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

By Joey Loose | Jul 15, 2020

DAYTON, OH - MARCH 20: The Siena Saints celebrate a double overtime win over the Ohio State Buckeyes in the first round of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament at University of Dayton Arena on March 20, 2009 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

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DAYTON, OH – MARCH 17: Head coach Steve Masiello of the Manhattan Jaspers (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

4. Steve Masiello – Manhattan (2011-2020)

By the time Masiello became Manhattan’s head coach, he had already had quite the basketball experience, despite being only 33 when he was hired. He played and won the 1998 national title while at Kentucky. He served as an assistant under Bobby Gonzalez at Manhattan before serving under former college coach Rick Pitino with Louisville for six years.

Manhattan came calling in 2011 and the results were there. Masiello led the Jaspers to the CIT and a third-place finish in his debut before the real success came a few years later. He led Manhattan to the NCAA Tournament in both 2014 and 2015. Despite not winning a MAAC regular-season title, and struggling in recent years, Masiello still broke through in the conference tournament and has delivered success.

Unfortunately, Manhattan has been under .500 each of the last five seasons and the magic seems to be running out for Masiello and his Jaspers. He also nearly landed the South Florida job in 2014 but wasn’t after his resume was deemed inaccurate. Still, the initial success with Manhattan was great and plenty enough to land him high on this list, especially as there’s still time to turn this program around.