140. Greg Kampe (Oakland) (Last year: 141)
- Overall record: 400-342
Kampe is a rare breed in the coaching world, having served as the head coach at Oakland since 1984. Now entering his 39th year leading the Golden Grizzlies, he’s been through a lot with the program and the school. He led the program into D1 athletics back in 1999 and won three Summit League championships, taking the program to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments back in the early 2010’s. A 20-win season this past year was Oakland’s best in half a decade, though the Grizzlies still hunt for their first Horizon League title after nearly a decade of membership.
139. Tony Stubblefield (DePaul) (Last year: 155)
- Overall record: 17-28
Last year was Stubblefield’s first chance to run his own program after nearly three decades as a collegiate assistant. Originally starting off his career at Omaha, he bounced between a normal of programs, serving as interim head coach at New Mexico State before stints at Cincinnati and Oregon. Year one with the Blue Demons produced a 15-16 record, which actually isn’t terrible considering DePaul’s recent struggles. We’ll just have to see if he can make this an actual contender in the Big East at some point.
138. Rob Lanier (SMU) (Last year: 161)
- Overall record: 111-100
With cousin Bob in the Basketball Hall of Fame, basketball has come easy to Lanier, who’s spent the last three decades as a collegiate coach. He took Siena to the NCAA Tournament two decades ago and has also had successful stints on staff at Texas, Florida, and most recently Tennessee. This will be his first season leading SMU after a solid three years leading Georgia State, taking the Panthers to the NCAA Tournament this past season. We’ll have to wait and see how Lanier fares as a head coach on a bigger stage in the AAC.
137. Rob Senderoff (Kent State) (Last year: 136)
- Overall record: 219-140
Senderoff has spent most of the last two decades coaching at Kent State, becoming head coach way back in 2011. He did work a few other places, including a controversial run on Kelvin Sampson’s staff at Indiana. Senderoff has taken the Golden Flashes to a number of postseason bids, including an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2017. Kent State has been consistently successful in the MAC over the last decade, with last season’s 23-win campaign and 2nd place finish another solid campaign for Senderoff.
136. Earl Grant (Boston College) (Last year: 129)
- Overall record: 140-109
Grant enters his second season on the sidelines at Boston College, coming off a successful 7-year stint as head coach at the College of Charleston. He had previously been an assistant at a number of schools, including six years under Gregg Marshall and a run in the ACC on the Clemson staff. Grant led the Cougars to the NCAA Tournament in 2018 while leading the program to five straight Top 3 finishes in the CAA. Boston College finished just 13-20 in his first season at the helm, but it was a certain improvement over the season before his hiring.
135. Dennis Gates (Missouri) (Last year: 188)
- Overall record: 50-40
It’s been a quick rise in recent years for Gates, who begins his first season in the SEC leading Missouri. He was a longtime former assistant, including a near-decade at Florida State, before beginning his head coaching career at Cleveland State. Across the last three seasons, he did outstanding work, resurrecting a dreadful Vikings program and winning a pair of Horizon League regular season crowns. Gates has shifted to a harder challenge in the SEC, but this Missouri program has some history and might be closer to competing in the league than expected.
134. Mitch Henderson (Princeton) (Last year: 140)
- Overall record: 185-108
It’s been quite the basketball career for Henderson, who starred at Princeton as a player back in the mid-90’s. He joined the coaching ranks as an assistant at Northwestern, serving on his former head coach Bill Carmody’s staff. His alma mater brought him home to lead the Tigers way back in 2011 and he’s had a prosperous decade in Princeton. He’s led the Tigers to an NCAA Tournament and most recently an NIT bid after winning this past season’s regular season crown in the Ivy League.
133. Joe Golding (UTEP) (Last year: 133)
- Overall record: 154-128
It’s been a fantastic rise in recent years for Golding. After bouncing around as a high school coach and collegiate assistant for over a decade, he took over at Abilene Christian in 2011. He led his alma mater for a decade, leading them through their transition to D1 athletics and to their first NCAA Tournament, including an upset win over 3-seed Texas. Golding took a step up last offseason when he was hired at UTEP. The Miners had a fantastic start under Golding’s leadership, winning 20 games and advancing to the second round of the TBC.
132. LeVelle Moton (North Carolina Central) (Last year: 125)
- Overall record: 221-150
North Carolina Central has been the best program in the MEAC over the past decade and Moton is the principal reason. A former player for these Eagles back in the early 90’s, Moton returned home in 2007, becoming head coach two seasons later. Moton helped secure the program’s place in D1 and has led the Eagles to their first four NCAA Tournament appearances as well as four MEAC regular season titles. In fact, last year’s 16-15 mark and 3rd place conference finish almost felt like a disappointment: that’s just the standard Moton has created in Durham.
131. Shantay Legans (Portland) (Last year: 151)
- Overall record: 94-64
After a playing career at California and Fresno State came to an end, Legans played briefly overseas and coached high school ball before landing on staff at Eastern Washington. He later spent four seasons as head coach of the Eagles, leading the program to a 72% win percentage in Big Sky play and an NCAA Tournament in 2021. Legans took over at Portland last season and his 19-15 debut is worthy of praise, winning more games with the Pilots than they had in the last two seasons combined.
