In the transfer portal era, it’s always recruiting season.
From the second you shake hands with your new athletic director, you’ve got to start selling your program.
With that in mind, The Athletic set out to grade new coaches on how they’ve recruited out of the transfer portal. Some coaches need a whole new roster, while others can be more selective and pick up a few players. Regardless of how many transfers sign up, new coaches’ seasons likely rest on the shoulders of players who have been elsewhere.
Randy Bennett, Arizona State
Top-100 portal pickups: No. 10 Paulius Murauskas (from Saint Mary’s)
Longtime Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett shocked many in the hoops world when, at 63, he decided to take a new job. But if you know the Mesa, Ariz., native the move makes sense, because ASU is the one job he always had an eye on.
Bennett has only one major commit out of the portal right now, but it’s one of the best players available, and someone who is familiar with his system. Long known for recruiting in Australia, Bennett has in recent years tapped into Lithuania, so it only makes sense that Murauskas would follow him to start the Lithuanian pipeline to Tempe. The Sun Devils also picked up Emmanuel Innocenti, a forward who started at Gonzaga most of last season, and Joel Foxwell, who led the WCC with 6.5 assists per game. The transfers outside of Murauskas might seem underwhelming on the surface — ASU also got commits from Ben Defty from Boston University and Dillan Shaw from Saint Mary’s — but Bennett has always done more with less, so don’t be surprised if this group does some damage in the Big 12.
GRADE: A
Justin Gainey, NC State
Top-100 portal pickups: No. 21 Paul McNeil Jr. (from NC State), No. 63 Christian Hammond (from Santa Clara), No. 83 Kyle Evans (from UC Irvine), No. 99 Preston Edmead (from Hofstra)
This one is kind of funny because Gainey is getting credit for keeping McNeil, but recruiting your own roster is part of coaching in the transfer portal era, especially when the coach is the new guy on campus. (Technically, Gainey, an NC State alum, isn’t new to campus per se, but he’s spent the past five years as a Tennessee assistant before being hired to replace Will Wade.) If you like defense, you’ll love Evans, one of the best rim protectors in the country.
In grabbing some of the best guys from mid- and low-majors, it’s clear that Gainey is trusting that production at any level can thrive at the high-major level with the right coach and right system. We’ll see how it goes.
GRADE: A
Michael Malone, North Carolina
Top-100 portal pickups: No. 16 Matt Able (from NC State), No. 22 Neoklis Avdalas (from Virginia Tech), No. 60 Terrence Brown (from Utah)
Malone remains one of the most interesting hires of the coaching carousel, both because of where he went and the fact that he’s been out of the college game for 25 years. Still, UNC grabbed some of the top players in the portal, as it likely will every offseason given its recommitted resources and allure.
Though Able is the highest-ranked player, Avdalas arguably has the most upside — if he can prove he can maintain his level of play throughout the season, which was an issue after a hot start last year. Brown is an intriguing pickup because while he hasn’t been on winning teams (he played at Fairleigh Dickinson before transferring to Utah), he can score with the best of them. The question is whether Malone can fit these guys together and get them to excel Time will tell. UNC had a couple of other transfer commitments, but they withdrew Cade Bennerman, who redshirted last season at Northwestern, is still expected to suit up.
GRADE: A-
Jerrod Calhoun, Cincinnati
Top-100 portal pickups: No. 81 Adlan Elamin (from Utah State), No. 97 Tylen Riley (from Tulsa)
There’s nothing like taking over a new program and building a foundation with players who know you and your system. That’s an advantage Calhoun has in jumping from Utah State to Cincinnati, and bringing Elamin with him. But he and Riley are hardly the only newbies on the Bearcats’ roster.
Other notable transfers include guard Akai Fleming, who averaged 10.4 points for Georgia Tech last season as a freshman, and Myles Colvin, who was a consistent contributor for Wake Forest last season, averaging 11.6 points in 27 minutes per game.
Calhoun made an instant impression at Utah State, and his teams have won at least 19 games in each of his past five years (he was at Youngstown State before). He is a rising star in the profession, excellent at getting new rosters to jell quickly and likely to have instant success in the Big 12.
