The 20 Worst Coaching Hires in Men’s College Basketball Since 2000

With Kenny Payne going through a second consecutive disastrous season to start his coaching tenure at Louisville, I decided to do a deep dive into the worst coaching hires in men’s college basketball over roughly the past quarter-century. 

Payne headlines this list, but there’s one coach who makes two appearances. And another didn’t even make it through his first season. Seven of the worst 20 hires are former NBA players/coaches, and four were shown the door after they couldn’t make it work at their alma maters: Patrick Ewing (Georgetown), Eddie Jordan (Rutgers), Sidney Lowe (NC State) and Jerome Allen (Penn).

1) Kenny Payne, Louisville

Hired: 2022
Record: 10-38, 3-22 (1-plus season)
Winning Percentage: 21%
Postseason: None
AD Responsible: Then-interim and now current AD Josh Heird

Payne seemed like the perfect choice, and he had complete support to take over the program as a former Louisville star who played in the NBA and then worked as a longtime college assistant (at Oregon and later at Kentucky with John Calipari). Prior to taking over the Cardinals, Payne had been working as an assistant coach with the New York Knicks. In March 2022, he replaced Chris Mack in Louisville — and he’s been beyond miserable. The Cardinals won only four games in his first season, and they are 6-10 this season with back-to-back losses at DePaul and at home against Arkansas State. It’s almost unfathomable how low Payne has taken this once storied program that has won three national titles.

2) Greg Heiar, New Mexico State

Hired: 2022
Record: 9-15, 2-10 (less than 1 season)
Winning Percentage: 38%
Postseason: None
AD Responsible: Mario Moccia

You know it’s bad when the program is literally shut down in the middle of the season and you are fired soon after. During Heiar’s lone season as New Mexico State’s coach, one of his players broke curfew and was shot during an altercation on a rival team’s campus (the New Mexico State player returned fire, killing an assailant who had ambushed him, and ultimately wasn’t charged because it was determined to be in self-defense). A few months later, the team was rocked by a hazing scandal that included allegations of false imprisonment, harassment and criminal sexual contact involving multiple players behaving badly toward teammates and student staff members. A lawsuit brought by two victims was settled last summer for a reported $8 million, and in November three former players were charged with felony sex crimes and other felony counts.

3) Kim Anderson, Missouri

Hired: 2014
Record: 27-68, 8-46 (3 seasons)
Winning Percentage: 28%
Postseason: None
AD Responsible: Former AD Mike Alden

Anderson played at Missouri in the 1970s and was an assistant for the program as well; he was hired by then-AD Mike Alden to replace Frank Haith in 2014 after more than a decade as the head coach at D2 Central Missouri. Missouri, which has gone to the Elite Eight five times and gone to the NCAA tourney 29 times, finished dead last in…