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

1. Will Wade – LSU

It’s hard to accomplish as much as Wade has done so early in his career. He assisted Tommy Amaker at Harvard and helped Shaka Smart lead VCU to the Final Four on his bench in 2011. He then spent a pair of successful two-year stints leading Chattanooga and VCU before landing in the SEC with the Tigers. Despite FBI allegations that briefly had him suspended from coaching, his career has been pretty successful in its early stages.

Wade was just 30 when Chattanooga hired him, and he led them to a 40-25 mark before returning to VCU. He led the Rams to a pair of NCAA Tournaments and an impressive 51-20 mark. There had been very little success for LSU since their Final Four run in 2006, but Wade has this team back among the top in the conference, including a Sweet Sixteen run in 2019. His recruiting with the school has been fantastic and they’ve finished top two in the conference each of the last two seasons.

There’s no telling where Wade’s coaching career will take him, but he’s certainly set up LSU for continued success. The Tigers have had some successful runs in their past, but Wade is breaking through at a time when the SEC might be at its most potent as a league. If he keeps bringing high-level recruits to Baton Rouge, perhaps the basketball team can contribute to LSU’s trophy case.

We’ve considered some of the young coaching talent in college basketball and evaluated the ten best head coaches under 40 years old. It’ll be interesting to see how these coaches’ careers develop in the seasons to come and which ones live to that potential.