Hirings and Firings: March Madness Edition

These coaches, all of whom played a role in wrecking brackets, deserve to be fired or hired based on their teams' performances in the first week of the NCAA Tournament.

Hire Shaka Smart - The Virginia Commonwealth coach's name is fitting (he got offers to play college ball at Harvard, Yale and Brown), and the Rams' "organized chaos" style gave USC, Georgetown and Purdue fits. In Smart's second season as a college head coach he has his team maximizing a relentless press, perimeter shooting (12 3's against Georgetown) and ball control (4 turnovers against Purdue) to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history. Look for Smart to be a candidate for several vacancies including Georgia Tech and NC State.

Fire Rick Pitino - Louisville didn't last much longer in the tournament than Pitino's encounter with Karen Cunigan Sypher. He won't likely be fired, but when a power conference team loses to Morehead State, things aren't working out. Sure it was a one-point game and Morehead played well, but the Eagles out-rebounded the Cardinals 33-27, including 11-5 on the offensive glass.

Fire Bruce Pearl - After Bruce was a very bad boy in the eyes of the NCAA, he had little hope of keeping his job beyond this season. After Tennessee quit in its first-round game, a 75-45 loss to Michigan in which the Volunteers were outscored 42-16 in the second half and shot .349 from the field, he'll be hearing "you're fired" very soon. (UPDATE: Pearl was fired.)