NCAA Basketball: Ranking the 20 best head coaches from past 5 seasons

Coach Accomplishments the past 5 seasons
ACC Tournament Champion: (2017 and 2019)
NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen: 3 (2016, 2018, 2019)
NCAA Tournament Appearances: 4 (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)

Coaching Points Breakdown
0 points for National Championships
0 points for Final Four Appearances
0 points for Regular Season Conference Championships (ACC)
30 points for Conference Tournament Championships (ACC)
30 points for Sweet Sixteen Appearances
5 points for every season with 30 or more wins
16 points for every season with 20 or more wins
8 points for every NCAA Tournament berth
Total Coaching Points: 89

By far the biggest surprise on the list is coach Krzyzewski not being ranked in the top 5 let alone the top ten. In my previous college basketball coaching ranking of the top eight head coaches from the past 20 years, coach Krzyzewski was ranked No. 2. Had this been a 10-year ranking instead of a five year ranking of college basketball coaches, coach K would have been ranked much higher.

For example, coach K during the 2014-2015 season won 35 games and won a national championship. However, during the past five seasons, Coach K has been unable to win an ACC regular-season conference championship and has not been able to in the NCAA tournament, reach the Final Four. However, he has had success over the past five seasons.

Coach K and his team over the past five seasons have won two ACC tournament championships, two Elite Eight appearances in the NCAA tournament, and has won 25 or more games in each of the past five seasons. Duke and Coach K have also defeated 32 top 25 ranked teams in the AP poll which is very impressive.

Coach K and his team have also won their last three Champions Classic games defeating Kansas, Kentucky, and Michigan State. He and Duke have also won in-season tournaments like winning the Empire Classic, Phil Knight Invitational Motion Bracket, Hall of Fame Tip-Off, and the 2K Sports Classic. Finally, Duke is 5-0 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge over the past five seasons.

What is not measured in these ranking are the coaches ability to get highly talented and sought out recruits to commit to their program and to then develop their skills so that they will be prepared to enter the NBA draft and get chosen in the lottery or the first round. Coach K according to 247sports.com team recruiting rankings Duke have had the No. 2, No. 1, No. 1, No. 1, and No. 3 top recruiting classes in the nation.

Coach K has also had seven NBA lottery picks who have come out of Duke the past five seasons in Brandon Ingram, Jayson Tatum, Marvin Bagley III, Wendell Carter, Jr., Zion Williamson, R.J. Barrett, and Cam Reddish.

It can be argued that if Duke was not in the ACC, they would have more conference championships due to the ACC being so competitive over these past five seasons. Some would argue that Coach K has nothing more to prove as he has already won five national championships since he took over the Duke program in 1980.

Regardless of his ranking in these ranking looking over the past five seasons, he is a Hall of Fame coach that will continue to have success as the head coach of the Blue devils.