The 25 Best Men’s College Basketball Coaches of the Past 25 Years
Sports Illustrated looks back at the past 25 seasons from 2000 to ’25 in men’s college basketball, ranking the top 25 coaches. Earlier, we ranked the 25 best NCAA tournament non-championship games (not including the current tournament).
1. Roy Williams, North Carolina
Tournament résumé since 2000: three national championships, seven Final Fours, 20 NCAA tournaments
No coach has had more success since the turn of the century than Williams. Since 2000, Williams has seven Final Four appearances as a coach, the most in the last 25 years. He also won three championships since 2000, tied with Coach K for the most in the time period. He tops our quarter-century list for his Final Four record since 2000. The three titles don’t hurt either.
2. Mike Krzyzewski, Duke
Tournament résumé since 2000: three national championships, five Final Fours, 21 NCAA tournaments
Nobody in Division I men’s basketball has won more career games than Krzyzewski. Coach K won 1,202 career games over his 47 years in college basketball, which included five seasons at Army West Point that precluded his 42 years leading Duke.
At Duke, Coach K took the Blue Devils to 13 Final Fours (the most in the history of men’s college basketball) and won five national titles in his tenure to go along with his 36 NCAA tournament appearances in his 42 years at the school. Krzyzewski won 76.6% of his career games, and was a model of consistency for decades in college basketball. Specifically, since 2000, an argument can only be made for Coach K’s good friend and rival Williams for a better coaching record. Krzyyewski took Duke to five Final Fours and won three national championships since the year 2000. It’s the same number of championships as Williams, but with two fewer Final Fours.
3. Bill Self, Kansas
Tournament résumé since 2000: two national championships, four Final Fours, 25 NCAA tournaments
If this season was indeed it for Self, what a career it has been. Self has coached at the Division I level for the last 33 years with stops at Oral Roberts, Tulsa, Illinois and of course, at Kansas, where he has spent the last 23 seasons and has won two national titles to go along with four Final Fours. He is a member of the 800-win club, capturing 855 career victories with a .759 winning percentage.
Despite pre-NIL recruiting violations that got him into hot water with the NCAA on multiple occasions, there’s no denying that Self is one of the best coaches of his generation. Self won both of his titles and took Kansas to all four of its Final Fours since the turn of the century, which coincided with the peak of his coaching career.
4. Jay Wright, Villanova
Tournament résumé since 2000: two national championships, four Final Fours, 18 NCAA tournaments
Wright’s two-decade run at Villanova produced plenty of wins, several NBA stars and two national championships. Through it all, Wright was a man that did it his own way. Wright was likely one of the earliest purveyors in the modern style of basketball coaching, leaning as much into human philosophy as basketball philosophy and eschewing public outbursts with pensive introspection.
Wright preached to his players about attitude being the one thing you can control, and the greatest edge you can have as a human. Some days things will go your way, some days they won’t—what you can control is your attitude in any given situation. It’s fitting, then, that the lasting image many will have of Wright in their minds was his stoic reaction to Kris Jenkins’s buzzer-beating game-winner in the 2016 national championship. The ball went up, and it came down—this time it happened to be in his direction.
5. Billy Donovan, Florida
Tournament résumé since 2000: two national championships, four Final Fours, 18 NCAA tournaments
After two seasons at Marshall from 1994 to ’96, Donovan took the job at Florida, where he quickly became the best coach in school history. In a 19-year run with the Gators, Donovan took the program to four Final Four appearances and won two national championships, including back-to-back titles in 2006 and ’07. In total, Donovan won 502 games as a college coach, with 467 of those victories coming with the Gators.
Donovan left Florida after the 2014–15 season for the NBA, where he has continued his stellar run as coach of the Thunder and Bulls. If Donovan had never left college basketball, he was on a trajectory to become one of the all-time greats. But even while leaving for the NBA a decade ago, he remains one of the best coaches in the college game in the last 25 years.
6. Jim Calhoun, UConn
Tournament résumé since 2000: three national championships, three Final Fours, 10 NCAA tournaments
Before Dan Hurley, there was Calhoun at UConn. Calhoun, a college basketball legend, is one of six coaches in NCAA history to win three or more national titles. Calhoun has three to his name, to go along with four Final Four appearances and 877 career wins, with 629 of the victories coming at UConn.
