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

1. Conference USA Basketball head coach rankings – John Calipari

Memphis (2000-2009)

By the time Calipari arrived at Memphis in 2000, he was already a prominent in basketball. Just a few years earlier, he had led Massachusetts to the Final Four and had just spent three years coaching the New Jersey Nets. Upon his return to the college game, he inherited a Memphis program going through a rocky stretch, but that wouldn’t last long at all.

Calipari won no fewer than 21 games in every season with Memphis and led the Tigers back to the Final Four in 2008, narrowly losing the national championship game. They were a top team in the conference, but completely took it over following major realignment in 2005. In these final four seasons, Calipari was 61-1 against the C-USA and 137-14 overall, an insane record. Consider also that Memphis won 13 NCAA Tournament games in those four seasons.

In 2009, Calipari accepted the Kentucky job and remade the Wildcats into a national power in the coming seasons. He continues to recruit some of the best talent in the country to his schools, accomplishing this at all of his coaching stops. He single-handedly turned Memphis into a national power, something that would not continue in the years following his departure. He clearly stands alone as the greatest head coach in the conference, competing and dominating throughout his tenure.

We’ve finished our run-through of the ten best Conference USA coaches since the turn of the century. While the conference is now a shell of its former self, we can look back at these last few decades and see some amazing coaches from all around the league. Who knows what’s to come?