Holy smokes, college basketball coaches are more split than a poorly-timed zone defense this year! When nearly 100 Division I coaches were asked to pick the best high-major hire of the 2026 cycle, there was no consensus. Randy Bennett, heading up Arizona State, barely edged out Jerrod Calhoun of Cincinnati for the top spot, by a razor-thin margin of just two percentage points. Talk about a nail-biter of a vote, even when nobody’s actually playing!
The Coaches Are Split, And It’s Wild to See
You’d think after all these years, these coaches would have a clear favorite, but nope. Randy Bennett pulled in 32% of the votes for best high-major hire, while Jerrod Calhoun was right on his heels with 30%. That’s it. Two percent. That’s how close this thing was. Michael Malone, over at North Carolina, came in a distant third with 16%, and then Bryan Hodgson from Providence landed 8%. After that, you’re talking about just a few percentage points for Will Wade (LSU), Justin Gainey (NC State), Casey Alexander (Kansas State), and Luke Murray (Boston College). Clearly, the coaching fraternity is looking at this new class of hires and seeing a lot of potential without one shining star, which makes things super interesting for the upcoming season.
History Says These Guys Know Their Stuff
Here’s the kicker: the coaches surveyed usually have a pretty good track record on this stuff. Last year, they tabbed Iowa’s Ben McCollum as the best hire, and what did he do? He immediately led the Hawkeyes to their first Elite Eight since 1997. Legendary! The year before that, the top votes went to John Calipari at Arkansas and Dusty May at Michigan, and both of those moves proved to be total game-changers. And who can forget Rick Pitino at St. John’s a year earlier? He was the runaway winner then, and he’s gone 42-4 against Big East teams over the last two seasons, racking up two outright conference championships and two conference tournament titles. When these guys speak, it usually means something big is coming. So, the fact that there’s no clear runaway winner this time around, with Bennett and Calhoun practically tied? That’s what really makes you wonder.
It’s clear the landscape for these new hires in college hoops is wide open. With Bennett and Calhoun getting almost identical endorsements from their peers, it’s going to be a fascinating 2026-2027 season to see which coach truly steps up and proves the surveyed coaches right, or if one of the lower vote-getters becomes the dark horse success story. Only time will truly tell, as Norlander and Parrish put it, but you know we’ll be watching every single game.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by CBS Sports.
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