NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 358 D-I head coaches for 2021-22 season
By Joey Loose
160. Niko Medved (Colorado State) (Last year: 211)
- Overall record: 131-128
Medved has bounced around a bit in his coaching career but seems to have found a home with Colorado State. The Minnesota native was previously on staff with the Rams and is now in his third head coaching stint. He spent four years rebuilding Furman before a decent year at Drake, departing in 2018 when Colorado State called him back. The Rams have steadily improved since his hiring, winning 20 games in each of the last two seasons, and are set up to be Mountain West contenders going forward.
159. Todd Golden (San Francisco) (Last year: 145)
- Overall record: 33-26
Following success playing at Saint Mary’s, Golden is doing pretty good work as a head coach in the WCC. He gained much of his experience on the staff of Kyle Smith, at both Columbia and San Francisco, while also spending time on Bruce Pearl’s staff at Auburn. Golden enters year three with the Dons, leading them to 22 wins in year one before a less successful campaign last year.
158. Ben Johnson (Minnesota) (Last year: N/A)
- Overall record: 0-0
It’s hard to know what to expect from Johnson, beginning his head coaching career by taking over his alma mater. He’s spent time as an assistant for Northern Iowa, Nebraska, and Xavier, in addition to a five-year stint on staff of his predecessor Richard Pitino. The Golden Gophers could be in store for a bit of a struggle moving forward, but we’ll have to see how much of a turnaround Johnson can maneuver in the coming years.
157. Steve Donahue (Penn) (Last year: 155)
- Overall record: 283-278
Donahue has made a career out of successful coaching in the Ivy League. It started with a successful ten-year stint on Fran Dunphy’s staff at Penn before taking the Cornell job in 2010. He led the Big Red to three straight NCAA Tournaments and a Sweet Sixteen run. After four less than stellar years leading Boston College, he’s been back at Penn as head coach since 2015, leading the Quakers to a solid 83-64 mark and an NCAA Tournament bid in 2018.
156. Dan Monson (Long Beach State) (Last year: 138)
- Overall record: 387-352
Long since passed are the days when Monson was leading Gonzaga. He spent more than a decade on staff, including two seasons as head coach, leading the Bulldogs to the Elite Eight in 1999, their first taste of Cinderella glory. He led Minnesota for just under eight full seasons, with much less success, and has been at Long Beach State since 2007. He won three straight Big West titles early on but hasn’t finished above .500 since 2016.
155. Tony Stubblefield (DePaul) (Last year: N/A)
- Overall record: 2-12
Stubblefield takes over at DePaul this season, giving him his first full-time head coaching job after a long career as an assistant. Among the stops was New Mexico State under Lou Henson, Cincinnati under Mick Cronin, and the last eleven years on staff at Oregon with Dana Altman. DePaul has really struggled for quite a long time and Stubblefield has quite the task ahead of him.
154. Micah Shrewsberry (Purdue) (Last year: N/A)
- Overall record: 0-0
Formerly head coach only at IU South Bend, Shrewsberry’s career takes a big step forward as he takes over at Penn State. He’s been an assistant under Brad Stevens, with Butler and the Boston Celtics, and also spent a number of years on staff at Purdue. He’s done some incredible work on some of these coaching staffs, but it’ll be interesting to see how he fares leading a program, especially at a football school in a tough basketball league.
153. Todd Lickliter (Evansville) (Last year: 148)
- Overall record: 178-148
Lickliter continues to try to rebuild Evansville, having taken the Purple Aces job back in January 2020. As a head coach, he took Butler to two Sweet Sixteens before flaming out at Iowa in a three-year stint. He’s coached at the high school and NAIA level, though clearly Butler was his finest success. He’s only 9-29 so far with the Purple Aces, but he inherited a rough situation and still needs another year or two to build an MVC contender.
152. Eric Henderson (South Dakota State) (Last year: 189)
- Overall record: 38-17
It’s still early, but Henderson has done a fantastic job so far in his head coaching career. A former assistant at both North Dakota State and South Dakota State, he ascended to the top job for the Jackrabbits when T. J. Otzelberger departed for UNLV back in 2019. He’s led SDSU to a pair of regular-season Summit League titles, though still hunts for his first NCAA Tournament appearance.
151. Shantay Legans (Portland) (Last year: 165)
- Overall record: 75-49
Legans takes over this season as the new head coach at Portland. He spent his last twelve years at Eastern Washington, with the last four coming as head coach. The Eagles did plenty of solid things in Legans’ tenure, finishing top 3 in the Big Sky in each of his four seasons. This past year, he led them back to the NCAA Tournament and gave 3-seed Kansas quite a battle in the opening round. He’ll hope to lead a turnaround at a Portland program that has really struggled.
