The Pantheon of College Sports: The Greatest Basketball Coaches

We are fast approaching the 2025 edition of “March Madness” - the NCAA College Basketball Tournament. The three week basketball binge is an entertaining and fascinating spectacle each year. There are millions of betting pools with brackets all over the United States. Upsets, buzzer beaters, cinderellas are terms of art as we progress through the tournament and it is truly one of the best televised sports events of the entire year. It is NATIONAL in scope with 68 Division 1 teams assigned to four regions seeking to advance to the ultimate prize- THE FINAL FOUR. The tournament has made players lifetime local heroes and certain coaches legendary. It is a big stage. The NCAA controls the TV revenue which is approaching a billion dollars. Division 1 schools get allocations from the NCAA. The financial rewards for the qualifying schools are solid. Remember, the basketball programs are in a different financial category than the NCAA football programs. The income stream is far less. The top basketball program revenue wise is Duke which generates about 50 million dollars annually. Approximately, 30 major programs top 30 million in revenue. The top football program is at 250 million in revenue and 40 programs exceed 150 million annually. There is psychic income from basketball success and the prestige associated with a winning program is undeniable. Basketball is an integral element in a university’s branding in many places. Big time coaches are public representatives of the university and the elite develop a national profile. They are also compensated well. There are 7 coaches earning in excess of 5 million. 11 between 4 and 5 million and another 19 between 3 and 4 million. We previously analysed the operating dynamic for modern college football coaches. We will briefly engage in a similar exercise for the basketball coaches and then share our Top 20 Coaches of the modern era.

College basketball has undergone some of the same changes as college football. I have followed college basketball for a long time. I would say I am a very knowledgeable fan with a good knowledge of the game’s history. Loyola (my alma mater) won the national championship in 1963 and made history by starting 4 African Americans. I listened to Loyola games on the radio throughout the 1960’s. Red Rush was the announcer and Gonnella Bread was the sponsor. Loyola also made a final four appearance in 2018 and the 1963 team is the only school from Illinois to win the national championship. My law school, The University of Illinois is founding member of the Big Ten and a serious player nationally. I attended their final four appearance in 2005 where they lost a tough one to North Carolina. My final personal fun basketball fact is that George Mikan, named the greatest player of the first half of the 20th Century attended the same high school as me- Quigley Preparatory Seminary. Hard to beat that!!

The game is structurally different now. In the 1960’s a head coach had 1 or 2 assistants. He was responsible for recruiting, game planning, coaching the games and turning off the gym lights after practice. Today, a major program will have 6-7 assistants- all with specialised jobs. Defense coordinator, conditioning and strength coach, nutritionist, academic advisor, 3 point shooting coach, performance metrics analyst and head scout. The head coach is CEO. Checkout the number of coaches on the bench when you watch the Final Four. An abundance of riches- a jobs program! In 1960, a coach had limited interaction with the media. Post game chats with the local sports journalist and occasional radio or TV interviews. Today, the media landscape is intimidating and a coach must function well on all platforms. He needs to be expert in public messaging. Negative stories travel quickly and a well publicised scandal or incident can lead to a quick loss of position and the collapse of a program. Recruiting was much simpler- primarily local and regional with players who were then committed to you for 4 years. Now, recruiting is a science and hyper- competitive and it is national and even international in scope. You spend more time identifying transfer portal players than high school prospects. It is 24/7 type time consuming. Game planning is a technology driven exercise now. A coach may have seen a 16mm reel of one game of his upcoming opponent in the 60’s . Today, every moment of every player’s career is analysed and re-analysed. The statistics and tendencies are committed to memory. Everyone is looking for an edge. The financial stakes are higher and donor and alumni patience is shorter. Two losing seasons in a row and a new coach is already on the hot seat. Players have substantially more freedom and are more demanding. The directorship phase for coaches is long gone. Opportunities for corruption are ever present and have always cast a disturbing shadow over the game. The transfer window and NIL do not create incentives for probity. BUT the game itself is great. Player effort and energy is high and the coaching staffs truly vest themselves in their teams. The best coaches keep their head on when everyone else is losing theirs. There have been many outstanding coaches and it is challenging to identify the TOP 20.

I researched career won-loss records and winning percentage; national championships, Final fours, conference championships, consistency, longevity, sportsmanship, innovation, graduation rates and the the presence of the ultimate “IT” factor- CLASS. Did they win with grace? Did they graduate their players? Did the players remain loyal to them after graduation? The WFM “eye test” remains so the eligibility trigger is coaching success occurring after 1960. Coaches like Adolf Rupp, Phog Allen and Hank Ina are before my time. Current coaches are eligible but need at least 15 years on the bench. Scandals or disciplinary issues involving a coach or his program are relevant, but not disqualifying. Without further adieu- THE TOP 20!!

1. JOHN WOODEN: The Wizard of Westwood. 10 championships in a 12 year span at UCLA; an 88 game win streak. Coached Jabbar and Walton. Published the “Pyramids of Success” which summarised his philosophy of life and basketball. Record of 664-162 with a winning percentage of .802. 12 Final Fours and 7 consecutive championships. Incredible!

