NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 353 D-I head coaches for 2019-20 season
By Joey Loose
120. Danny Manning (Wake Forest) (Last year: 94)
- Overall record: 103-122
One of the best college basketball players of the 1980’s, Manning began his coaching career after a long NBA career, first spending two years as Tulsa’s head coach before Wake Forest brought him aboard. In his five seasons, he has led the Demon Deacons to the NCAA Tournament, but things have not been going well recently. He won just 11 games in each of the last two seasons and his time in the ACC may be quickly running out.
119. Jim Christian (Boston College) (Last year: 114)
- Overall record: 304-254
Christian enters his sixth season at Boston College, though things have not been looking up for him. He found success as head coach at Kent State, making two NCAA Tournaments, but that was over a decade ago. He spent time heading up TCU and Ohio and has yet to return to the Tournament. His Eagles have never finished higher than 11th in the ACC and you have to wonder if his time with this team is running out just as quickly.
118. Brian Gregory (South Florida) (Last year: 134)
- Overall record: 282-216
Gregory will soon begin his third season at South Florida looking to build on a CBI title last season. He did good things as Dayton’s head coach before faltering at Georgia Tech, though South Florida offers him a great chance to bounce back. The AAC is certainly an easier league than the ACC, but he still has work to do with this Bulls program.
117. Nathan Davis (Bucknell) (Last year: 120)
- Overall record: 89-45
Davis has spent ten years as a college head coach and has already had pretty impressive success. In six years at Randolph-Macon, he made the D3 Tournament every season before moving on to Bucknell in 2015. He’s already led the Bison to a pair of NCAA Tournaments and is an astounding 58-14 in Patriot League play. Davis is leading the conference’s best program and could very easily have this team in the Tournament again very soon.
116. Leon Rice (Boise State) (Last year: 109)
- Overall record: 178-116
A former longtime assistant at Gonzaga, Rice got his shot as head coach at Boise State in 2010 and has never looked back. He has led the Bulldogs to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances, though last season was certainly a struggle. Things are looking up for Boise State as they reload the roster, though clearly getting this team competitive by the MWC Tournament is the goal for Rice.
115. Mark Schmidt (St. Bonaventure) (Last year: 117)
- Overall record: 292-258
Schmidt has done some solid work in his 12 years at St. Bonaventure, following up a nice six year run at Robert Morris. Though just two NCAA Tournaments make up his resume, he did win a First Four game over UCLA in 2018. Despite this, St. Bonaventure is one of the A-10’s most consistent programs and clearly Schmidt is the biggest reason for this. Whether he can build another A-10 championship team remains to be seen.
114. Joe Dooley (East Carolina) (Last year: 99)
- Overall record: 181-131
Dooley returned to East Carolina in 2018 for his second stint as the Pirates’ head coach. Between the stints he spent a decade on Bill Self’s staff at Kansas and made a pair of NCAA Tournaments with Florida Gulf Coast. His Pirates were near the bottom of the AAC last season, but we’ll have to see if Dooley can turn things around this time at East Carolina. This time will be much trickier, as this was just a CAA program back in the 90’s.
113. Dan Monson (Long Beach State) (Last year: 102)
- Overall record: 370-319
Monson rose to fame back in 1999, leading Gonzaga to the Elite Eight before departing for Minnesota. He’s been at Long Beach State for the last twelve years, having led all three programs to the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been as much success in Long Beach as Monson has wished. His team has a trio of Big West regular season titles, but just a single NCAA Tournament trip. Can he still turn things around as time begins to run out on his coaching career?
112. Brian Dutcher (San Diego State) (Last year: 119)
- Overall record: 43-24
After nearly thirty years assistant Steve Fisher both at Michigan and San Diego State, Dutcher took over as head coach in 2017. After impressive recruiting and coaching at Fisher’s right hand, he’s done a solid job leading this team, making the NCAA Tournament in 2018 and winning at least 21 games in both seasons. Dutcher has been waiting a long time for this opportunity and it’s no surprise to see him leading the Aztecs back towards the top of the MWC again.
111. Ryan Odom (UMBC) (Last year: 111)
- Overall record: 75-48
Odom rose to national fame in 2018 when his Retrievers upset 1-seed Virginia in the NCAA Tournament. If you include his one year as head coach at D2 Leonir-Rhyne, his coaching career is off to a great start. He’s won at least 21 games in each season and will be on wish lists for better coaching jobs for years to come after what his team did two seasons ago. The former longtime Virginia Tech and Charlotte assistant can raise that stock even further if he gets UMBC back in the NCAA Tournament again.