130. Dave Richman (North Dakota State) (Last year: 127)
- Overall record: 159-97
Richman has spent his entire career in his home state of North Dakota. He briefly played and assisted at NDSCS but has spent much of his career with North Dakota State. A former student and longtime assistant, he was promoted to head coach in 2014 and immediately made an impact. His first Bison team went back to the NCAA Tournament while he also notched a First Four Tourney win a few seasons later. He’s won nearly 65% of games in the Summit League and finished with a solid 23-win mark last year.
129. Ray Harper (Jacksonville State) (Last year: 134)
- Overall record: 208-140
Harper is an experienced collegiate head coach and a winner. He won two D2 national titles as head coach at Kentucky Wesleyan, his alma mater, and won two NAIA national titles at Oklahoma City. Success continued at the D1 level, as Harper led Western Kentucky to a pair of NCAA Tournaments and has now done the same at Jacksonville State. He’s been head coach of the Gamecocks since 2016, leading them to the Big Dance his first season and again this year after winning the A-Sun regular season title in their first year in the conference.
128. Bob Marlin (Louisiana) (Last year: 121)
- Overall record: 446-298
Long ago, Marlin won the junior college national title while at Pensacola Junior College, but he’s been a D1 head coach for more than two decades. A former Alabama assistant, he spent twelve years as head coach at Sam Houston State before moving to Louisiana in 2010. He took the Bearkats to a pair of NCAA Tournaments and has had similar success in Lafayette, leading the Ragin’ Cajuns to a slew of postseason appearances across the last decade. A 16-15 mark last year wasn’t necessarily their best effort but not disappointing either.
127. Richard Pitino (New Mexico) (Last year: 116)
- Overall record: 172-156
The younger Pitino enters year number two at his third D1 head coaching job. A former assistant at a number of schools, including Louisville under father Rick, he had a fantastic season leading Florida International before a rocky eight years at Minnesota. Pitino won an NIT title and took the Golden Gophers to a pair of NCAA Tournaments but was fired last offseason. New Mexico came calling and Pitino led the Lobos to a 13-19 mark in a deep Mountain West this past season.
126. Mike Davis (Detroit) (Last year: 111)
- Overall record: 397-310
- Final Four in 2002
Davis has had quite the experience in his head coaching career. He succeeded Bob Knight at Indiana and took the Hoosiers to the national title game in 2002. He took UAB to an NCAA Tournament across six years before transforming Texas Southern into the SWAC’s best program, leading those Tigers to four trips to the Big Dance. He’s been at Detroit since 2018, though the results have been less impressive with the Titans, with just a 45-69 mark in a winnable Horizon League.
125. Marvin Menzies (Kansas City) (Last year: N/A)
- Overall record: 246-159
Menzies is back as a head coach this season, taking over the program at Kansas City. He’s had a long career working a ton of colleges, including stints as an assistant at San Diego State, USC, and Louisville. Menzies was head coach at New Mexico State for nearly a decade, leading the Aggies to five NCAA Tournaments. He was then spent three unremarkable seasons leading UNLV. Now, Menzies heads to the Summit League, taking over a Kangaroos program that has fared solidly in recent years but hasn’t taken that next step.
124. James Jones (Yale) (Last year: 128)
- Overall record: 352-292
There’s been plenty of success for Yale since Jones took over as head coach way back in 1999. Previously an assistant with the Bulldogs and at a few other schools, Jones has been very consistent during these last few decades. He’s led Yale to a top 4 finish every single season in the Ivy League. There have been three NCAA Tournament appearances, including a first-round upset over 5-seed Baylor back in 2016. Last year, the Bulldogs had another fantastic season, advancing to the NCAA Tournament again.
123. Travis DeCuire (Montana) (Last year: 117)
- Overall record: 160-98
All things considered, it’s been a successful coaching career to this point for DeCuire. A player at Montana back in the early 90’s, he returned to his alma mater as head coach in 2014, having garnered experience as a high school and junior college head coach. He’s taken the Grizzlies to a pair of NCAA Tournaments while winning three Big Sky regular season titles. While Montana finished just 5th place in the Big Sky last season, they won 18 games and had another solid season, with bigger plans on the horizon.
122. Eric Henderson (South Dakota State) (Last year: 152)
- Overall record: 68-22
A former high school coach and an assistant at both North Dakota State and South Dakota State, Henderson has met expectations as a collegiate head coach. As you can tell from his record, he’s been impressive the last three seasons leading the Jackrabbits, winning 87% of Summit League games and all three conference regular season titles. This past year’s squad won 30 games and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time under Henderson’s leadership; it’s hard to not be impressed with how these Jackrabbits have fared in recent years.
121. Isaac Brown (Wichita State) (Last year: 69)
- Overall record: 31-19
It’s far too early for the book to be written on Brown, who stepped into an uncomfortable situation just two seasons ago. A longtime assistant at a number of schools, he worked under Gregg Marshall at Wichita State for six years before succeeding him after Marshall’s sudden resignation. In that first season, the Shockers were a major surprise, winning the AAC regular season title and heading to the NCAA Tournament. This past year was a reality check, as Wichita State won just 15 games and finished 7th in conference play.