7. Dan Hurley, UConn
Tournament résumé since 2000: two national championships, two Final Fours, seven NCAA tournaments
Nobody has elevated their profile more over the last five years in the coaching profession than Hurley. Hurley, who has been a Division I head coach for 16 years, won back-to-back national titles in 2023 and ’24, and has rebuilt UConn into a consistent contender for championships. Hurley has won at every stop, from Wagner and Rhode Island to Storrs, Conn., coaching the Huskies, and his prolonged success earned him a serious NBA coaching look with the Lakers that he nearly took after his second championship at UConn. If the Lakers couldn’t pry Hurley away, it would likely take a lot for the 53-year-old to leave one of the best jobs in college basketball.
8. Mark Few, Gonzaga
Tournament résumé since 2000: zero national championships, two Final Fours, 25 NCAA tournaments
This season was Few’s 27th as Gonzaga’s head men’s basketball coach, where he has built the small mid-major into a consistent national power. The Bulldogs have been a model of excellence considering their presence in the WCC and relative success on a national level compared to quality of opponents that they tend to play in league play year in and year out.
Few has won 773 career games, and like Tom Izzo is on the 800-win trajectory. He’s taken Gonzaga to the NCAA tournament every season as coach, with the lone exception being in 2019–20 when the tournament was cancelled (the Bulldogs would have been in that one, too). Few has led Gonzaga to two Final Fours and two national title appearances. He’s been so close to winning a championship, and his stellar career deserves one on the docket before he ultimately retires.
9. Brad Stevens, Butler
Tournament résumé since 2000: zero national championships, two Final Fours, five NCAA tournaments
For a coach to make this list having only coached college basketball for seven years, they have to have done something special. Stevens certainly fits the bill. With Butler, Stevens authored one of the most impressive Cinderella runs through March Madness in recent memory, taking the Bulldogs all the way to the championship game as a No. 5 seed, where they came within inches of winning the title on a breathtaking Gordon Hayward buzzer beater in 2010. Then the next year, Stevens did it again, with Butler clawing its way to the title game from the No. 8 seedline the second time around. Taking any team to the national championship game in back-to-back years makes a coach one of the greats. Taking a team from the Horizon League to the national championship game in back-to-back years makes them a legend.
10. Tom Izzo, Michigan State
Tournament résumé since 2000: one national championship, seven Final Fours, 25 NCAA tournaments
It is somewhat surprising that Izzo has only captured one national championship for as good a coach as he’s been over the years. It speaks to the difficulty of cutting down the nets at the end of the NCAA tournament that the 71-year-old only has one NCAA crown to his name. Izzo, who has spent three decades at Michigan State, has coached countless pros and has managed seven Final Fours and the one championship in 2000 to go along with his 25 NCAA tournament appearances. Assuming he coaches for two more seasons, he should easily eclipse the 800-win mark.
11. John Calipari, Arkansas, Kentucky and Memphis
Tournament résumé since 2000: one national championship, five Final Fours, 19 NCAA tournaments
Calipari left UMass for Memphis at the turn of the century and quickly turned the program around. His best team came in 2006–07 (the Derrick Rose team) that made a run all the way to the Final Four. It was the first Final Four appearance of Calipari’s storied career.
Since then, Calipari made four additional trips to the Final Four with Kentucky and won a national championship in 2012. After a long, successful tenure with the Wildcats, Calipari took the job at Arkansas and for the last two seasons has taken the Razorbacks to the NCAA tournament. In his late 60s, Calipari is still one of the sport’s best coaches.
12. Rick Pitino, St. John’s, Iona and Louisville
Tournament résumé since 2000: one national championship, three Final Fours, 16 NCAA tournaments
The story of Pitino is, in a way, the story of college basketball as a whole. It’s had its ups and downs, a few controversies that left people wondering what the future would hold, but ultimately carried on despite all the drama for the love of the game. Pitino’s greatness is evident in his rise, fall, and climb back to the top. After winning championships at power programs Kentucky and Louisville, Pitino was let go by the Cardinals amid scandal that also saw his title with the team vacated by the NCAA.
He spent three years coaching professionally in Greece before making a return stateside at the college level with Iona, going 64–22 and leading the Gaels to two NCAA tournament appearances in three years. From there, he jumped to his most recent gig, and likely the one the New York native was born to hold, leading St. John’s. At 73, it’s unclear how many more years Pitino has standing courtside, but few have enjoyed the role of basketball coach as much as he has.
13. Jim Boeheim, Syracuse
Tournament résumé since 2000: one national championship, three Final Fours, 16 NCAA tournaments
No coach in the history of college basketball has ever had a brand as strong as Boeheim. At Boeheim’s Syracuse, you played 2-3 zone defense, and you played it as hard as you possibly could. It’s the type of coaching system that only works in college basketball—fitting players into a system rather than molding a system around the players—and it worked out quite well for the Orange.
