incoming point guard Markelle Fultz is a contender to be selected No. 1 in next June’s draft and 2017 commit Michael Porter is one of the top two or three players in the class. Romar needs to ride one of those one-and-dones to an NCAA bid to quiet the calls for a change in leadership.
Bruce Weber, Kansas State
Why the pressure is on: As Kansas State staggered its way to a 5-13 record in the rugged Big 12 last winter, a sizable portion of the Wildcats fan base decided it had seen enough of fourth-year coach Bruce Weber. Those fans spent March lobbying administrators to fire Weber and hire Stephen F. Austin coach Brad Underwood, a Kansas State alum coming off an 89-14 three-year run with the Lumberjacks. The #bringbackbrad hashtags subsided in late March when Kansas State decided to keep Weber and Underwood went to Oklahoma State instead. Nonetheless, the unrest among Kansas State fans remains since the Wildcats have gotten worse each year of Weber’s tenure, going from co-conference champs, to a middle-of-the-pack Big 12 program to one that only finished ahead of rebuilding Oklahoma State and TCU. For Weber to get fans back on his side, he needs to halt that alarming trend and compete for an NCAA bid. It’s no easy task given Weber’s so-so recruiting, but Kansas State returns a lot of key players in a year in which most of the rest of the Big 12 is replacing key seniors from last season.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
