NCAA Basketball: Ranking 2019-20 Naismith Coach of the Year finalists

1. Anthony Grant

Five years ago, Grant was fired by Alabama and found himself retreating to the NBA to assist old mentor Billy Donovan. He waited his chance to be a head coach again and he’s certainly taken advantage of the perfect job for him. With Archie Miller’s departure for Indiana in 2017, Grant returned to Dayton to lead one of the A-10’s most talented programs. Regardless of their recent success, the A-10 has some talented teams in VCU, URI, and Saint Louis among others. Despite this, Grant not only met but greatly exceeded expectations in his third year with the Flyers.

Had the NCAA Tournament continued, Dayton was likely looking at a 1 seed, a remarkable accomplishment for any mid-major team. The offense was electric all season long and Obi Toppin played like an All-American from beginning to end. Their only two losses were neutral site overtime games to Kansas and Colorado, two games that could have gone the other way. The Flyers conducted a clean sweep through conference play and were heavy favorites to take home the A-10 Tournament crown.

The expectations for Dayton were certainly not this high, but Grant’s team really developed into a national title contender. While things didn’t go well for Grant at Alabama (nor have they been great for his successors), the man did build a pretty nice thing at VCU over a decade ago, just before Shaka Smart took over. Grant may get a chance at a bigger job in the coming years, but it’ll be hard to top the experience and championship-caliber play that his Flyers have exhibited this year.

Any of these four men would be a fantastic choice for coach of the year; there really isn’t a wrong choice this season. Who do you think will take home the award?