2019 NCAA Tournament: Ranking the Final Four head coaches
By Joey Loose
After an incredible weekend of games, we’re down to the NCAA Tournament Final Four in Minneapolis. Let’s take a closer look at the head coaches of the Final Four teams and rank them from top to bottom.
With two full weekends of games in the rearview mirror, the NCAA Tournament has reached the Final Four. There isn’t a true Cinderella team like last year’s Loyola Ramblers, but we still have a Final Four that very few people expected and three more exciting games coming up.
Top-seeded Virginia redeemed themselves after last year’s debacle against UMBC. Michigan State took down Duke in an exciting Elite Eight to make yet another trip to the Final Four. Texas Tech rode stiff defense to their program’s first Final Four, while Auburn did the same with some fantastic guard play and an incredible run of victories. Four very talented teams are heading to Minneapolis; four teams led by some of this country’s most talented basketball coaches.
Tom Izzo has been here before, but this is new ground for Chris Beard, Tony Bennett, and Bruce Pearl. Izzo has spent decades with the Spartans, while the other three coaches have all led multiple programs to the Tournament, finally breaking into the third weekend this season. These coaches live by their offenses, die by their defenses, and have put their programs in the perfect shape for a deep run as the calendar turns to April.
We’re going to take an even closer look at these four coaches while ranking them. These rankings end our series that looked at all 68 coaches and the Sweet Sixteen coaches, but the order of the Final Four leaders is not guaranteed in these articles. There’s no denying that all four of these coaches are among the best in today’s game and this is not an attempt to rank the programs that remain. The coaches are rated based on a combination of historical success while also focusing on this season’s progress.
As a reminder, these are not absolute rankings. There are four incredible coaches preparing for the Final Four in Minneapolis, and the worst coach on the list is definitely comparable to the best. A lot of hard work and grit has gone into these teams winning their first four NCAA Tournament games and all four of these coaches deserve to be lauded. Let’s get right into it and rank the head coaches of the Final Four teams.