Boeheim’s zone defense meant Syracuse was always game for an upset in March Madness, no matter what seed they entered as. Boeheim also had a longevity that is hard to believe, leading his team to the Final Four on five occasions including at least one appearance in four straight decades from the 1980s to the 2010s. Those runs to the Final Four came as a 10-seed, three-seed, four-seed and two-seed. His championship with Carmelo Anthony in 2003 remains his crowning achievement.
14. Gary Williams, Maryland
Tournament résumé since 2000: one national championship, two Final Fours, eight NCAA tournaments
Maryland’s Williams did his best work right at the turn of the century with the Terps, where he took the program to the Final Four in 2001 before returning to the Final Four the following season and finishing the job with a national championship victory over Indiana. Williams took Maryland to eight NCAA tournament appearances from ’00 onward, before retiring from college basketball following the ’10–11 season.
15. Scott Drew, Baylor
Tournament résumé since 2000: one national championship, one Final Four, 13 NCAA tournaments
Drew’s tenure at Baylor has been monumentally successful considering the shape it was in when he took it over. Baylor hired Drew in the midst of a raucous NCAA scandal surrounding the murder of a former player, and the young coach outlined what would be needed to build a program in turmoil into a consistent winner. What Drew has done since has been remarkable. In 23 seasons, Drew has taken the Bears to 13 NCAA tournaments, which culminated with a Final Four and national championship in 2021. Drew just joined the 500 career win club this season, with 480 of those victories coming at Baylor.
16. Tony Bennett, Virginia
Tournament résumé since 2000: one national championship, one Final Four, 11 NCAA tournaments
Bennett’s Virginia program suffered arguably the largest upset in the history of the NCAA tournament in 2018, losing to No. 16 UMBC by 17 points. Virginia, a No. 1 seed that season, became the first No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed in the NCAA tournament. Instead of wilting, Bennett took Virginia to the Final Four the next season and won the national championship over Texas Tech. In total, Bennett went to 11 NCAA tournaments, including two in three seasons at Washington State and nine more with the Cavaliers. Bennett retired before the start of the 2024–25 season and Virginia has already named its home court at the John Paul Jones Arena after him.
17. Kelvin Sampson, Houston
Tournament résumé since 2000: zero national championships, three Final Fours, 14 NCAA tournaments
Sampson has won everything there is to win in college basketball except for a national championship. After early stints with Oklahoma and Indiana, during which he led the Sooners to the Final Four in 2002, Sampson was forced to resign from his job with the Hoosiers in 2008 due to allegations of NCAA violations that include the then illegal but now quaint calling and texting of recruits.
He was forced out of college basketball for five years, working in the NBA with the Spurs, Bucks and Rockets, before returning to college to lead Houston’s program to new heights in 2014. Sampson’s Cougars went 33–4 in the ’18–19 season, the fifth 30-win season in school history, and made their first run to the Sweet 16 since reaching the championship game in 1984. Thirty wins is now the floor for Sampson and the Cougars, who have cleared the mark in five straight seasons and reached at least the Sweet 16 in each of those runs. It was a long and winding road, but Sampson is one of the best coaches of his generation.
18. John Beilein, Michigan
Tournament résumé since 2000: zero national championships, two Final Fours, 11 NCAA tournaments
Beilein never won a national championship at Michigan, but boy, was he close. If he hadn’t left for the NBA, after the 2018–19 season, there’s a chance we’re talking about Beilein as a national champion. One season before leaving for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Beilein had Michigan in the national championship game, where the Wolverines lost to Villanova for Wright’s second championship. Since ’00, Beilein has coached at Richmond, West Virginia and at Michigan, where he had the most success in his college career. Beilein has always been a winner, but could have expanded upon his two Final Fours had he remained in Ann Arbor.
19. Jim Larrañaga, George Mason and Miami
Tournament résumé since 2000: zero national championships, two Final Fours, 10 NCAA tournaments
Larrañaga will always be remembered most for his unparalleled 2006 Final Four run as the coach at George Mason. The Patriots’ Cinderella run—a small mid-major taking down multiple power-conference opponents AND making the NCAA tournament’s final weekend—has not been seen since (no, Florida Atlantic was not the same as George Mason), and will very likely never be seen again in the era of NIL and revenue sharing. Larrañaga went on to coach at Miami after his successful run at George Mason, where he also took the Hurricanes to the Final Four in ’23 before retiring a year later. In total, Larrañaga won 716 career games and made 11 NCAA tournament appearances to go along with his two runs to the Final Four. He’s one of the most respected coaches of this generation.
