Meet the New Boss: Grading the long-in-coming coaching hires

Wrapping up the weeklong grade book for the offseason coaching hires. Part One: Established head coaches moving up the career ladder. Part Two: Old faces resurfacing in new places. Part Three: Longtime assistants moving into their first Division I head-coaching gigs, wherever they can find them.

• MARK HUDSPETH (Louisiana-Lafayette).
Age (years as assistant): 42 (12 years as an assistant, most recently as wide receivers coach at Mississippi State under Dan Mullen.)
Replacing: Rickey Bustle, who finally lost a nine-year battle to keep his head above water with a 3-9 flop in 2010. The Ragin' Cajuns won exactly six games in four of Bustle's final six seasons, but never more, and still have never been to a bowl game.
Best resumé line: Hudspeth is an outlier on this list because he does have relevant head-coaching experience, as the top man at Division II power North Alabama from 2002-08. The Lions were 66-21 with a pair of undefeated regular seasons on Hudspeth's watch, and earned a spot in the D-II playoffs four times.
Why here, why now? Save one season as offensive coordinator at Navy, Hudspeth's entire career has been spent in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. With an SEC interlude under his belt, the Lafayette gig was the next rung on the ladder.
Grade: A–. Hudspeth has already won big on the college level, and comes from one of the most dynamic coaching staffs in the country last year. Even if ULL is a stepping stone, a bid to the GoDaddy.com Bowl will buy the locals' enduring affection.

• DON TREADWELL (Miami, Ohio).
Age (years as assistant): 50 (25 years, most recently as offensive coordinator at Michigan State.)
Replacing: Mike Haywood, who left for his ill-fated adventure at Pitt after leading the RedHawks to the MAC championship and the best single-season turnaround in the nation in his second year.
Best resumé line: Treadwell was one of the keys to Michigan State's breakthrough last year, taking over as interim head coach in the wake of boss Mark Dantonio's post-victory heart attack in September. The Spartans were 4-0 on Treadwell's watch, including the biggest win of the season, a 34-24 win over eventual Big Ten co-champ Wisconsin in the conference opener, and a convincing thumping of Michigan in Ann Arbor the following week.
Why here, why now? Treadwell played at Miami and returned briefly for a two-year stop as an offensive assistant in 1992-93; his Midwestern travels have also taken him to other schools in Ohio (Youngstown State, Cincinnati), in the MAC (Ball State) and the Big Ten (Michigan State). If Miami didn't hire him, the question would be why not?
Grade: A–. Treadwell's offenses have never set the stat sheet on fire in nearly a decade as an offensive coordinator, but he's been around the block, and after successfully keeping the Spartans on track in Dantonio's absence toward one of the best seasons in school history, the opening at his alma mater was the next logical step.

• KEVIN WILSON (Indiana).
Age (years as assistant): 49 (27 years, most recently as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma.)
Replacing: Bill Lynch, who was sacked after a last-place finish in the Big Ten last November, the 16th consecutive Hoosier head coach to leave Bloomington with a losing overall record.
Best resumé line(s): Wilson coordinated the highest-scoring offense in Division I history in '08, led by Heisman hero Sam Bradford. But his most enduring contribution may be his key role in the spread revolution as offensive coordinator at Northwestern, where he and head coach Randy Walker introduced the read option to smashing success in 2000.
Why here, why now? After failing to parlay the Sooners' success in 2008 into a head coaching gig (he was reportedly a serious candidate at Clemson and Mississippi State), Wilson may have felt it was time to jump while the window was still open. I'm not sure why else he'd take a job that's been stopping careers in their tracks for 60 years, unless he's just jonesing that hard to get back to the Midwest.
Grade: B+. For the Hoosiers, it's a clear win: Wilson has been one of the most respected and productive offensive minds in the country for years – so much so, in fact, that he seemed destined for a better gig when his time came. Indiana is a graveyard. Then again, any signs of life could be his ticket to the next rung up the ladder.

