Busting Brackets
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Sun Belt Basketball: Top 10 head coaches of the century (2000-20)

By Joey Loose

PHOENIX - MARCH 27: Head coach Darrin Horn of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers yells at his team during the second half of the West Regional Sweet 16 game against the UCLA Bruins at the U.S. Airways Center on March 27, 2008 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
PHOENIX - MARCH 27: Head coach Darrin Horn of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers yells at his team during the second half of the West Regional Sweet 16 game against the UCLA Bruins at the U.S. Airways Center on March 27, 2008 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images) /
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JACKSONVILLE, FL – MARCH 19: Head coach Ron Hunter of the Georgia State Panthers (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
JACKSONVILLE, FL – MARCH 19: Head coach Ron Hunter of the Georgia State Panthers (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

1. Ron Hunter – Georgia State (2013-2019)

Arguments can be made for many of the top coaches on this list, but it’s fair to argue that Hunter’s impact was greater than any other Sun Belt coach this decade. After 17 years as head coach at IUPUI, he inherited a Georgia State program that wasn’t exactly highly revered. After two middle-of-the-pack seasons, he led the Panthers into the Sun Belt in 2013 and the rest is history.

The immediate highlight is Hunter falling off his chair as his son hit the game-winning shot over 3-seed Baylor in the 2015 NCAA Tournament. Hunter led the Panthers to two more NCAA Tournaments and won three Sun Belt regular-season titles. These five total postseason bids paired with a 99-49 Sun Belt record show that Hunter quickly built Georgia State into the conference’s most successful program.

After back-to-back NCAA Tournament bids, Hunter departed for Tulane, though there’s plenty of work ahead to fix the Green Wave program. His work with the Panthers was beyond phenomenal, leading this new conference entrant to become the best program in the league almost immediately. Hunter will forever be remembered falling off his chair and hugging his son, but the impact he left on this Georgia State program (and this conference as a whole) is just as great.

Next. Early mid-major power rankings for 2020-21. dark

We’ve finished our look at the ten best Sun Belt Basketball coaches since the turn of the century. While the conference continues to transform before our eyes, it’s fair to expect even more impressive young coaches and programs to sprout up from this league in the future.