GRADE: B+
Bryan Hodgson, Providence
Top-100 portal pickups: No. 12 Miles Byrd (from San Diego State), No. 82 Devin Vanterpool (from Florida Atlantic)
The thinking is that Providence should be a consistent NCAA Tournament team, and that’s a fair expectation given its history. Byrd, a prototypical NBA 3-and-D player, should help make that happen for the 2027 tournament. He’s a great get for Providence with the potential to be a disruptive defender in the Big East. (It would also help both Providence and Byrd’s NBA prospects if he could make more 3s, though he has no problem launching them.)
Vanterpool was originally recruited by Michigan’s Dusty May when May was at FAU, which instantly makes you think he could be a sneaky-good get. Additionally, Providence has a handful of other transfer commits, including Arrinten Page, who averaged 10.2 points and shot 54.6 percent from the field at Northwestern; Providence will be his fourth school in four years. Yale transfer Samson Aletan is also worth keeping an eye on, mostly because good bigs are in such high demand.
GRADE: B+
Alan Huss, Creighton
Top-100 portal pickups: No. 35 Wes Enis (from South Florida)
Don’t be fooled by the fact that Huss has one commitment from the top 100. The former Bluejays assistant, who first worked at the school from 2017-2023 before returning prior to the 2025-26 season as the head coach in waiting, knows what works in Omaha.
Enis is one of the best stories in college hoops, a former D-II hooper who proved last season he could hang with the big boys at D-I. Meanwhile, Oswin Erhunmwunse never really found his place at Providence, but his upside is significant enough that Creighton invested in him. The Bluejays also have commits from BJ Davis (San Diego State’s sixth man last year) and Kayden Edwards (TCU).
GRADE: B
Chris Mack, USF
Top-100 portal pickups: N/A
This is basically a complete rebuilding job for Mack, who previously had big success at Xavier but struggled mightily in his final two seasons at Louisville (his first two years, the Cardinals won 20 and 24 games, respectively). After Bryan Hodgson left for Providence, almost the entire roster bolted, so Mack got commitments from 12 new players. The biggest name is Zayden High, a former North Carolina player who was a top-65 prospect out of high school but never got it going in Chapel Hill, and averaged just 3.4 points and 2.8 rebounds last season.
GRADE: B-
Gerry McNamara, Syracuse
Top-100 portal pickups: No. 78 Gavin Doty (from Siena)
Like a few others on this list, Doty followed his coach to a new school, which should help McNamara, a Syracuse alum, settle in even quicker. Aside from Doty, the most intriguing transfer portal pickup — the Orange have six as of early June — is Luke Wilson from Appalachian State, a big who averaged nearly a double-double (10.7 points, 8.3 rebounds). As we noted, bigs are a hot commodity this offseason. Two other former Siena players, Francis Folefac and Tasman Goodrick, also followed McNamara, which theoretically means they’ll adjust to the ACC more quickly because they’re running a system they know.
GRADE: B-
Luke Murray, Boston College
Top-100 portal pickups: N/A
Don’t freak out, Eagle fans. It’s true that Murray, a former UConn assistant who’s seemed poised for a big job for a while, didn’t land any top-100 portal players. But Boston College has commitments from nine transfers. Included in this group is former Montana shooting guard Money Williams (best name in the portal), who averaged 20.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists while shooting 49.3 percent from the field. Though he likely won’t produce at that exact level, he’s ready for a bigger stage and should be a scorer for BC. Andrija Bukumirovic (from UT Martin) and Luke Hunger (from George Washington) are also worth keeping an eye on.
GRADE: C+
Will Wade, LSU
Top-100 portal pickups: No. 59 Mouhamed Dioubate (from Kentucky)
Casual LSU fans who log onto the team’s website and check the roster page would be right to freak out. As of June, there are zero players listed on the roster. It might as well be a 404 Not Found error page.
But that’s misleading because Wade, who is back at LSU for his second stint, does have a handful of commits. Most of them are expected to come from overseas, but the Tigers did get a pledge from Kentucky’s Dioubate, who previously played at Alabama. Dioubate is a solid defender, but his offense leaves a lot to be desired. He could be a key piece for LSU, but he’s not the type of talent you can build around. The Tigers also have commitments from combo guard Divine Ugochukwu (from Michigan State) and Abdi Bashir Jr. (from Kansas State), but Wade is clearly going all-in on internationals. Given the NCAA’s ever-changing eligibility rules, it’s hard to know if that’s a winning strategy.
GRADE: D+
