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

280. Baker Dunleavy (Quinnipiac) (Last year: 288)

• Overall record: 66-81

You’ll likely remember Dunleavy’s father and brother for their basketball careers, with Mike Sr. as an NBA coach and Mike Jr. as a shooting guard, but Baker has carved his role well. He played under Jay Wright near the beginning of his tenure at Villanova, later joining his coaching staff. Dunleavy was part of the staff that won the national championship in 2016 and left one year later to take over at Quinnipiac. It’s been up and down for the Bobcats these last five seasons, with last year’s 14-17 record seeming decent, but a 10th place finish in the MAAC was the worst since Dunleavy took over.

279. Anthony Latina (Sacred Heart) (Last year: 264)

• Overall record: 109-160

It’s business as usual for Latina, who has been at Sacred Heart since 2005 and enters his tenth season as the program’s head coach. A former aide at a few other New England schools, Latina is firmly entrenched at Sacred Heart. His Pioneers finished just 10-20 last season, a step back from a pair of seasons at or above .500. There’s nothing really impressive on his resume, and you have to wonder how many more steps back he can afford as he continues to hunt for his first postseason bid.

278. Darrell Walker (Little Rock) (Last year: 263)

• Overall record: 51-65

Following a ten-year career in the NBA, Walker has found himself quite the second career, coaching both collegiately and in the pros. He’s been a head coach in the NBA, WNBA, and CBA and returned to the college level by leading Clark Atlanta to a pair of D2 Tourney appearances. Walker joined Little Rock back in 2018 and won the Sun Belt regular season title in his second year, but the last two seasons have been steps backwards. The Trojans move to the OVC this season hoping for a revival after finishing just 9-19 last year.

277. Billy Lange (Saint Joseph’s) (Last year: 276)

• Overall record: 114-175

Lange begins year four at Saint Joseph’s with the hopes that things will start turning around for his Hawks. He’s had a ton of experience in the area, with stints on the staffs of Villanova and the Philadelphia 76ers. He took the U. S. Merchant Marine Academy on a D3 Tournament run as head coach, but had varying levels of success during seven years as head coach at Navy. Last year’s 11 wins at Saint Joseph’s did equal his combined total from his first two seasons, so maybe that’s a sign that they’re on the right track.

276. Landon Bussie (Alcorn State) (Last year: 319)

• Overall record: 23-30

After a number of seasons as a collegiate assistant, Bussie is getting his head coaching career off to a pretty solid start. He spent seven years at Prairie View A&M as an assistant, actually working with the women’s team during his first season. He helped build that Panthers program and is doing wonders early with the Braves, leading Alcorn State to the SWAC regular season title this past season. The team won 17 games and appeared in the NIT, with Bussie hopeful that he can soon break a more than 20-year NCAA Tournament drought.

275. David Riley (Eastern Washington) (Last year: 350)

• Overall record: 18-16

One of the youngest head coaches in the nation, Riley has spent his entire coaching career at Eastern Washington. He played his college ball at Whitworth under coach Jim Hayford, following his coach to EWU to join the staff in 2011. After a decade on staff in various roles, Riley ascended to the top job this past offseason. His first season saw the Eagles win 18 games and accept an invitation to the TBC, a very decent start to his head coaching career.

274. Jay Young (Fairfield) (Last year: 299)

• Overall record: 37-55

Things are trending in a better direction for Young at Fairfield after a solid third season at the helm. Before taking over the Stags, he had previously been head coach at Newbury, a junior college, and New Haven, a D2 school. After 14 years assisting Steve Pikiell at Stony Brook and Rutgers, Young took over his own D1 program and just lead Fairfield to a 15-18 mark, his best since taking over. There are still some hurdles to climb, as Young still hunts for his team’s first season above .500 in MAAC conference play.

273. Eric Olen (UC San Diego) (Last year: 298)

• Overall record: 20-26

Olen has spent his entire coaching career at UC San Diego and has the Tritons looking a little more comfortable at the D1 level. He took over as head coach of the program back in 2013 after nearly a decade as an assistant, while the Tritons have only spent the last two seasons playing D1 ball. Olen had a ton of success at the D2 level, while last year’s 13-win campaign nearly doubled their win total from the previous season.

272. Ed Conroy (The Citadel) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 141-179

Twelve years after departing the school, Conroy returns to The Citadel as head coach this season. He won SoCon Coach of the Year back in 2009 after a 20-win season and departed the following year for Tulane, having an up and down tenure with the Green Wave. Recently an assistant at Minnesota and Vanderbilt, Conroy is back in the head coaching chair, hoping to resurrect a Bulldogs program that has finished 6-12 or worse in the SoCon in each of the twelve seasons since his original departure.

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

• Overall record: 134-170

Krimmel has been a part of this Saint Francis program since 1996 when he arrived on campus as an undergrad. After four years playing point guard, he joined the coaching staff and was later promoted to head coach back in 2012. His first decade leading the Red Flash has had its ups and downs but did feature an NEC regular season title and NIT bid back in 2019. The last two years have been among his worst as head coach, with the Red Flash finishing just 9-21 this past season, tying for last place in the NEC.

