NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 353 D-I head coaches for 2019-20 season

300. Ron Cottrell (Houston Baptist) (Last year: 313)

• Overall record: 99-178

Cottrell has spent nearly 30 years at Houston Baptist, with the record above reflecting only the program’s time at the D1 level. They were a dominant NAIA program in the early 2000s, though the Huskies still hunt for their first NCAA Tournament appearance. Last year’s 12-win performance actually doubled the previous year’s win total, and this team was in the CIT just a few years ago. Cottrell might be close to the promised land, but either way he’s pretty secure to stay in Houston as long as he likes.

299. Duggar Baucom (The Citadel) (Last year: 283)

• Overall record: 196-241

While he’s known for fast-paced, high-scoring offenses, Baucom’s coaching style hasn’t exactly led to success for his teams. He spent a decade as head coach at VMI before leaving for the Citadel, significantly increasing his teams’ offenses to the chagrin of their defense. Baucom has yet to make an NCAA Tournament and hasn’t finished higher than 8th in his first four years at The Citadel.

298. CB McGrath (UNC Wilmington) (Last year: 259)

• Overall record: 21-44

After a long run under Roy Williams, McGrath isn’t exactly lighting it up in his first head coaching job. He played for Williams at Kansas and assisted him both there and at North Carolina. He slid down to Wilmington when Kevin Keatts left for NC State but finished in 10th place in his second season last year. We’re way too early to call McGrath’s tenure a failure, but he’ll need to get the Seahawks competitive in the CAA pretty quickly.

297. Rick Ray (Southeast Missouri State) (Last year: 274)

• Overall record: 81-140

A once-promising coaching career has gone south for Ray, just a few years removed from an SEC head coaching job. Very little has happened in four years at Southeast Missouri State, including last year’s 11th place finish in the OVC. Ray only won 37 games in three years at Mississippi State, a job he landed after experience with Purdue and Clemson. His fifth year at SEMO might not be much better than the last.

296. Pat Duquette (UMass Lowell) (Last year: 332)

• Overall record: 71-108

Duquette was hired by UMass Lowell in 2013 to become the program’s first D1 head basketball coach. After many years at Boston College and other schools, he’s done a good but not great job with the River Hawks. They’ve finished 5th or 6th in the America East each season, topping out at 15 total wins last year. UMass Lowell isn’t about to burst onto the national stage (probably), but Duquette’s at least been consistent in leading this program into D1.

295. Austin Claunch (Nicholls State) (Last year: 344)

• Overall record: 14-17

Remarkably, Claunch is only 29 years old but will begin his second season as Nicholls State’s head coach. He followed former coach Richie Riley from the Clemson staff and succeeded him as head coach last season. The team won 14 games in his debut, a solid mark for the roster they put together. Obviously, Claunch could have a long future in coaching ahead of him and it’ll be interesting to see if he can achieve success like Riley before him.

294. Brian Earl (Cornell) (Last year: 289)

• Overall record: 35-53

Earl is three years into his young head coaching career, with all of his collegiate experience coming in the Ivy League. Sandwiching an international playing career, he played and served as an assistant at Princeton, serving under four different head coaches, including the legendary Pete Carril. He’s gotten Cornell trending in the right direction, winning 15 games and making the CIT next season.

293. Brian Katz (Sacramento State) (Last year: 308)

• Overall record: 126-206

A longtime high school and junior college head coach, Katz has been at Sacramento State for the last 11 seasons. There’s just one postseason bid and a less than stellar record to show for that decade, but he keeps humming along with the Hornets. The team did more than double his win total this past year, perhaps a sign of another revival for this program, which seems more than comfortable with Katz at the helm.

292. Robert McCullum (Florida A&M) Last year: 285)

• Overall record: 105-165

McCullum’s long coaching career has taken him literally all over the place these last forty years. He’s been the head coach of Western Michigan, South Florida and worked in both Nigeria and China. He’s spent many years as an assistant all over the place, including a long stint under Lon Kruger. His nine years as a head coach show only a single NIT bid and a Florida A&M team hoping to build off last year’s 12-win campaign.

291. Lennie Acuff (Lipscomb) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 0-0

The D1 coaching career is about to begin for Acuff, who inherits a Lipscomb program in great shape from Casey Alexander. Acuff has plenty of head coaching experience, spending time at Belhaven, Berry, and 22 years at D2 Alabama-Huntsville. Clearly, his term at Lipscomb will be far different than any of that, but there’s no reason to believe he can’t pick up where Alexander left off and make this a top team in the Atlantic Sun again very soon.