NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 357 D-I head coaches for 2020-21 season

170. Rob Lanier (Georgia State) (Last year: 181)

• Overall record: 77-83

Last season, Lanier finally got his second chance as a head coach. He led Siena to the NCAA Tournament way back in 2002, but things didn’t work out with the Saints. He’s been an assistant under Rick Barnes and Billy Donovan and took over a Georgia State program that Ron Hunter left in great shape. Finishing 19-13 in his first season is a good start, though we’ll see if he can bring more Sun Belt titles to the Panthers.

169. Mark Byington (James Madison) (Last year: 176)

• Overall record: 131-97

Byington begins his first season at James Madison, having spent the last seven years leading Georgia Southern. He won 20 games four times with the Eagles, though he never won a conference title with the school. He’s looking to turn things around for the Dukes in his native Virginia, where he served briefly as an assistant for both Virginia and Virginia Tech.

168. Jim Les (UC Davis) (Last year: 157)

• Overall record: 288-293

Les has been a D1 head coach for nearly two decades, having spent nine seasons leading Bradley before the last nine with UC Davis. He’s most renowned for leading the Braves to the Sweet Sixteen as a 13-seed way back in 2006, while also leading the Aggies to the NCAA Tournament just three years ago. Aside from that, his teams have been quite up and down. Lately, UC Davis hasn’t really competed for the Big West, though he does also have a pair of NIT bids on his resume.

167. Mike Jones (Radford) (Last year: 167)

• Overall record: 159-138

After helping lead VCU to the Final Four as an assistant coach, Jones took over at Radford and the last nine years have been pretty successful. The former assistant to John Beilein has seen major growth for the Highlanders, who made the NCAA Tournament in 2018 and have won back-to-back Big South regular-season titles. He’s won at least 21 games in five of the last seven seasons and is leading Radford to new heights each year.

166. Dan Muller (Illinois State) (Last year: 138)

• Overall record: 149-117

After spending over a decade on staff at Vanderbilt, Muller returned to his alma mater as head coach in 2012. The Redbirds haven’t returned to the NCAA Tournament since Muller led them as a player in 1998, and that streak is still ongoing. He’s led Illinois State to a couple of NIT bids, but the Redbirds have really struggled lately, finishing just 10-21 last season.

165. Shantay Legans (Eastern Washington) (Last year: 182)

• Overall record: 59-41

Legans took over the Eastern Washington program in 2017 after eight years on staff and has rewarded the program greatly for their trust. His Eagles won the Big Sky regular-season title this season and are 41-17 in conference play since his promotion. He has solidified Eastern Washington as one of the conference’s best teams and it’s only a matter of time before they are back in the NCAA Tournament.

164. Billy Gillispie (Tarleton State) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 148-108

Gillispie’s return to D1 basketball was certainly unexpected. He achieved great success at UTEP and Texas A&M before failing at Kentucky. His career went down the toilet after allegations of player abuse at Texas Tech in 2012. Tarleton State begins their first season in D1 with this splash hire, but can Gillispie really make an immediate impact with these Texans?

163. Dave Leitao (DePaul) (Last year: 154)

• Overall record: 207-227

Leitao enters year six of his second stint with the Blue Demons, having previously led both DePaul and Virginia to the NCAA Tournament as head coach. DePaul has actually been in much better shape in recent years, but an uptick in recruiting still led to last season’s last-place finish in the Big East. Leitao is only 64-98 since returning to DePaul and needs a good season.

162. Johnny Jones (Texas Southern) (Last year: 147)

• Overall record: 335-264

Things didn’t work out for Jones at LSU and now he’s trying to bounce back with Texas Southern. He led North Texas to a pair of NCAA Tournaments, but couldn’t win at LSU, even with Ben Simmons briefly on the roster. His first two seasons with Texas Southern have been a struggle compared to what he inherited, but a 40-30 start isn’t the end of the world.

161. Andrew Toole (Robert Morris) (Last year: 170)

• Overall record: 188-154

Morris has spent the last decade as Robert Morris’s head coach and has done a fantastic job building this program up. This past season, he led the Colonials to the NEC Tournament title, which would’ve been their second NCAA Tournament bid. Robert Morris shifts to the Horizon League, a tougher challenge, but Toole has shown that these Colonials are more than capable.

