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

By Joey Loose | Jul 20, 2020

CHARLOTTE, NC - NOVEMBER 15: Head coach Greg Marshall of the Winthrop Eagles cheers on his team during a game against the University of North Carolina Tar Heels November 15, 2006 at the Charlotte Bobcats Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo By Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

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MILWAUKEE, WI – MARCH 16: Head coach Pat Kelsey of the Winthrop Eagles (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /

3. Pat Kelsey – Winthrop (2012-2020)

In recent years, Kelsey has certainly become one of the best coaches in the Big South. He played most of his college ball at Xavier under the great Skip Prosser and followed him eventually to Wake Forest as an assistant. Before accepting the Winthrop job in 2012, Kelsey would return to Xavier, spending over a decade between the two schools, giving him plenty of great coaches to learn under.

Kelsey returned Winthrop to their previous place among the top programs in the conference. He’s led the Eagles to a pair of NCAA Tournament bids, though this past season’s Big South Tournament title was unrewarded with the NCAA Tournament’s cancellation. Kelsey’s won three regular-season titles and won 67% of Big South games in his eight seasons at the helm. Winthrop clearly looks like a top program in the league.

Kelsey remains with the school, though he nearly left for UMass in 2017 before returning to the Eagles. The chance for a bigger job nearly came a few months back with Wake Forest, and it’s likely that Kelsey is destined for bigger things. For now, his work with Winthrop has been fantastic and he’s certainly stabilized the program among the Big South’s best.