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

Who are the most accomplished head coaches in SWAC Basketball this century?

It’s no secret that the basketball product in SWAC Basketball is amongst the lowest-rated in all of college basketball. Most of these programs fund their athletics departments by filling their nonconference schedule with buy games, leading to some unappealing win-loss records, even for conference champions. Despite this, there still has been some fascinating basketball in conference play and the league has produced some potent teams in years past.

The success at these programs is owed in large part to the head coaches who man the sidelines. Though they come from different backgrounds, each coach is given the tall task of building a contender with limited resources. Even with the recent trend of prospects considered HBCU’s, it remains a struggle to coach and contend in the SWAC. Building a winning culture is no easy task when you’re beginning most seasons without any home games.

Praising what a select few have accomplished, we’ll be looking more closely at the ten greatest head coaches of the SWAC since 2000. Nobody is going to dominate nonconference play in the SWAC, so our particular focus, besides on program culture, will be how a team fares in conference play. Clearly, winning conference titles is important and it’s a major teller of success in this league.

Let’s proceed with the rankings, looking at these SWAC coaches and how they’ve fared since the turn of the century.