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

1. Dave Calloway – Monmouth (2000-2011)

Calloway arrived as a player at Monmouth in 1987 and would stay with the school until his resignation 24 years later. He joined the Hawks soon after their ascension to D1 and has been with the school in some capacity during all of their NCAA Tournament appearances. He became head coach in 1997, and after a slow start, really got things going by the turn of the century.

The glory days for Monmouth happened between 2000 and 2006, where Calloway led the Hawks to three NCAA Tournaments and a pair of NEC regular-season titles. Calloway won 178 games at Monmouth, with 110 coming in those six years alone. During that stretch, there was no doubt that Monmouth was the premier team in the conference.

The program faltered in Calloway’s final seasons, and the Hawks are still looking for their return to the Tournament under successor King Rice, now in the MAAC. While his overall stats don’t jump off the page, Calloway created success at a relatively new D1 program, a success that has never been replicated.

We’ve finished the run-through of the ten best NEC coaches since the turn of the century. Nobody knows what the future holds for the conference, but it’ll be a wild ride seeing the new coaches and players who come to the forefront.