150. Mike Jones (UNC Greensboro) (Last year: 167)
- Overall record: 174-150
This year marks a new start for Jones, taking over at UNC Greensboro after a decade leading Radford. He’s a former assistant at schools like West Virginia and Georgia and was on staff when VCU made that shocking run to the Final Four. He led the Highlanders to top 2 finishes in the Big South in each of his last four seasons, including an NCAA Tourney bid in 2018. Jones looks to maintain the momentum at UNC Greensboro and is a fantastic hire for the job.
149. Mark Byington (James Madison) (Last year: 169)
- Overall record: 144-104
Byington’s first year at James Madison went pretty well all things considered. He arrived after a solid coaching career that included seven solid years as head coach at Georgia Southern, finishing in the top 5 in the Sun Belt in those last six seasons. His Dukes went 13-7 last year, tying for the CAA regular-season crown, and certainly making a solid first impression for Byington with the school.
148. Eran Ganot (Hawaii) (Last year: 149)
- Overall record: 100-68
Ganot’s coaching career has seen him bounce between Saint Mary’s and Hawaii, doing solid work as a member of both staffs. While a full-time assistant, and briefly interim head coach, Saint Mary’s had some great work playing second fiddle to Gonzaga in the WCC. In becoming Hawaii’s head coach in 2015, he’s had a number of decent seasons, while also pulling off an NCAA Tournament upset win way back in 2016 over California, the first in program history.
147. Johnny Jones (Texas Southern) (Last year: 162)
- Overall record: 352-273
Already having a storied coaching career, Jones begins his fourth season at Texas Southern, the fourth different program he’s led as head coach. He was a longtime assistant at LSU and Memphis, an interim coach at Memphis, and spent more than a decade at North Texas. When you include LSU and his current run at Texas Southern, he’s led four teams to the NCAA Tournament, including the Tigers last season.
146. Nathan Davis (Bucknell) (Last year: 126)
- Overall record: 108-72
After a solid playing career at Randolph-Macon, Davis started his head coaching career there, leading the Yellow Jackets to six D3 NCAA Tournaments in six years. Himself a former Bucknell assistant, he took over as Bison head coach in 2015, immediately leading the program to four straight Patriot League regular-season titles and a pair of NCAA Tournaments. The last two years have been less successful, including a stagnant 5-7 mark last season.
145. Rod Barnes (Cal State Bakersfield) (Last year: 152)
- Overall record: 349-341
Barnes played at Ole Miss and was later an assistant and head coach for the Rebels, leading them to a Sweet Sixteen way back in 2001. Barnes also spent time as head coach at Georgia State before being hired by Cal State Bakersfield in 2011. His ten years with the Roadrunners have been up and down, leading the program to their first NCAA Tournament and a few other postseason appearances. Last year, a 15-11 mark was a solid first season for the program in the Big West.
144. Chris Collins (Northwestern) (Last year: 119)
- Overall record: 118-134
The task is difficult, but Northwestern hasn’t exactly been piling up the wins the last few seasons for Collins. The former Duke guard and longtime assistant did lead Northwestern to their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance and win in 2017, but the Wildcats haven’t had a season above .500 since then. Collins enters his ninth season, with that one good year the only time Northwestern finished above 9th in a deep Big Ten.
143. Jason Hooten (Sam Houston State) (Last year: 156)
- Overall record: 216-147
Hooten played his last two years of college ball at Tarleton State and then joined the coaching staff a few years after graduation. He then spent six years on staff at Sam Houston State before becoming head coach in 2010. His last eleven years with the Bearkats have been solid, even if he’s still hunting for an NCAA Tournament appearance. Each of the last nine seasons, the Bearkats have finished top 5 in the Southland, with a slew of postseason bids along the way.
142. Bill Coen (Northeastern) (Last year: 151)
- Overall record: 251-222
Coen has made quite a career for himself at Northeastern, landing with the Huskies way back in 2006. He formerly spent nearly two decades on Al Skinner’s staffs at Rhode Island and Boston College. He’s won four CAA regular-season titles as head coach and has taken Northeastern twice to the NCAA Tournament. Last season was another one that finished atop the CAA standings, and Northeastern remains one of the conference’s more consistent programs.
141. Greg Kampe (Oakland) (Last year: 140)
- Overall record: 380-330
After playing at Bowling Green and then coaching at Toledo, Kampe has been entrenched as the head coach at Oakland since 1984. He’s led the Golden Grizzlies from D2 to D1, and they’ve now spent eight years in the Horizon League. Kampe led Oakland to their first two NCAA Tournaments and a host of postseason bids, but recently has more of a middle-of-the-pack team in the conference.