NCAA Basketball: Top 10 head coaches from past decade (2010-19)

10. Brad Stevens

While it may a controversial inclusion, seeing as how Stevens has been in the NBA since 2013, taking a deep dive on those few seasons shows why the former Butler coach belongs. Obviously, we’re completely ignoring his six-plus years with the Celtics, focusing solely on how he changed Butler basketball.

Stevens took over as head coach in 2007 after three straight predecessors wound up with Big Ten jobs. However, it was Stevens who took Butler to the national level. There was certainly success before his ascension to the top job, but making the national title game in both 2010 and 2011 is beyond anything imaginable at that point.

Led by stars Gordon Hayward, Shelvin Mack, and Matt Howard among others, Stevens sprinted through the Horizon League in 2010, earned the 5-seed and ran to the finals, losing by mere inches to Duke in the end. A fantastic run that saw Hayward’s NBA stock rise was not expected to happen again, and yet that is exactly what happened. A team that lost 5 games in the Horizon League won when it mattered most, earned an 8-seed, and marched their way into the history books again, this time coming up just short to the UConn Huskies.

Stevens left for Boston in 2013, but not before helping lead Butler to the A-10 and eventually the Big East following his departure. When it mattered most, his teams came to play and put on some legendary performances on the biggest stage. They were no ordinary mid-major, but Steven’s Butler teams still did what so many couldn’t accomplish this decade, thus giving plenty of reason to revere him among this decade’s best coaches. Imagine what might have happened had Stevens stayed these last seven years.