• STEVE ADDAZIO (Temple).
Age (years as assistant): 51 (16 years, most recently as offensive coordinator at Florida.) Replacing: Al Golden, on his way to bigger things at Miami after raising the Owls from perennial doormats – they were 0-11 before his arrival in 2004 and 1-11 his first season – to serious MAC contenders with 17 wins over the last two years, Temple's best two-year stretch since 1978-79.
Best resumé line(s): Addazio's spent 13 of the last 16 years at Syracuse, Notre Dame and Florida, coaching in six BCS bowls and earning a pair of national championship rings as Florida's offensive line coach in 2006 and 2008.
Why here, why now? Addazio is a native Northeasterner: He grew up in Connecticut and built a high school powerhouse there during a seven-year stint as head coach of Cheshire High before moving into the college ranks at Syracuse in the mid-90s. His six-year tenure at Florida is his only venture into the South, and with Urban Meyer's retirement almost certainly leaving Addazio without a job in the transition to the Will Muschamp administration, the Northward migration is a logical move.
Grade: B. Gator fans still mourning over the corpse of one of the nation's most fearsome offenses may think that mark's a little high. But the expectations aren't high at Temple, and he's certainly not going to be rattled or overwhelmed by the pressure after his prior stops, especially compared to the castigation he endured in 2010. Consistent mediocrity can keep him in good standing in Philly for a good long while.

• DARRELL HAZELL (Kent State).
Age (years as assistant): 46 (25 years, most recently as receivers coach and assistant head coach at Ohio State.)
Replacing: Doug Martin, who resigned after seven years of trying (and mostly failing) to turn Kent's perennially wayward ship.
Best resumé line: The consistent upward trajectory: Like the guy who turned a paper clip into a car by trading up, each of Hazell's eight moves over the last quarter-century have taken him to a marginally better post, from a humble start as running backs coach at tiny Oberlin (Ohio) College in 1986 to Ohio State for the last seven years.
Why here, why now? Including his playing days at Muskingum College, Hazell has spent more than half of his football career in Ohio, and all of it in potentially key recruiting areas throughout the Midwest and Northeast.
Grade: C+ Hazell is another blank slate from a resumé standpoint because he hasn't been specifically in charge of anything since serving as Oberlin's offensive coordinator from 1989-91. But frankly, the main qualifications for overseeing one of Division I's most enduring black holes – Kent State has appeared in one bowl game in its history, under future Washington legend Don James in 1972 – are patience and enthusiasm.

• JON EMBREE (Colorado).
Age (years as assistant): 45 (18 years, most recently as tight ends coach with the Washington Redskins.)
Replacing: Dan Hawkins, who cleaned up CU's outlaw image but got the boot last season with one bowl game, zero winning seasons and a very memorable rant to show for it after five years.
Best resumé line: "Tight ends coach" doesn't carry much cachet, but Embree has played position coach for three All-Americans (Christian Fauria and Daniel Graham at Colorado, Marcedes Lewis at UCLA), two Mackey Award winners (Graham and Lewis) and one future Hall-of-Famer (Tony Gonzalez, during Embree's three-year stint with the Kansas City Chiefs).
Why here, why now? Embree is at the head of a concerted revival of the halcyon Buffs of the late 80s and early 90s, teams that put together six straight top-20 seasons with a pair of Big 8 championships and a national championship under coach Bill McCartney. The result is an organization that's "Colorado to the core": Embree played for McCartney in the mid-eighties and returned as an assistant in 1993; his staff includes five new coaches who either played or coached under McCartney, including both coordinators, Eric Bieniemy (an All-American running back on the 1990 national title team) and Greg Brown (secondary coach from 1991-93). Two other staffers, Steve Marshall and Jashon Sykes, were part of the program under Hawkins' predecessor, Gary Barnett. Even Embree's sons, Taylor and Connor, are both playing for former Colorado coaches at UCLA and UNLV, respectively.
Grade: C. Embree brings an "All in the Family/Return to Glory" vision and some NFL chops, for whatever that's worth. But he's never been a coordinator at any level, much less a head coach. If he wasn't an alum, he'd be Tim Brewster.