270. Mike Brennan (American) (Last year: 266)

• Overall record: 108-151

Before becoming a coach, Brennan played guard at Princeton under the late great Pete Carril, learning the Princeton offense. He jumpstarted his coaching career with a long stint at his alma mater, while also spending time at American and Georgetown. He’d return to American to begin his head coaching career in 2013 and got off to a fast start, leading the Eagles to the NCAA Tournament in his first season. There have been good years and bad years for Brennan and the Eagles, but they’ve been in a bit of a bad stretch lately, finishing just 10-22 last season, a last-place finish in the Patriot League.

269. Brian Kennedy (NJIT) (Last year: 274)

• Overall record: 74-100

Coming from a basketball family, it’s not a big surprise to see Kennedy continuing to coach at the D1 level. His coaching career started as an aide to uncle Pat at DePaul in the late 90’s, while he took over as head coach of NJIT in 2016. Kennedy had previously been an assistant for the Highlanders for seven seasons and has had a decent stretch as head coach. The Highlanders experienced early success, but are still struggling to adjust since joining the A-Sun two seasons ago, finishing 11-18 this past season.

268. Jimmy Allen (Army) (Last year: 278)

• Overall record: 81-96

Across six seasons at Averett, Allen coached the Cougars to three D3 Tournaments. He’s spent the last six years as head coach at Army and is still looking for that kind of success, albeit in a much more difficult situation. He’s also a former aide at Navy and Wofford and he’s had some success with the Black Knights, leading Army to the CBI quarterfinals just two seasons ago. Last year’s 15 wins tied his personal best, but can this program take the next step in the coming years to compete for a Patriot League title?

267. Dan Engelstad (Mount St. Mary’s) (Last year: 277)

• Overall record: 46-70

Engelstad is still a pretty young coach, but he’s had a good deal of success already in his career. After a few stints as an assistant, he took over as head coach at Southern Vermont, leading that program to great success at the D3 level. In 2018, he has hired to be head coach at Mount St. Mary’s, where he had begun his coaching career as an assistant a decade earlier. Engelstad took the Mountaineers to a surprise trip to the NCAA Tournament two seasons ago and won 14 games this past year, his career-high to this point. Things are trending in the right direction at Mount St. Mary’s and we’ll have to see if this program can catch fire again.

266. Tavaras Hardy (Loyola MD) (Last year: 272)

• Overall record: 46-65

A native of the Chicago suburbs, Hardy played his college ball and got his coaching career started at Northwestern before venturing out to the east coast. After stints at Georgetown and Georgia Tech he became head coach of Loyola back in 2018. This past season was his most successful with the Greyhounds, finishing 6th in the Patriot League with a 14-16 mark on the year. Clearly, Hardy needs to get above .500 and actually compete for league titles in the years ahead, but this could be a sign that things are turning around.

265. Luke Yaklich (UIC) (Last year: 292)

• Overall record: 23-29

A native of Illinois, Yaklich spent the early years of his career coaching high school basketball in his home state before joining Dan Muller’s staff at Illinois State. He became known as one of the best defensive-minded assistant coaches in the nation during stints at Michigan and Texas before getting his first college head coaching gig at UIC. He’s entering his third season with the Flames and leads the program into the MVC this upcoming season. Last year marked a 5-win improvement, but that’ll be hard to top with their first season in a new and better conference.

264. Reggie Theus (Bethune-Cookman) (Last year: 271)

• Overall record: 103-149

It was a bit of a surprise to see Theus get the Bethune-Cookman job last summer, but he’s no stranger to basketball success. A longtime former NBA player, he’s been a head coach in college, the G-League, and the NBA, briefly leading the Sacramento Kings. He had limited success in his most recent post at Cal State Northridge. His current Wildcats finished just 9-21 last season in a bit of a rebuilding year for the program, with Theus certainly hoping that this program is contending for SWAC crowns in the near future.

263. Brian Burg (Georgia Southern) (Last year: 280)

• Overall record: 26-29

Burg bounced around quite a bit as a collegiate assistant before finally getting his shot to run a program. He got his first D1 shot under Kermit Davis at Middle Tennessee and spent his final five seasons as an aide to Chris Beard at both Little Rock and Texas Tech. After helping build that success, Burg became head coach at Georgia Southern back in 2020 and has led these Eagles to a pair of 13-win seasons. We’ll have to see if this program can take a step forward in Burg’s third year as some of his recruits and transfers start to come of age.

262. Desmond Oliver (East Tennessee State) (Last year: 307)

• Overall record: 15-17

Oliver served as a D1 assistant for nearly three decades before getting his shot as a head coach. Among his more prominent stops was Texas A&M, Georgia, and six-year run under Rick Barnes at Tennessee. Oliver was named head coach at East Tennessee State before last season and led the Buccaneers to 15 wins in his debut. The program is in a bit of a transition after recent success and we’ll have to see how Oliver fares in the coming years at the helm.

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

• Overall record: 164-200

Braica has been entrenched as head coach at St. Francis since 2010, having previously served a long-stint on the Terriers’ coaching staff. Between those stints, he was an assistant to Norm Roberts at St. John’s, as Braica has spent his entire career coaching in New York. He led the Terriers to the NEC regular season title and an NIT back in 2015, but it’s been rough the last few seasons. St. Francis finished just 10-20 last season, Braica’s second-worst record as he prepares to begin his 13th year at the helm.