NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 363 D-I head coaches for 2022-23 season

10. Matt Painter (Purdue) (Last year: 13)

• Overall record: 409-197

The longtime head coach at Purdue, Painter works into our top ten based on some fantastic success at his alma mater. After briefly serving as head coach at Southern Illinois, he returned to Purdue, becoming the Boilermakers’ head coach in 2005. Across that time he’s led the program to a number of Big Ten titles and numerous deep runs in the NCAA Tournament. Last year’s squad marked seven straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, their fourth run to the second weekend in the last five tournaments.

9. Bob Huggins (West Virginia) (Last year: 11)

• Overall record: 844-374
• Final Four in 1992, 2010

Huggins has had himself quite the coaching career and continues churning out productivity at Kansas State. Formerly the head man at Walsh, Akron, and briefly Kansas State, he’s also known for a 16-year run at Cincinnati, leading the Bearcats to a Final Four thirty years ago along with a historic run of success in the C-USA. Huggins took the Mountaineers to a Final Four over a decade ago and has been largely successful at West Virginia, though the program finished just 16-17 in a rebuilding year last season.

8. Chris Beard (Texas) (Last year: 9)

• Overall record: 164-72
• Final Four in 2019

Beard remains one of the hottest names in the NCAA basketball world and now enters his second season at Texas. He had success at a number of smaller colleges before leading Little Rock to an NCAA Tournament win over 5-seed Purdue back in 2016. Beard then went to Texas Tech and took the Red Raiders to the national title game in 2019; their first ever trip to the Final Four or further. In accepting the Texas job last offseason, Beard returned to his alma mater and stays in the Big 12. He led the Longhorns to 22 wins and a trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in his first season.

7. Kelvin Sampson (Houston) (Last year: 15)

• Overall record: 624-297
• Final Four in 2002, 2021

Simply put, Sampson has transformed Houston from an afterthought to the best program in the AAC and one of the best in the nation. He had long runs of success as head coach at Washington State and Oklahoma, leading the Sooners to the Final Four twenty years ago. After crashing and burning with Indiana, he’s bounced back in a major way with the Cougars. Sampson has won 143 games in the last five years, winning a slew of AAC titles, leading Houston to the Final Four in 2021, and taking them back to the Elite Eight last year.

6. Scott Drew (Baylor) (Last year: 8)

• Overall record: 419-233
• Final Four in 2021
• National championship in 2021

After spending a decade at Valparaiso, mostly as an assistant under his father, Drew inherited a broken Baylor program back in 2003 and has engineered a turnaround for the ages. Nowadays, Baylor is one of the nation’s best programs, with Drew leading the Bears to their first national title back in 2021. The turnaround has seen a number of deep NCAA Tournament runs, while the Bears have won the last two Big 12 regular season titles. This past year ended in the second round, but there are no complaints about a 27-win season coming off a national title run.

5. Tony Bennett (Virginia) (Last year: 7)

• Overall record: 385-150
• Final Four in 2019
• National championship in 2019

The son of a head coach, Bennett was an assistant under father Dick at Wisconsin and Washington State before succeeding his father with the Cougars. He led that program to the Sweet Sixteen before accepting the Virginia job in 2009. Bennett has been a revolution for the Cavaliers, turning this program into one of the best defensive programs in the nation. Virginia has won five ACC titles and secured its first-ever national title back in 2019. Last year was a struggle, with Virginia missing the Tournament for the first time since 2013, but the Cavaliers still won 21 games and had a great defensive team.

4. Tom Izzo (Michigan State) (Last year: 5)

• Overall record: 666-267
• Final Four in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2019
• National championship in 2000

Izzo was brought to Michigan State back in 1983 and took over as head coach in 1995. Since then, he’s taken the Spartans to eight Final Fours, ten Big Ten regular season titles, and appearances in each of the last 24 NCAA Tournaments. Izzo’s work has been impressive, maintaining Michigan State’s place as one of the best programs not just in the Big Ten but in the nation as a whole. He won the national championship back in 2000 and is still yearning for that second chance to cut down the nets. The last two years have been less successful for the Spartans, but they did win 23 games last year.

3. Mark Few (Gonzaga) (Last year: 6)

• Overall record: 658-129
• Final Four in 2017, 2021

There can be no doubt that Few is one of the sport’s best coaches based on his success in turning Gonzaga from an unknown mid-major into a national power. He took over the program in 1999 after a decade as an assistant and has proceeded to lead the Bulldogs to every single NCAA Tournament during his tenure. Gonzaga has won nearly every single WCC title in the last two decades and has appeared in the 2017 and 2021 national title games. Few hasn’t yet hoisted that national championship trophy but has gotten really close in recent years, winning no less than 28 games in each of the last ten years.

2. John Calipari (Kentucky) (Last year: 2)

• Overall record: 810-241
• Final Four in 1996*, 2008*, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015
• National championship in 2012

Love him or hate him, Calipari has had a wildly successful coaching career, even if some violations have dimmed some of his finest work. He took Massachusetts and Memphis to Final Fours that were later vacated, sandwiching that around a decent run with the New Jersey Nets. Calipari has led Kentucky since 2009 and led the Wildcats to the national championship in his third season. He’s taken the Wildcats to at least the Elite Eight seven times, with those four Final Fours early in his tenure. Last year’s team bounced back with 26 wins before faltering to Saint Peter’s in the NCAA Tournament.

1. Bill Self (Kansas) (Last year: 3)

• Overall record: 763-229
• Final Four in 2008, 2012, 2018, 2022
• National championships in 2008, 2022

With the retirement of Mike Krzyzewski and the results of this last season, there’s no doubt that Self is now the coaching king. The man was successful at Oral Roberts before leading Tulsa and Illinois to Elite Eight runs. Self took over at Kansas back in 2003 and has won most of the Big 12 titles across the last two decades. Even more importantly, he’s led the Jayhawks to a ton of postseason success, including taking home the national titles in 2008 and 2022. Winning last year’s championship certainly established himself at the top of this year’s list.

At long last, we’ve completed our deep dive and ranking of all 363 D-1 head coaches ahead of the 2022-23 NCAA basketball season. There’s no such thing as a perfect ranking, especially with this many coaches, but this is how we see them standing entering another new season.