20. Bo Ryan, Wisconsin
Tournament résumé since 2000: zero national championships, two Final Fours, 14 NCAA tournaments
Ryan spent all but two seasons of his storied coaching career at Wisconsin, coaching previously at the University of Milwaukee. Ryan took over the Badgers in 2001 and promptly took the program to 14 NCAA tournament appearances and two Final Fours. The Final Fours came in ’14 and ’15, just before he retired after the ’16 NCAA tournament. His second-to-last season as coach, the Badgers lost by five to Duke in the national championship game, which was the closest Ryan ever came to winning a title. Regardless, he took Wisconsin’s program to unprecedented heights that have yet to be replicated by his successor, Greg Gard.
21. Bruce Pearl, Tennessee and Auburn
Tournament résumé since 2000: zero national championships, two Final Fours, 14 NCAA tournaments
Before he was dancing on our televisions and arguing against an undefeated mid-major making the tournament as an analyst, Pearl spent more than three decades coaching college basketball. Pearl was loud both in his coaching and his style, marching courtside in his orange suits while leading Tennessee and Auburn. Like others on this list, Pearl was let go from one job in less than amicable circumstances, getting fired by the Vols amidst an NCAA investigation that ended with him receiving what was effectively a three-year ban. But his second act with the Tigers saw plenty of wins as well, including a run to the Final Four in 2025 that nearly saw Auburn in the national championship game in his final season at the helm.
22. Matt Painter, Purdue
Tournament résumé since 2000: zero national championships, one Final Four, 17 NCAA tournaments
Under Painter’s leadership, Purdue has become one of the most consistently competitive programs in the country, but have still yet to come home with the ultimate title. In 21 seasons with the Boilermakers, Painter has cleared at least 20 wins 16 times, and has earned at least a four-seed in an astonishing nine straight NCAA tournaments. Those postseason trips have seen Purdue on both sides of the madness of March—they became the second No. 1 seed in history to lose to a No. 16 seed with a loss to Fairleigh Dickinson in 2023, and the year before that fell to No. 15 St. Peter’s in the Sweet 16 as the No. 3 team in the region. To Painter’s credit, he rebounded from those back-to-back heartbreaks by taking Purdue all the way to the championship game in ’24, where they fell to UConn.
23. Rick Barnes, Texas and Tennessee
Tournament résumé since 2000: zero national championships, one Final Four, 22 NCAA tournaments
Not many head coaches have been at it longer than Barnes, who has spent the last 39 years in the role, with stops at George Mason, Providence, Clemson, Texas and Tennessee. Since the turn of the century, Barnes has coached the Longhorns and for the last 11 years, the Volunteers. Barnes has taken his programs to the NCAA tournament 22 times since 2000, and has a Final Four appearance to his name in ’03 at Texas. Barnes may not have the top-level tournament success of his peers, but he’s won nearly 860 games over his 39-year career at a 66.5% clip. His long track record of success is incredibly impressive, as he’s won everywhere he’s been.
24. Bob Huggins, West Virginia
Tournament résumé since 2000: zero national championships, one Final Four, 17 NCAA tournaments
Huggins resigned as head coach at West Virginia in June 2023 after an offseason arrest for driving under the influence. That incident, coupled with a prior suspension that came after he used an anti-LGBTQ slur, made the situation untenable. Since the year 2000 though, few teams played tougher defensively than programs coached by Huggins. He coached Cincinnati, Kansas State for one season, and at West Virginia since the turn of the century, and at all three stops he left his programs better than he found them on the floor. He made 17 NCAA tournament appearances since ’00, including a trip to the Final Four in ’10.
25. Leonard Hamilton, Florida State
Tournament résumé since 2000: zero national championships, zero Final Fours, eight NCAA tournaments
Hamilton took the job at Florida State in 2002 and turned the Seminoles into a consistent winner in the ACC. Always known for being able to relate to his players and get the most out of his rosters, Hamilton coached the Seminoles to eight NCAA tournament appearances at a school where football will always be No. 1. Hamilton’s deepest tournament run came in the ’17–18 season where the Noles made it all the way to the Elite Eight. Hamilton would go on to make two additional Sweet 16s thereafter before retiring following the ’24–25 season as the winningest coach in school history.
Sports Illustrated writers Pat Forde, Kevin Sweeney and Bryan Fischer contributed to the selection and ranking of this list.
More March Madness From Sports Illustrated
Listen to SI’s college sports podcast, Others Receiving Votes, below or on Apple and Spotify. Watch the show on the SI College YouTube channel.
First Appeared on
Source link