160. Grant McCasland (North Texas) (Last year: 180)

• Overall record: 81-53

McCasland is quickly rising up the coaching ranks, and his recent work at North Texas is the latest example. A former junior college coach and Baylor assistant, he led Arkansas State to 20 wins in his lone season as head coach before taking over the Mean Green three seasons ago. At North Texas, McCasland already has a CBI title and a regular-season title in Conference USA, setting this program up well for the future.

159. Brett Reed (Lehigh) (Last year: 132)

• Overall record: 229-178

While last year was a struggle, Reed remains a solid coach for his longtime work with Lehigh. In his thirteen years leading the program, he’s responsible for a pair of NCAA Tournament bids, highlighted by the shocking upset of 2-seed Duke back in 2012. After five straight top 3 finishes in the Patriot League, last year’s squad was just 11-21 and really scuffled, though things could easily turn around quickly.

158. Darian DeVries (Drake) (Last year: 165)

• Overall record: 44-24

After nearly two decades on staff at Creighton, DeVries got his head coach started two seasons ago with the Bulldogs. He’s won at least 20 games in both seasons, including a surprising regular-season title in his debut in 2019. His Bulldogs upset conference favorite Northern Iowa in the MVC Tournament last season, even while slipping to an 8th place finish. DeVries is bringing talent to Drake and should have a consistent, solid program on his hands in the immediate future.

157. Brian Wardle (Bradley) (Last year: 166)

• Overall record: 176-151

Wardle arrived at Bradley in 2015, having spent the previous five seasons as head coach at Bradley. He amassed a pair of NIT’s with the Phoenix but has greatly surpassed that with the Braves. He has won the last two MVC Tournaments, though the pandemic cancelled the NCAA Tournament before Wardle could return once more. Bradley has never finished higher than 3rd in the MVC under Wardle, though their tournament performance is clearly up to snuff.

156. Jason Hooten (Sam Houston State) (Last year: 160)

• Overall record: 197-138

Sam Houston State isn’t a household name, but in his decade as head coach we’ve seen Hooten make them one of the Southland’s best programs. While Hooten doesn’t yet have an NCAA Tournament on his resume, the Bearkats have finished in the top 5 in all but one of his seasons. He does have five postseason bids on his resume and has built consistency for the program.

155. Steve Donahue (Penn) (Last year: 150)

• Overall record: 283-278

It certainly appears that Donahue does his best work in the Ivy League. A former assistant at Penn under Fran Dunphy, he led Cornell to the Sweet Sixteen in 2010 before flaming out at Boston College. He returned to Penn as head coach in 2015, leading the Quakers back to the NCAA Tournament in 2018. The last two years haven’t been bad, but perhaps slightly below expectations with talent on the roster.

154. Ray Harper (Jacksonville State) (Last year: 148)

• Overall record: 169-120

While last season was a step back, Harper’s entire career has been quite impressive. He won national titles in the NAIA with Oklahoma City and D2 with Kentucky Wesleyan before leading Western Kentucky to a pair of surprise NCAA Tournament appearances. He’s been in Jacksonville since 2016 and led them to their own shocking bid in 2017. A 7th place finish last season is disappointing, but Harper still has time to keep making his mark on the game.

153. Joe Gallo (Merrimack) (Last year: 329)

• Overall record: 20-11

Gallo’s work with the Warriors has been among the best stories this past season. Merrimack entered their first season in D1 athletics and won the NEC regular-season title. He took over the program four seasons ago and already has them trending in a great direction, with things looking up for the future as well. Don’t be shocked to see him lead his alma mater to the NCAA Tournament as soon as they’re eligible.

152. Rod Barnes (Cal State Bakersfield) (Last year: 149)

• Overall record: 334-330

Barnes begins his tenth season at Cal State Bakersfield, looking to get the Roadrunners back on track. Long ago, he led Ole Miss to the Sweet Sixteen back in 2001 and also spent time as head coach at Georgia State. He led the Roadrunners to their first NCAA Tournament back in 2016, but the last few seasons have been disappointing.

151. Bill Coen (Northeastern) (Last year: 142)

• Overall record: 241-213

After a long stint assisting Al Skinner at Rhode Island and Boston College, Coen got to lead his own program when he took over the Huskies in 2006. He’s led Northeastern to a pair of NCAA Tournaments, with the most recent coming in 2019. He’s built a long-term contender in the CAA, a conference that hasn’t regularly been dominated by any one or two teams.