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

By Joey Loose | Jun 16, 2020

OMAHA, NE - MARCH 16: Players for the Norfolk State Spartans support their teammates from the bench against the Missouri Tigers during the second round of the 2012 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at CenturyLink Center on March 16, 2012 in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) /

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AUSTIN, TX – NOVEMBER 12: Head coach Ron “Fang” Mitchell of the Coppin State University Eagles (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images) /

10. MEAC Basketball coach rankings – Fang Mitchell (Coppin State, 2000-2014)

During his nearly three decades at Coppin State, Mitchell did quite a fair bit for this Eagles program. After his hiring in 1986, he turned Coppin State into the MEAC powerhouse of the 1990’s and still had the team in decent shape by the turn of the century. He’d have been higher up if we could include those three NCAA Tournaments from before 2000, but he’s still certainly worthy of recognition.

The Eagles were still a top MEAC team at the early part of the decade. They put together three straight top 2 finishes between 2004 and 2006 and returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2008 after a surprising run through the conference tournament. Mitchell’s teams weren’t dominating like in the early days of his tenure, but they still finished near the top of the league in most of his seasons.

He retired in 2014, with Coppin State no longer really a top-tier team in the conference. Still, Mitchell’s time in the MEAC cannot be forgotten, as he won game after game against conference foes and led Coppin State four times to the NCAA Tournament. While he’s ranked here based solely on the one postseason bid since 2000, consider that things have not exactly improved for the program since his retirement, averaging 8 wins a season since then.