Pac-12 Basketball: Top 10 head coaches of the century (2000-20)

10. Ernie Kent – Oregon (2000-2010), Washington State (2014-2019)

While it’s certainly rare to serve as head coach at multiple schools in the same conference, it’s especially rare in a league like the Pac-12. Kent built success at Saint Mary’s before getting the Oregon job in 1997. When things fizzled out with the Ducks, he eventually bounced back with Washington State, though those years were far less successful, and understandably so, considering the state of that program.

There were certainly ups and downs in his time with Oregon, though the highlights were their Elite Eight runs in 2002 and 2007. The 2002 team won Kent his only Pac-10 regular-season crown while the 2007 team accumulated 29 wins. He won 235 games overall in his thirteen years with Oregon, though his time at Washington State was not successful, never winning more than 13 games in a season.

Kent racked up a lot of wins in his time in the Pac-12, and those two Elite Eight runs are absolutely something to be proud about. Unfortunately, his success was dulled by those five abysmal years with the Cougars, who never finished higher than 8th in the program. This doesn’t entirely fall on Kent, but seeing how the Oregon program has progressed in recent years doesn’t help his cause either. Regardless, he brought success to the Ducks and will be remembered for it.