NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 358 D-I head coaches for 2021-22 season

260. Ryan Ridder (Tennessee-Martin) (Last year: 260)

• Overall record: 48-45

Successful in his previous coaching stints, Ridder is on to the next one, starting this season at Tennessee-Martin. He built a successful program at Daytona State and spent the last four years doing good things with Bethune-Cookman in the MEAC. It’ll be interesting to see how UT Martin fares long-term under Ridder, especially as the OVC goes through several changes in realignment.

259. Mark Madsen (Utah Valley) (Last year: 324)

• Overall record: 22-30

After a nine-year NBA career, which involved a pair of rings with the Los Angeles Lakers, Madsen’s now making moves in his coaching career. A former assistant with the Lakers, he got his first collegiate head coaching job with Utah Valley in 2019. After a transition in year one, Madsen led the Wolverines to tie for the WAC regular-season title last season, setting them up to be one of the top programs for a conference in transition.

258. Mark Slessinger (New Orleans) (Last year: 257)

• Overall record: 114-150

Much of Slessinger’s early coaching career came under Mike McConathy as an assistant at Northwestern State, though he was briefly a junior college head coach. Since 2011, he’s been head coach at New Orleans, leading the program into the Southland Conference and making an NCAA Tournament along the way. The Privateers had a string of postseason appearances, but the last two seasons have been subpar.

257. Keith Richard (Louisiana-Monroe) (Last year: 252)

• Overall record: 278-330

Richard has built a career out of coaching college basketball in the state of Louisiana. A former assistant at LSU, Louisiana Tech, and Louisiana-Monroe, he spent nine years as head coach at Louisiana Tech, taking the Bulldogs to a couple of NIT bids. He’s been head man at Louisiana-Monroe since 2010, recently leading the Warhawks to a slew of postseason bids, though the last few seasons have been more of a struggle in the Sun Belt.

256. Glenn Braica (St. Francis Brooklyn) (Last year: 259)

• Overall record: 154-180

Braica was born and raised in New York and has spent his entire career coaching basketball in the state. A former assistant at St. John’s under Norm Roberts, he also spent fifteen years as an assistant at St. Francis Brooklyn. He became head coach of the Terriers back in 2010, his first head coaching stint. He’s gotten the Terriers to an NIT and a CIT and had an okay season this year.

255. Jerrod Calhoun (Youngstown State) (Last year: 267)

• Overall record: 53-71

A former aide to Bob Huggins at both Cincinnati and West Virginia, Calhoun has done some pretty solid work in the early stages of his head coaching career. He took Fairmont State to the D2 title game in 2017, before heading to Youngstown State a few weeks later. His first four years with the Penguins have been solid, finishing middle of the pack in the Horizon League recently, which is a definite improvement for the program.

254. Griff Aldrich (Longwood) (Last year: 256)

• Overall record: 42-53

Aldrich’s foray into head coaching has been good since Longwood hired him back in 2018. A former player and assistant at Hampden-Sydney, he was an AAU coach for nearly two decades before becoming UMBC’s director of recruiting, helping lead those Retrievers to their historic upset. He’s hard at work making the Lancers a Big South contender, leading them to a pair of CBI quarterfinals appearances.

253. Jack Owens (Miami OH) (Last year: 269)

• Overall record: 56-65

The RedHawks have struggled in recent years to maintain relevance, though Owens enters his fifth season trying to turn the tides. He picked up valuable coaching experience as an assistant at several schools, highlighted by a 9-year span under Matt Painter at Purdue. Owens led Miami to a CBI bid in his first season, though 2021 was the first time the RedHawks finished above .500, perhaps a sign for the future.

252. Greg Herenda (Fairleigh Dickinson) (Last year: 245)

• Overall record: 101-142

Herenda’s fourth head coaching job is perhaps his best work, arriving at Fairleigh Dickinson at 2013. A former D1 assistant coach, he led a few junior college programs and also took UMass Lowell to several D2 NCAA Tournaments before their transition. He’d led Fairleigh Dickinson to a pair of NCAA Tournaments, though the last two seasons have been less than stellar since the Knights’ last bid in 2019.

251. Rob Krimmel (Saint Francis) (Last year: 235)

• Overall record: 125-148

Many of these coaches are familiar with their programs, some having been there for many years, but Saint Francis is everything to Krimmel. He played point guard for the Red Flash, immediately joined the coaching staff, and was promoted to head coach in 2012. He hasn’t led the program to an NCAA Tournament yet, but three straight top 3 finished between 2017 and 2020 was a certain highlight.

