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

By Joey Loose | Jul 4, 2020

DETROIT - MARCH 30: Stephen Curry #30 of the Davidson Wildcats goes over the scorer's table as he was attempting to save the ball from going out of bounds against the Kansas Jayhawks during the Midwest Regional Final of the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at Ford Field on March 30, 2008 in Detroit, Michigan (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

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JACKSONVILLE, FL – MARCH 21: Head coach Mike Young of the Wofford Terriers (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images) /

2. Mike Young – Wofford (2002-2019)

Nearly all of the success that Wofford has experienced is thanks in part to Young, who spent three decades with the program. He was hired as a young assistant in 1989 and became head coach in 2002. The success was not immediate, but what he did with this Terriers program has been nothing short of brilliant.

By 2009, Wofford hadn’t won more than 16 games in a season, but it was Young’s final decade with the school that was impressive. He led the Terriers to five NCAA Tournaments, including a first-round win over Seton Hall in 2019. Young won nearly 300 games as head coach and was 125-53 in league play in his final decade, including a clean sweep during that historic final season.

Young accepted a new challenge, taking over at Virginia Tech in 2019. While the Southern grew in prestige, his 2019 Wofford team sprinted through the rest of the conference and was just the latest example of his impressive work. He has led Wofford to all five of their NCAA Tournament appearances and has set the program up well for the future. Who knows what success could be headed towards Virginia Tech on the horizon?