Fansided

25 worst coaching hires in the history of college basketball

By Joey Loose

LEXINGTON, KY - JANUARY 21: Head coach Billy Gillispie of the Kentucky Wildcats reacts to the action during the SEC game against the Auburn Tigers at Rupp Arena on January 21, 2009 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
LEXINGTON, KY - JANUARY 21: Head coach Billy Gillispie of the Kentucky Wildcats reacts to the action during the SEC game against the Auburn Tigers at Rupp Arena on January 21, 2009 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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Worst college basketball coach hires
19 Mar 2000: Jan van Breda Kolff of the Pepperdine Waves watches the action from the sidelines during round one of the NCAA Tournament Game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, New York. The Cowboys defeated the Waves 75-67. Mandatory Credit: David Leeds /Allsport /

3. Jan van Breda Kolff – St. Bonaventure (2001-2003)

  • 30-27 record (2 seasons)

For many, the worst head coach hires typically involve the biggest programs or at least power conference programs that had major issues or struggles stemming from a head coach. While they did play in the Final Four in 1970, St. Bonaventure has never exactly been a powerful program, albeit an intriguing member of the A-10 for many years. The program was in solid shape around the turn of the century, but coach Jim Baron departed for Rhode Island in 2001, leaving the Bonnies to hunt for their new leader.

Jan van Breda Kolff was a former NBA small forward who had put together a quietly solid coaching career to this point. He led a turnaround in two years at Cornell before leading his alma mater Vanderbilt for six seasons. Before St. Bonaventure hired van Breda Kolff, he had spent two years going 47-18 at Pepperdine, leading his second different team to the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, things went south in the coming years for St. Bonaventure.

A 30-27 mark in two seasons isn’t bad, but it’s the quiet scandal that rocked St. Bonaventure’s program that made this hire a disaster. Junior college transfer Jamil Terrell was allowed to play despite being ineligible, forcing the Bonnies to forfeit all of their games, and leading to players voting not to play their final few games after the scandal broke. Van Breda Kolff may not have purposefully caused the scandal, but he was ousted, along with the school’s president and athletic directors, and one of the university trustees took his own life as a result. The scandal was a black eye on the Bonnies program, left for dead for years after, and now incredibly resurrected by longtime coach Mark Schmidt.