In recent years, men’s college basketball has seen the loss of at least two powerhouse coaches of two blue-blood programs in North Carolina’s Roy Williams and Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski later to be replaced with Hubert Davis and John Scheyer. However, there is still a host of coaches that are still in their respective positions and a few newcomers that have bounced onto the scene. As we look forward to the rest of the 2023/2024 basketball season, let’s take a moment and look at the top five coaches this season.
Kelvin Sampson, Houston Cougars
Kelvin Sampson has had a long, but rough, coaching career. He started out as an assistant at Michigan State in 1979 before transitioning to Montana Tech where he would later become the head coach. He moved up to Washington State in 1987 and eventually made his way to Oklahoma after seven years. He would be there for 12 years before spending two at Indiana and heading up to the NBA for another six years. He took over in Houston in 2014 and has been there for almost 10 years. He is 738-345 overall, but his recent success is what lands him on this map. He has taken this Houston team to an NCAA Final Four appearance in 2021 and two straight AAC tournament championships in 2021-22. He was a four-time AAC Coach of the Year from 2018 to 2022.
Mark Few, Gonzaga Bulldogs
Mark Few has coached just one college in his entire career. He is 693-136, which is an 83.6% winning percentage. He became a graduate assistant at Gonzaga in 1989 and became a full-time assistant in 1990. For nine years he did that job before he was given the head coaching role in 1999. He has been in that position for almost 25 years now. He has two NCAA Final Four appearances and 19 WCC Tournament championships. He has been the AP Coach of the Year once and Naismith Coach of the Year twice. From a small town in Creswell, Oregon, to the big stage, Coach Few has been an icon out west.
John Calipari, Kentucky Wildcats
John Calipari has the most wins of any coach on this list. His all-time record is 832-253 despite going 22-12 last season in a down year for the otherwise perennially good program. He started coaching in 1982 with Kansas and became a head coach first at UMass in 1988. He spent some time in the NBA before making his way back to college with Memphis. Calipari took over Kentucky in 2009 and has been there for 15 years now. He has been named the Naismith College Coach of the Year three times. He has won one national championship, six Final Four appearances, and six SEC tournament championships.
Tom Izzo, Michigan State Spartans
Tom Izzo, along with Calipari and Bill Self, makes up the last three pillars of the old-school coaching talent. Izzo started coaching as an assistant at Northern Michigan in 1979 and transitioned to Michigan State as an assistant in 1983. He took over as the head coach of the Spartans in 1995 and has been there for almost 30 years. He is 691-283 all-time which includes 55-23 in NCAA Tournament games. Izzo has one NCAA Tournament championship as well as eight Final Four appearances. He also has 10 Big Ten regular season titles and six tournament titles. He has been the AP Coach of the Year once in 1998.
Bill Self, Kansas Jayhawks
Bill Self is one of the most decorated coaches still in college basketball. He started his career as an assistant at Kansas and first made his way to the head coaching scene in 1993 with Oral Roberts. He moved to Tulsa in 1997, Illinois in 200, and finally Kansas in 2003. He has been there for 20 years. In that span, Self has won two NCAA Championships in 2008 and 2022. His all-time record is 566-133 which is 81%. He has been to three Final Fours and won eight Big 12 tournaments. He is a two-time AP College Coach of the Year along with winning the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award in 2019.
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