160. Travis Steele (Xavier)
- Overall record 5-3
Steele spent a decade as an assistant before Xavier promoted him to head coach in 2018 after Chris Mack left for Louisville. He has no previous head coaching experience, but he takes over a competitive Big East program with which he has a decade of familiarity. He should do great work, but it might be a struggle initially.
159. Bill Coen (Northeastern)
- Overall record 205-191
Coen took the Northeastern job in 2006 after 17 years as an assistant under Al Skinner at Rhode Island and Boston College. He’s had the Huskies competitive in the CAA throughout his tenure, but he boasts only a single NCAA Tournament appearance, plus two NIT’s.
158. Bob Hoffman (Mercer)
- Overall record 270-226
Hoffman was hired at Mercer in 2008 and also has collegiate head coaching experience at NAIA Oklahoma Baptist and Texas-Pan American. There was nothing outstanding about this UTPA tenure, but he did win the CIT at Mercer in 2012 and had the Bears in the NCAA Tournament two years later. Mercer’s now in the Southern Conference and has yet to win their new league, but Hoffman has them competitive year in and year out.
157. John Brannen (Northern Kentucky)
- Overall record 64-45
A longtime assistant under Anthony Grant, Brannen succeeded him as Alabama’s interim coach in 2015 before landing the Northern Kentucky job a month later. In his three seasons with the Norse he’s shown incredible growth, winning the Horizon League in 2017 before fumbling it away and settling for an NIT bid in 2018. He’s a great young coach in a winnable league and it wouldn’t surprise me to see a bigger program snatch him up before too long.
156. Rod Barnes (Cal State Bakersfield)
- Overall record 308-299
A former Ole Miss head coach (1998-2006), Barnes also had experience at Georgia State before being scooped up in 2011 by Cal State Bakersfield. He led the Roadrunners to their first NCAA Tournament back in 2016 and did have solid success (including a Sweet Sixteen) in his first few years at Ole Miss. Last year was a step back at 12-18 and we’ll have to see how he rebuilds again.
155. Ray Harper (Jacksonville State)
- Overall record 136-95
Harper was a legendary D-II head coach at his alma mater Kentucky Wesleyan, winning the D-II national titles in 1999 and 2001, while coaching his team to the title game six times in a row. He then led Oklahoma City to an NAIA title and has taken both Western Kentucky (where he coached from 2012-16) and Jacksonville State (ever since) to the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, some of this games at Kentucky Wesleyan were vacated near the end of his tenure and he didn’t do enough to build a consistent winner at WKU.
154. Eran Ganot (Hawaii)
- Overall record 66-41
Ganot spent five years under Randy Bennett at Saint Mary’s before joining Hawaii as head coach in 2015, rejoining the school that gave him his first coaching job. His first year in Hawaii was excellent, with his 13-seed Rainbow Warriors knocking out Cal by 11 points. The last two years have been rougher, but he’s through three seasons with a solid record for a Big West coach.
153. Kyle Smith (San Francisco)
- Overall record 150-113
After winning the CIT in his sixth and final year at Columbia, Smith took the San Francisco job in 2016. He’s led the Dons to a pair of 20 win season and CBI bids and finds himself in the same conference as Saint Mary’s, where he served as an assistant for nearly a decade. He’s doing great things at San Francisco, but we all know winning the WCC is likely out of the cards considering Gonzaga’s dominance.
152. Rob Senderoff (Kent State)
- Overall record 146-99
Senderoff finally got his shot a head coach in 2011, having spent 16 years as a D-I assistant, including seven years at Kent State before his promotion. He had the Golden Flashes in the NCAA Tournament in 2017 and his 139-98 mark through seven years is acceptable. He was also implicated in the Indiana recruiting controversy in 2008, though this black spot hasn’t prevented him from coaching a solid Kent State squad.
151. Steve Pikiell (Rutgers)
- Overall record 227-196
Eleven years as head coach at Stony Brook preceded Pikiell’s 2016 hire to lead Rutgers. He built a competitive Seawolves program that finally broke through to the NCAA Tournament in his final season, his fourth America East regular season title. Rebuilding Rutgers isn’t an easy task, and Pikiell is just 6-30 in Big Ten play, but there’s still time to turn the Scarlet Knights around.