CAA Basketball: Top 10 head coaches of the century (2000-20)

By Joey Loose | May 30, 2020

HOUSTON, TX - APRIL 02: Jamie Skeen #21 and Toby Veal #31 of the Virginia Commonwealth Rams react during a timeout against the Butler Bulldogs during the National Semifinal game of the 2011 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship at Reliant Stadium on April 2, 2011 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

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WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 09: Head coach Bill Coen of the Northeastern Huskies (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

8. Bill Coen – Northeastern (2006-2020)

While the CAA isn’t exactly one of college basketball’s premiere conferences, it’s still a highly competitive league that can be difficult to win. Since his arrival at Northeastern in 2006, Coen has done a great job of making this Huskies program competitive, even if he’s only won the conference a pair of times. Coen arrived after nearly two decades as an assistant under Al Skinner and has spent that time putting Northeastern in the best position possible for success.

So far, Coen is responsible for a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances and a pair of NIT bids. His Huskies have won three regular-season titles and have won 23 games in three of the last six seasons. It’s hard to build sustained success in the CAA, as we saw with UNC Wilmington, but Coen has Northeastern among the better teams in the conference on a regular basis.

It’s very easy to become impatient when you’re only making the NCAA Tournament once every seven years, but the best has clearly come in recent years for the Huskies. Northeastern is 63-37 since 2017 and should continue to be in great shape in the coming years. Anyone dissatisfied with a lack of postseason success should consider themselves lucky; at least they’ve made it this century.