NCAA Basketball: Top head coaches under 40 Years old entering 2020-21

3. Bob Richey – Furman

Richey’s been the head man at Furman for just three seasons but it’s fair to say that he’s made an incredible mark on this Paladins program. He was hired as an assistant six years earlier, working under a pair of head coaches until it was finally his turn to run the program. He coached Furman in the CIT in 2017 until officially taking control a few weeks later.

Under Richey, Furman was ranked in the top 25 for the first time in program history during a historic 2018-19 season. Due to the play of UNC Greensboro and Wofford, Richey doesn’t yet have an NCAA Tournament appearance on his resume, but a 73-26 record (41-13 in SoCon play) is amazing on its own.

There are some potent teams in the Southern Conference, and Furman is going to be right there for as long as Richey sticks around. The Paladins have never been in a better position than under Richey’s leadership, outclassing most of the competition in their league, and nabbing a few impressive nonconference wins (2018 over Villanova) as well. Richey will be a solid coach on a power conference program one day, especially if he can lead Furman to postseason success.