2013-14 College Basketball Preview: Head Coaches Under Pressure

By Michael Schneid

As we prepare for the College Basketball regular season to tip off this Friday, we take a look at 10  coaches who are under pressure entering the 2013-14 season.

For various reasons whether it be championship or bust expectations, a lack of postseason success, or a tourney appearance or fired kind of pressure, each of these 10 coaches (and one extra) are going to need to win a lot of games for different reasons.

John Calipari, Kentucky - people have 40-0 expectations in Lexington. with the most highly touted recruiting class ever, it's championship or bust, when you consider most of these top ranked freshmen won't be there long enough to be sophomores.

Jim Boeheim, Syracuse - needs to prove the Orange belong in the ACC, now considered the best basketball conference in the country. ACC should be as competitive as the old Big East was and Boeheim needs to get off to strong start in the new conference

Jamie Dixon, Pittsburgh - See Boeheim above. Dixon needs a strong start. Especially considering his recent failures in the NCAA tournament, being unable to win even one game in recent years. Dixon was a lead candidate at UCLA but signed a long extension to stay at Pitt. He needs to prove he deserves the extension and that Pitt belongs in the new ACC

Steve Alford, UCLA - left his comfy job at New Mexico for money and pressure that comes at UCLA. Alford has once made the Sweet 16, in 1999 as coach at Missouri State. anything less than a Final 4 is considered a bad season in LA.

Rick Barnes, Texas - Texas is in the process of hiring a new AD. 2012-13 was a disastrous season for Barnes and the Longhorns exited the tournament in the first round of the 2012 tourney (via Cincinnati). Barnes needs to return to tournament and make a run to save his job.

Josh Pastner, Memphis - Memphis has coasted through Conference USA the last couple years, going a combined 39-3 in conference play. But Pastner has yet to make a Sweet 16 appearance. He has won 75% of his games in four seasons and begins play in what will be a much more competitive conference, in the American Athletic Conference. Pastner needs to show improvement and make a deep tournament run sooner than later

Matt Painter, Purdue - Painter almost left Purdue for Missouri a few years ago. Boilermakers finished 16-18 in 2013 and another sub-.500 season may cost Painter his job

Jeff Bzdelik, Wake Forest - Bzdelik arrived in Wake without much fanfare or excitement. He won 50 games in two years at Air Force before moving onto Colorado, where he was 36-58 in three seasons before coming to Wake. Probably a blessing for Buffaloes fans but a nightmare for Deacons fans, who have suffered through a 33-59 stretch in 3 years. Time to win big or move on to the next coach

Herb Sendek, Arizona State - With Jahii Carson and Jermaine Marshall in the backcourt, Sendek needs to make the tournament to save his job

Johnny Dawkins, Stanford - his arrival in Palo Alto brought a lot of excitement but the results have been sub-par. Like fellow Pac12 coach Herb Sendek, it's likely tourney or bust for Johnny Dawkins


Mick Cronin, Cincinnati - Let's be clear. Mick isn't seriously in jeopardy or really under all that much pressure in Cincy but a delusional MotleySports writer holds his alumni's coach to a ridiculously high standard and expects the absolute most out of the Bearcats. When things go wrong Cronin is to blame, whether right or wrong. Mick has taken the Bearcats to 3 straight NCAA tournaments (he is 3-3 in those appearances), after 4 years of misery. Cronin has done a great job with the Bearcats and should make a 4th straight tournament appearance in 2014.