250. Dedrique Taylor (Cal State Fullerton) (Last year: 247)

• Overall record: 100-137

Overall, Taylor has a positive impact since arriving in Fullerton for his first head coaching job in 2013. He’s been an assistant at several West Coast schools, highlighted by successful stints at Nevada and Arizona State. He took Cal State Fullerton to the NCAA Tournament in 2018, one of three postseason appearances with the Titans. The last few seasons have been a step backward, including a 6-10 mark last year.

249. Jared Grasso (Bryant) (Last year: 295)

• Overall record: 41-66

Grasso’s first full-time head coaching stint is going pretty well. He formerly served a rough stint as interim head coach at Fordham and has assisted at several programs, including eight great years at Iona. His first two seasons at Bryant were small growth compared to last season, leading the Bulldogs to a 2nd place finish in the NEC and a CBI appearance, perhaps the start of bigger things.

248. Donte Jackson (Grambling State) (Last year: 251)

• Overall record: 63-58

Jackson has had an intriguing coaching journey, beginning his career as a player, assistant, and head coach at Central State, a D2 school. He then had great success as head coach at Stillman, another D2 program, before Grambling brought him aboard in 2017. Jackson has maintained Grambling State as one of the SWAC’s best programs, though he’s still hunting for his first trip to the NCAA Tournament.

247. Marty Simmons (Eastern Illinois) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 184-175

After a three-year stint as a staff member at Clemson, Simmons is a head coach again, taking over this year at Eastern Illinois. He previously led SIU Edwardsville to D2 success and took his alma mater Evansville to a number of postseason bids in eleven seasons as head coach. Simmons takes over an Eastern Illinois program that’s struggled for consistency in recent years, but has plenty of experience, especially in the Midwest.

246. Sean Woods (Southern) (Last year: 246)

• Overall record: 159-201

Woods has been going for a revival since taking the Southern job in 2018. A former Kentucky player and collegiate assistant, he led Mississippi Valley State to the NCAA Tournament before being fired at Morehead State for allegations of player mistreatment. His third D1 head coaching job has brought him to Southern, where the Jaguars have been decent the last few seasons but still have work ahead to compete for SWAC titles.

245. Ron Sanchez (Charlotte) (Last year: 241)

• Overall record: 33-50

Now entering year four of his first head coaching job, Sanchez learned from some of the best in his coaching career. He previously spent nearly two decades as an assistant under Dick and then Tony Bennett, including a long stint building Virginia into an ACC title winner. Charlotte has been up and down in his first three years, with a 4th place finish in the C-USA in 2020 the lone highlight to this point.

244. Bryan Mullins (Southern Illinois) (Last year: 280)

• Overall record: 28-30

Mullins starred at Southern Illinois back in the mid-2000s and now enters three as head coach back at his alma mater. After a brief international playing career, he spent six seasons on Porter Moser’s staff at Loyola-Chicago, part of the team that made the Final Four in 2018. His first season saw the Salukis surprise with a 5th place finish in the MVC, while the uptick in recruiting could lead to more of the same success going forward.

243. Lennie Acuff (Lipscomb) (Last year: 275)

• Overall record: 31-28

Throughout his career, Acuff has been a successful head coach everywhere he’s gone, starting with Belhaven and Berry, two NAIA programs. He led D2 Alabama-Huntsville to a whole host of success over two decades before landing at Lipscomb in 2019. His first two seasons with the Bisons have been solid 3rd place finishes in the A-Sun, with this program looking to do big things in the near future.

242. John Dunne (Marist) (Last year: 277)

• Overall record: 184-276

Dunne is very familiar with the MAAC, serving as an assistant at two MAAC schools and now a head coach at two more. He was head coach at Saint Peter’s for twelve seasons, leading the Peacocks to the NCAA Tournament back in 2011. Dunne transitioned to Marist in 2018 and just had his best season with the Red Foxes, finishing 5th in the conference and orchestrating their first season over .500 since 2008.

241. Aaron McKie (Temple) (Last year: 224)

• Overall record: 19-28

Life has been rough for Temple since Fran Dunphy retired, with McKie really struggled in his first two seasons as head coach. A longtime former NBA player and assistant, McKie spent five years on Dunphy’s staff before being tabbed as his successor. His Owls have won just 31% of their AAC games and are really struggling to compete to this point, though perhaps two years is too soon to call this a disaster.