• BILL BLANKENSHIP (Tulsa).
Age (years as assistant): 56 (Four years as an assistant, all at Tulsa.)
Replacing: Todd Graham, who left for Pittsburgh after guiding the Golden Hurricane to their third 10-win season in his four-year tenure.
Best resumé line: Blankenship is a local legend for building Tulsa's Union High into a perennial Oklahoma power, racking up 14 straight playoff appearances, eight district championships and finally three state championships in Blankenship's final four years at the school. He quit after the third title in 2005 to pursue his goal of
Why here, why now? See above. Blankenship was a starting quarterback at Tulsa in the late 70s, has spent most of his coaching career in Tulsa and is arguably the biggest gridiron name in the community. He probably also came significantly cheaper than another homegrown candidate, former Oklahoma quarterback/current Arkansas offensive coordinator Garrick McGee, though Tulsa is private and doesn't release salaries.
Grade: C–. High school coaches aren't automatically doomed to failure, but the track record for into-the-deep-end plunges like this one isn't very encouraging. (Most recently, North Texas flamed out in three-and-a-half years under local high school baron Todd Dodge.) On one hand, his resumé says Blankenship is a proven winner. On the other, the most relevant section of his resumé barely exists.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

Related: Arkansas Razorbacks, Ball State Cardinals, Cincinnati Bearcats, Clemson Tigers, Colorado Buffaloes, Florida Gators, Indiana Hoosiers, Miami (FL) Hurricanes, Michigan Wolverines, Michigan State Spartans, Mississippi Rebels, Mississippi State Bulldogs, Navy Midshipmen, UNLV Rebels, North Texas Mean Green, Northwestern Wildcats, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Ohio Bobcats, Ohio State Buckeyes, Oklahoma Sooners, Pittsburgh Panthers, Syracuse Orange, Temple Owls, Tulsa Golden Hurricane, UCLA Bruins, Washington Huskies, Wisconsin Badgers

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Grading the 2011 slam-dunk contest

The 2011 slam-dunk contest wasn't exactly a return to form -- the 1988 and 2000 competitions won't be shaking in their respective slammin' boots after watching tape from Saturday night's affair -- but the Blake Griffin(notes)-led show was a fun time out.

Griffin did pace the field, as was expected heading in. But he did have a fair amount of competition. Toronto's DeMar DeRozan(notes), Washington's JaVale McGee(notes) and Oklahoma City's Serge Ibaka(notes) all brought the relative goods. The Los Angeles Clippers forward was still ahead of the group, if barely, becoming the first rookie to win the contest since New York's Nate Robinson(notes) took the crown in 2006.

Click the jump, no dunk intended, for the breakdown:

DeMar DeRozan, Toronto Raptors

Expectations weren't exactly low for DeRozan as he entered the 2011 dunk competition, because we've watched him bound around the league for a year and a half since leaving USC. But after a weak showing last year during a glorified (and hopefully, one-off) dunk-in during 2010's All-Star weekend, one couldn't help but feel dubious as to whether or not the Toronto wing would bring the goods -- especially in a field featuring three forward/centers.

D.D. made it work, though, coming through with a nice reverse dunk off a poor pass from Amir Johnson(notes) (where was Jose Calderon(notes)?) in the first round.

DeRozan attempted a modified version of the Andre Iguodala(notes) bounce-and-reverse from the 2006 contest, but Johnson was out of his element trying to bounce the ball off the basket support. The last part is important. Iggy and others bounce the ball off the side of the backboard. DeMar? He took it off the support itself, several feet away from the board. And, most importantly, several feet away from the rim.

DeMar followed this with a deserved 50 for another reverse in the second round. An alley-oop followed by a windmill, from a guard? Brilliant. Not good enough to move on, apparently. Blame the pass in the first round.

Grade? Give the man an A, only mitigated by a teammate's bad toss.

Serge Ibaka, Oklahoma City Thunder

Serge Ibaka is around 6-8, so his dunk from the free throw line should have easily registered a 50. It certainly wasn't the most creative turn, even if the Congo-born second-year big man came through with a tribute to his home continent before throwing down, but it was worth a 50. Julius Erving was the same height as Ibaka, Brent Barry(notes) was an inch or two shorter, and they both had a toe or more on the line as they took off from 15 feet away. Ibaka did no such thing, taking off beyond the freebie stripe, and all he could take in were nines from the judges.

His second dunk was pretty contrived. A well-coiffed child actor was brought in from the audience to complain -- into a microphone -- about losing his toy, which was stuck in the net below the dunking rim. The kid was cute, the idea OK, but it grew a little stale rather quickly.

