John Calipari and Mark Pope have dominated the headlines as first year coaches in college basketball this season, for obvious reasons too. Calipari was one of the most successful coaches in Kentucky basketball history before he left for the Arkansas job.
Because he stayed in the conference, the drama around his return to Rupp Arena and taking all his players and recruits with him became the talk of college basketball when the season started. Then the Razorbacks went on a five-game losing streak to start conference play.
Through all of that, he managed to knock Kansas and St. John’s out of the NCAA Tournament as this year’s March Madness underdog. Meanwhile Mark Pope is doing everything he can to help Kentucky fans forget about what Calipari is accomplishing in year one at Arkansas.
Then there’s BYU. The Cougars are the newcomers to the Big 12 and they turned around and became one of the strongest teams in the conference. Only Houston, Arizona Texas Tech and BYU are the remaining Big 12 teams. Not bad for a first year coach.
Among all the first-year coaches remaining in the NCAA Tournament, which ones stand out among the rest? Here’s the power rankings for the first-year coaches in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
Power ranking Year 1 performances of Mark Pope, John Calipari and Kevin Young at Kentucky, Arkansas and BYU
3) Mark Pope, Kentucky
This is no disrespect to Mark Pope at all. But like when Jon Scheyer took over Duke from legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski, the expectations were to win at all costs. Pope took over a Kentucky team that had sky-high expectations.
What he’s doing right now is exactly what he’s supposed to do. Even if it is his first year, he knew anything less than at least a Sweet 16 appearance would already have fans up in arms with him.
The fact that he took Kentucky to being a No. 3 seed in the tournament in his first year is no easy feat. That said, he had no choice but to perform well. Kentucky has been the crown jewel of the SEC, certainly under Calipari.
That mindset didn’t change, even with a new coach. The good thing is he didn’t regress and if he really wants to impress me, he can make it to the Final Four in year one. That just might bump him to No. 1.
2) John Calipari, Arkansas
Coming in at No. 2, the tournament underdog, Arkansas. It can’t be overstated how well Calipari has performed in his first year. Before conference play started, Arkansas looked like a team that was about to run through college basketball the way Dan Hurley and UConn did for two straight seasons.
Then SEC play ramped up and Calipari came back to earth. In the process, he went from a tournament lock to a bubble team. Somehow, Calipari managed to turn things around and have Arkansas within arms reach of a Final Four appearance.
The Razorbacks beating Kansas wasn’t all that shocking. But stunning Rick Pitino and the No. 2 seeded St. John’s Red Storm, well yeah, he absolutely deserves to be the No. 2 first-year coach in the tournament.
1) Kevin Young, BYU
When BYU got blown out by Cincinnati a few weeks before the conference tournament started, I thought that was the end of the Cougars. I didn’t think much of them, no less as a real NCAA Tournament contender.
Yet, Kevin Young has turned this team into a real March Madness threat, first taking out a habitual NCAA Tournament Cinderella, VCU, and then No. 3 seed Wisconsin. Before the conference tournament, BYU ended the year winning nine straight before losing to Houston in the Big 12 championship game.
Of those nine wins, four of them were against NCAA Tournament teams. Little did I know they would turn that into NCAA Tournament success. The Cougars make a strong argument to stun Alabama.
Their miraculous run to the Sweet 16 is why Kevin Young is No. 1. Sure they were a No. 6 seed, but they weren’t a team that was supposed to be dominating the way they have.