I'm going to try analyzing the coaching changes at the schools in the 6 BCS conferences and see who I think made the good hires and who may have struck out.

Seton Hall (Bobby Gonzalez) - The Pirates after firing Louis Orr decided to go with the rising star in NYC college hoops, lucking out and landing Bobby Gonzalez after St. John's decided to pass on him a couple of years ago in favor of Norm Roberts. Gonzalez comes to Seton Hall after a successful tenure at Manhattan, finishing over .500 each year in league play, 3 regular season MAAC championships, and 2 bids in the NCAA Tournament, with the 2004 berth producing an upset over Florida. Gonzalez, a former assistant under Pete Gillen, is known as a great recruiter with several contacts in the North Jersey/NYC area, where Seton Hall gets most of its recruits, with a negative of having known to ride players and assistants very hard.

Analysis: Best new hire in the conference. Gonzalez brings a ton of energy into the Seton Hall program, which had been emitting uncertainty under Orr, thanks to his recruting prowess and his status as a top mid-major coach in the Mid-Atlantic area. He's already secured a couple of solid committments, so after this year which will be a young team, expect Seton Hall to go on an upswing.

Rutgers (Fred Hill Jr.) - Rutgers finally let go of Gary Waters, buying out his contract to start what had been expected since Hill had come on at the position of "Associate Head Coach" a year ago. Hill had prior experience as an assistant under Jay Wright at Villanova, helping bring in Nova's highly regarded 2002 and 2003 recruiting classes, and before that as an assistant under Tommy Amaker at Seton Hall. Hill's main expertise is recruiting, as shown by his role in bringing Randy Foye to Nova. He has never been a head coach before.

Analysis: This requires more of a wait-and-see approach. Hill can bring in talent, but has never had to run his own ship before and always had the advantage in recruiting of having a great "closer" (Wright and Amaker) with him to secure commitments. Hill took a major blow for next year when Quincy Douby announced that he was staying in the draft, so there is a possibility of Rutgers only having 8 scholarship players next year, and maybe only 7 if freshman Hamady N'Diaye is ruled ineligible due to getting his degree from a possible "diploma mill" school that the NCAA is cracking down on. Hill will also be fighting the Rutgers basketball stigma (No NCAA tournament berth since 1991, constant losing teams) and will be going head-to-head with top coaches in the conference (Jim Calhoun, Jim Boeheim, Rick Pitino, John Thompson III, Wright, Gonzalez) and in the nation (Hill lost a recruiting battle to Duke and Mike Krzyzewzki pretty handily for top NJ product Lance Thomas, leading to a meltdown on the Rutgers Rivals board.) The first 2 years are very important for Hill and Rutgers. If RU can make the headways, Hill can get talent and Rutgers may finally become respectable in the Big East. If not, then Hill will be just another example of a casualty in Rutgers basketball.

Cincinnatti (Mick Cronin) - Despite nearly making the NCAAs with the injury problems at Cincy along with being in the extremely tough Big East, Andy Kennedy was not retained as head coach, with Cincy going for Cronin, the head coach of Murray State instead. Cronin had a 69-23 record at Murray State, along with earning 2 NCAA tournament trips. Cronin also was the recruiting coordinator at Louisville, helping bring in a top 10 class which included Francisco Garcia.

Analysis: Cronin will have his hands full at a major program with high expectations, along with the toughness of the Big East. Cronin is a good recruiter, but will have to deal with new Kansas State head coach Bob Huggins working against him and UC for two of the top high school players in the country who are in Cincinnatti themselves, O.J. Mayo and Bill Walker. Cronin will also be working against Ohio State and Thad Matta for recruits. Kennedy really did get a raw deal here, he probably did as good of a job as one could expect after the Huggins ordeal last year. UC fans will have to be patient as Cronin gets settled into this job.

Next time: The new ACC hire, North Carolina State's Sidney Lowe and the only new coach in the Big Ten, Indiana's new head man Kelvin Sampson.