2. MIKE KRZYZEWSKI. The legend who built the Mercedes of all college programs- DUKE. Record of 1202-368 with a winning percentage of .766. Coached 38 years. Appeared in 13 Final Fours and won 5 national championships. Competed in tough ACC. Adjusted to major rule changes. Won with different playing styles depending on his personnel. Impressive coaching tree. The gold standard and a bonus is he attended Weber High School in Chicago. Local boy makes good!

3. ROY WILLIAMS: Three national championships and 9 Final Fours. Coached at blue blood programs- Kansa and Duke. Record of 903-264 with winning percentage of .774. Elite recruiter and taught a very fast paced and entertaining offensive stye.

4. BOBBY KNIGHT. A coaching legend at Indiana. Late career marred by some out of control behaviour, but a magnificent leader. His players loved him. Record of 899-374 with a winning percentage of.706. Three national championships and 5 Final Four teams.

5. DEAN SMITH. The man all the other top coaches will say was their role model. Classy guy- cared about his players. Record of 879-254 and .776 winning percentage. 13 ACC championships, 2 national titles and 11 Final Four appearances. Great player development- experimented with the four corners offence, but most of his great teams attacked and looked for fast breaks.

6. JIM CALHOUN. Grouchy guy but a tremendous program builder at Connecticut. Record of 877-382 with a winning percentage of.697. Three national championships and four Final Four appearances.

7. RICK PITINO. Coached at Providence, Kentucky, Louisville, Iona and St John’s. Short interlude in pros. Had some ethical controversies, but I adore his style of basketball. All out- all the time- lots of pressing and ball movement. Two nations titles and seven Final Four appearances. Record of 800-275 win .750 winning percentage.

8. DENNY CRUM. Great run at Louisville. Record of 675-295 and a winning percentage of.696. He took his squad to 6 final fours and won 2 national championships.

9. TOM IZZO. Still on the bench at MSU. Record of 606-231 and winning percentage of .724. 8 Final Four appearances and 1 national title. 12 Big Ten championships. Teams are tough and resilient- great defence and rebounding. Players very loyal post graduation. Has turned down more lucrative opportunities.

10. JIM BOEHEIM: Never loved his zone defence and he was always complaining to the refs, but he had great longevity and incredible success. Record of 1116-441 and a winning percentage of .757. One national championship and 5 Final Fours. Won the Big East 8 times.

11. LUTE OLSON: Originally at Iowa, but biggest success at Arizona. Teams were fun to watch and he was great recruiter. Record of 776-285 and a winning percentage of .731. One national championship and 5 Final fours.

12. JAY WRIGHT: Handsome dude- smooth- he won 2 national titles and appeared at 4 Final fours. Great culture- classy program. Record of 642-282 with a winning percentage of .695.

13 JOHN CALIPARI: John’s programs always appear to approach the line if not cross it so he makes me uncomfortable- almost too slick! BUT 6 Final four appearances with three different programs and one national title. Adapted quickly to the “one and done” phenomenon for superstars. Very articulate and telegenic. Bombed in NBA. Record is 720-210 with a winning percentage of .780.

14. JERRY TARKANIAN: Tark the Shark looked like a casino bouncer but was creative and aggressive coach. Always vulnerable to illegal recruiting charges, but his players loved him and he won a lot of games. Record of 761-202 with a winning percentage of .790. One national title and four Final four appearances. Run and gun style was great television.

15. BILLY DONOVAN: Now buried with Bulls and has a solid record in pros but his college record was first rate. He won consecutive national championships at Florida and made two other Final Fours. Record was 502-206 with a winning percentage of .702.

16. NOLAN RICHARDSON: Champions at Arkansas in 1994 with “40 Minutes of Hell” pressure tactics. Appeared in 2 other Final Fours. Record of 509-207 with a winning percentage of .711.

17. JOHN THOMPSON: Big personality- big guy- commanding presence at Georgetown. Great local DC recruiter. Fought for his players. Three Final Four appearances and one national title. Record was 596-231 and winning percentage of .714.

18. BILL SELF: Still coaching, but qualifies now. I am still bitter at him for leaving Illinois for Kansas. Record speaks volumes on his ability though. Extremely consistent. Record of 829-259 with winning percentage of .762. Won 16 consecutive Big 12 regular season championships. Two national championships and four Final four appearances. Still going strong.

19. AL McGUIRE: Marquette coaching legend and the first great TV colour man for college basketball. Relatively short career compared to most on this list, but a winner. His record was 295-80 with a winning percentage of .786. Coached Marquette to its only national championship.

20. EDDIE SUTTON: Needed to place someone on list who excelled over the long term, but did not win a national title. Sutton coached at Arkansa, Kentucky and Oklahoma State. His record was 866-329 with a winning percentage of .710. Led each program to the Final Four. Great defensive teams.

HONORABLE MENTION: Bob Huggins, Mark Few, Lou Henson, Ray Meyer and Gary Williams.