NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 363 D-I head coaches for 2022-23 season
By Joey Loose
60. T. J. Otzelberger (Iowa State) (Last year: 92)
- Overall record: 121-76
It just made sense for Otzelberger to take over Iowa State last season when the job opened up. He had spent nearly a decade on the staffs of the previous three Cyclones’ head coaches. He won 70 games in three seasons as head coach at South Dakota State, leading the Jackrabbits to two NCAA Tournaments before departing for UNLV. In year one at Iowa State, the Cyclones got off to a fantastic start, winning their first 12 games before advancing to the Sweet Sixteen as an 11-seed.
59. Steve Lavin (San Diego) (Last year: N/A)
- Overall record: 237-150
Lavin returns to the coaching world at San Diego this season. He was previously an assistant and spent seven years leading UCLA, taking the Bruins to an Elite Eight and four Sweet Sixteens before he was fired. After serving as a broadcaster for a number of years, he spent five seasons leading St. John’s, taking the Red Storm to a couple of trips to the Big Dance but again not doing enough. The Toreros are bringing Lavin back out of the broadcasting booth, hoping to resurrect a program recently buried in a very tough WCC.
58. Fran Dunphy (La Salle) (Last year: N/A)
- Overall record: 580-325
Three years after retiring at Temple, Dunphy is surprisingly back, taking over as head coach of La Salle, his alma mater. Across three decades as a D1 head coach, he took Penn to nine NCAA Tournaments and led Temple to eight trips as well. He’s got as much experience in the Big 5 with these Philadelphia schools than any coach in history and has been successful throughout his career. La Salle has really struggled recently, but Dunphy hopes he can jumpstart a turnaround in a tough A-10.
57. Steve Forbes (Wake Forest) (Last year: 65)
- Overall record: 161-69
Forbes’ success as a head coach was a long time coming, as he spent a long time as a D1 assistant and junior college coach. After stints at Texas A&M, Tennessee, and Wichita State he became head coach at East Tennessee State in 2015. He won 130 games in five seasons, leading the Buccaneers to an NCAA Tournament and a ton of success. Forbes enters his third season at Wake Forest and is already turning the tide for the Demon Deacons, as last season’s 25-win mark was their highest since 2005.
56. Steve Pikiell (Rutgers) (Last year: 66)
- Overall record: 290-247
These last few years have seen Pikiell accomplish what didn’t seem previously possible at Rutgers. The former UConn point guard and longtime assistant got his head coaching career going with an 11-year run at Stony Brook, leading the Seawolves to the NCAA Tournament in 2016. A few weeks later, he took the Rutgers job and has been the coach to actually win at Rutgers. Pikiell is coming off a season in which he led the Scarlet Knights to their second straight NCAA Tournament, finishing in the top half of the Big Ten each of the last three seasons.
55. Josh Pastner (Georgia Tech) (Last year: 48)
- Overall record: 261-169
Pastner began his career as a player and assistant at Arizona under Lute Olson and was part of the 1997 national championship squad. He’d join John Calipari’s staff at Memphis and succeed him, beginning his head coaching career by taking the Tigers to four NCAA Tournaments in his first five years. Pastner took over at Georgia Tech in 2016 and his tenure with the Yellow Jackets has had its ups and downs. Georgia Tech won the ACC Tournament and appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 2021 but struggled to a 12-20 mark this past season, finishing second-to-last place in the ACC.
54. Andy Kennedy (UAB) (Last year: 67)
- Overall record: 315-184
It’s been a solid homecoming so far for Kennedy, who played at UAB in the early 90’s and enters his third season as head coach for the Blazers. He previously spent a season as interim head coach of Cincinnati before a 12-year run leading Ole Miss. He led the Rebels to a pair of NCAA Tournaments and a slew of NIT bids, keeping that SEC program in decent shape. Kennedy is 49-15 after two years at UAB, leading the Blazers back to the NCAA Tournament this past season and has this program looking good again.
53. Archie Miller (Rhode Island) (Last year: N/A)
- Overall record: 206-121
Miller returns to NCAA basketball coaching, taking over this season at Rhode Island. After some successful coaching stints at Ohio State and Arizona, his head coaching career began at Dayton in 2011. He led the Flyers to the Elite Eight in this third season, the first of four straight trips to the Big Dance. Miller moved on to Indiana, but couldn’t make any headway across four seasons with the Hoosiers. Now he’s back in the A-10 where he had his greatest success, taking over a Rhode Island program that was one of the best in the league half a decade ago.
52. Anthony Grant (Dayton) (Last year: 58)
- Overall record: 295-162
A native of Miami, Grant helped craft Florida’s national championship squads across a decade with the Gators under Billy Donovan. He then began his head coaching career by leading VCU to a pair of NCAA Tournaments before a six-year stint back in the SEC with Alabama. Grant briefly reunited with Donovan in the NBA before getting back in the head coaching chair, taking over his alma mater in 2017. Under his leadership, Dayton has been one of the top programs in the A-10, with a fantastic 29-2 season that was shortened by the pandemic. Last year’s 24-11 mark was certainly another solid effort by the Flyers, even if they settled for another trip to the NIT.
51. Mike White (Georgia) (Last year: 39)
- Overall record: 243-128
It’s the first season for White leading Georgia, making the unusual jump over from conference rival Florida. White’s original SEC experience came at Ole Miss, where he was a player and longtime assistant before beginning his head coaching career. After winning 101 games and three regular season titles across four years at Louisiana Tech, he landed at Florida in 2015. White led the Gators to the Elite Eight in his second season but largely underachieved before jumping to Georgia this offseason.