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

1. Missouri Valley Basketball coach – Gregg Marshall (Wichita State, 2007-2017)

As was previously mentioned, Mark Turgeon left Wichita State in a good shape when he departed the program in 2007, but Marshall has done just a fare bit better with the Shockers. Prior to this point, Marshall had built a dominant program in the Big South with Winthrop and he was certainly no stranger to the NCAA Tournament or postseason success. He would translate this success in a big way with the Shockers.

The first two years were slow, but by year three, Marshall had a bigtime contender on his hands. Each of his final eight years in the MVC his Shockers won at least 25 games and were a top 2 team in the MVC. The 2013 team took a 9-seed all the way to the Final Four while next year’s club marched into the Tournament undefeated before falling at 35-1. Prior to their departure for the AAC in 2017, Wichita State was 68-4 in conference play the last four seasons and had become a dominant force the MVC had not seen for a long time.

New conferences mean new challenges as Wichita State adjusts to the AAC, but Marshall clearly dominated in the ten years he led a Valley program. Marshall’s presence ignited this Shockers program, taking them to the highest level and establishing complete domination in a great mid-major league. There is no MVC coach who has done more since 2000 and there are very few programs in the entire country that wouldn’t want someone like Marshall coaching their players.

We’ve spent some time looking closely at the ten greatest MVC head coaches since the century began. Even while the landscape changes in college basketball, the MVC remains an exciting mid-major conference that should continue to produce impressive coaches and teams for years to come.