Ibaka proceeded to attempt to oop himself a pass, and dunk while grabbing the stuffed animal with his teeth. As if it couldn't get any weirder, Serge couldn't nail the first dunk, only coming down with the toy in his mouth. No dunk, just a toy in his mouth. The kid had to wait, as if it was ever his teddy to begin with, as NBA workers brought out a ladder (showmanship!) and re-affixed the "lost" toy to the rim. If you're still reading at this point, stop. It was dull and strange, and, yes, Serge nailed the dunk on the second attempt and brought down the lost toy. No amount of over-arching from the judges following their miss on the foul-line dunk could make this one any better.

Grade? Give the man a B, only marred by some bad advice.

JaVale McGee, Washington Wizards

Dwight Howard(notes), the 2009 dunk contest winner, was underneath the TNT microphones as a guest analyst. And while he didn't really offer any sort of insight worthy of repeating, the uncomfortable back and forth between Howard and McGee's "coach" Chris Webber did, for a short time, allow us to believe that McGee was going to attempt a dunk on a 13-foot rim. After all, Webber was coming through with a muddled bit of trash talk sent Howard's way, and after Dwight dunked on a 12-foot rim a few years back, it seemed only natural.

Instead, McGee brought out a second rim not to churn his way to 13-foot heights, but to attempt (and succeed) in dunking on two baskets at once. Or, dunking lefty, while throwing down off a lob on the right-hand rim. It, if your imagination is all that is allowed here, was amazing.

In the second round, McGee dunked three balls at once. Or, as close to "at once" as gravity will allow. It was, again, amazing. After that? He pulled some reach around reverse that would have been fantastic in its own right, but JaVale managed to straighten-out his right hand and dunk on the weak side as if he had started from that end. In all, it was a stunning display of athleticism.

In the third round, after his closest competitor brought out a middling four-cylinder car and jumped over the hood, McGee sort of lost his nerve while attempting his final stuff. After two half-hearted attempts at a lob off the glass and reverse, an embarrassed McGee settled on a bounce off the board and cock-backed throw-down with one hand. Nice, but this was shootaround work. An unfortunate end to a wildly impressive night out.

Grade? Give the man an A, only hurt by the amount of dunk attempts he needed.

Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers

Make no mistake, Griffin was the best dunker of the night. At least, he was the most entertaining, and that's without taking into consideration the -- oh, let's be honest -- lame presentation that was his final dunk.

Worst things first. Griffin had a Kia something wheeled out for his final turn, and with a local choir singing "I Believe I Can Fly" beyond the half-court stripe, Blake jumped over the car's hood for a nice two-handed stuff. Now, none of us want Griffin to push things. We kind of like the idea of this guy dominating the league for the next 15 years. But this dunk, this show, was pretty dull.

The rest? The rookie brought it.

A 450-degree throwdown in the first round started things off. A second-round reverse off of a terrible Baron Davis(notes) pass followed. Davis kept us from seeing a dunk contest classic because Blake shifted after a few attempts and took an easier dunk.

In the third round, Griffin dunked from outside the charge circle, and easily fit his elbow into the rim. And while the dunk might not be something you'll tell your grandchildren about, this was a fantastic display of athleticism. He put a basketball in a 10-foot rim with his hand, that was connected to his arm, that was connected to his elbow, that also went into the rim. Any bit of Official Vehicle of the NBA-sponsored nonsense -- and this is coming from a guy who is going to a car show later today -- can't take away from that stunning burst. Blake Griffin deserved to win this dunk contest.

Grade? Give the man an A, tempered only by a dull stuff in the final round.

***

In all? The dunk contest was nothing to write home about.

As an entertainment package? It was great! I dare anyone who isn't on the wrong side of a batch of opiates to tell you that they sat through the entire thing and didn't have fun. Was it the best dunking exhibition we've seen? Clearly not. Were parts contrived? Of course.

Was it a great show? No doubt.

See you next year, Blake. And hopefully, JaVale.

Related: DeMar DeRozan, Blake Griffin, Serge Ibaka, JaVale McGee, Jose Calderon, Amir Johnson, Nate Robinson, Baron Davis, Andre Iguodala, Dwight Howard, Brent Barry, Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards

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