260. Ryan Ridder (Tennessee-Martin) (Last year: 260)
- Overall record: 56-67
Ridder begins year two at his third collegiate head coaching job. After serving as an assistant at a few schools, including at Campbell, he took Daytona State to great success at the junior college level. He won a MEAC regular season title during four years at Bethune-Cookman before arriving at UT Martin last offseason. Ridder led the Skyhawks to an 8-22 mark in his first season, which is a very similar mark to their last two seasons; meaning there’s still plenty of work to be done.
259. Scott Pera (Rice) (Last year: 265)
- Overall record: 66-90
After more than a decade as a high school head coach, Pera got his collegiate coaching career going on Herb Sendek’s staff at Arizona State. After spending time at a few different schools, he ascended to the head coaching spot at Rice back in 2017, as former coach Mike Rhoades moved to VCU. While his Owls have yet to really make a splash on the college basketball scene, there is definitely progress and growth with the program, with a 16-win season and CBI berth this year. Pera’s win total keeps rising, but can this success and growth continue?
258. Greg Gary (Mercer) (Last year: 261)
- Overall record: 67-87
Year four at Mercer begins for Gary, with some decent results to this point with the Bears. A former point guard at Tulane, he coached at a number of schools, including stints at his alma mater and Miami under former coach Perry Clark. He had two unmemorable seasons leading Centenary when it was still D-1 and spent a long stretch on Matt Painter’s Purdue bench. He’s 51-43 as head coach at Mercer, winning 16 games this past season. Winning in the SoCon isn’t easy, as the Bears have been basically a middle-of-the-pack team these last three years.
257. David Patrick (Sacramento State) (Last year: N/A)
- Overall record: 27-38
Patrick returns to the head coaching chair this season at Sacramento State, having previously spent a pair of seasons leading UC Riverside. Raised in Australia, he’s been an NBA scout, an assistant on the Australian national team, and an assistant at a number of colleges, including Saint Mary’s, LSU, TCU, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Patrick led UC Riverside to a 17-15 mark just three seasons ago before departing the school. He takes over a Hornets program that has never made the NCAA Tournament and is barely a factor in the Big Sky.
256. Mike Morrell (UNC Asheville) (Last year: 285)
- Overall record: 46-68
Morrell seems to finally have the Bulldogs headed in the right direction, now entering his fifth season as head coach at UNC Asheville. He picked up valuable coaching experience, spending seven years on Shaka Smart’s staff at VCU and Texas before departing for Asheville in 2018. After a horrific 4-win campaign in his first season, he’s building this program in the right direction, winning 17 games and leading the Bulldogs to the CBI quarterfinals this past season.
255. Keith Richard (Louisiana-Monroe) (Last year: 257)
- Overall record: 291-348
Richard quietly keeps humming along with a coaching career almost entirely in the state of Louisiana. He spent nine years as head coach at Louisiana Tech, was an assistant at LSU, and has been entrenched at Louisiana-Monroe since 2010 after several previous stints on staff at the school. Richard has never led a team to the NCAA Tournament in his 21 years as D1 head coach, but has taken these two Louisiana schools to a number of postseason bids, while last year’s 13-18 finish marked a near-doubling of the team’s wins from the season before.
254. Donte Jackson (Grambling State) (Last year: 248)
- Overall record: 75-78
Five years into his third head coaching stop, Jackson has had success everywhere he’s gone to this point in his career. He spent more than a decade at Central State, including four decent years as head coach. After success at NAIA school Stillman, he became head coach of Grambling State back in 2017. Jackson proceeded to win the SWAC regular season title in his first season, picking up 17 wins in each of his first three years. However, last year’s 12-20 mark was the worst of his head coaching career and we’ll have to see if this program bounces back this season.
253. George Ivory (Mississippi Valley State) (Last year: N/A)
- Overall record: 140-269
This season marks a return to the head coaching chair for Ivory, who previously spent 13 seasons as head coach at Arkansas-Pine Bluff. He’s extremely familiar with the SWAC, having spent more than two decades coaching in the conference, including three different stints on the Mississippi Valley State coaching staff. While his years with the Golden Lions ended poorly, he led Pine Bluff to the NCAA Tournament back in 2010 and will try to create a comeback for a program that has won seven games in the last three seasons combined.
252. Dan Earl (Chattanooga) (Last year: 300)
- Overall record: 73-179
Earl begins his first season at Chattanooga, having spent the previous seven seasons familiar with the program at conference rival VMI. A former Penn State point guard, Earl spent nearly a decade under Ed DeChellis at Penn State and Navy before beginning his head coaching career back in 2015. It took time to turn VMI into a winning program, but in this most recent season, he won 16 games and led the Keydets to the CBI, their first postseason bid in nearly a decade. Chattanooga just made an NCAA Tournament last season; can Earl rebuild that success again with a hot Mocs program?
251. Brian Earl (Cornell) (Last year: 305)
- Overall record: 57-84
Much like his brother, Earl had himself a pretty good year as well. A former player and longtime assistant at Princeton, Earl stayed in the Ivy League, taking the Cornell job back in 2016. He led the Big Red to the CBI three years ago, but a 15-11 mark this season was by far his best finish at Cornell, leading the team to a 4th place finish in conference. Earl was named Ivy League Coach of the Year and has the program trending in the right direction after the lost pandemic year.
250. John Dunne (Marist) (Last year: 242)
- Overall record: 198-292
Dunne bounced around as a collegiate assistant at a number of schools, including a five-year stint in the Big East at Seton Hall, before becoming head coach of Saint Peter’s way back in 2006. He’s very familiar with the MAAC, jumping here to Marist just four seasons ago. He led the Peacocks to the NCAA Tournament in 2011 and the CIT championship in 2017, but has had less success at Marist. After a rough start, the Red Foxes were above .500 two seasons ago before a 14-16 campaign last season, while Dunne’s former program became a Cinderella on the national stage.
249. Mike Balado (Arkansas State) (Last year: 302)
- Overall record: 69-80
Much of Balado’s early career came as an assistant in Florida and other parts of the south. He spent four years under Rick Pitino at Louisville before Arkansas State named him their head coach back in 2017. Year five was definitely a step in the right direction, as Balado led the Red Wolves to an 18-11 mark, his first season above .500 as head coach. There’s still progress to be made, but the longtime assistant is finally making waves; can he keep up the momentum?
248. Marty Simmons (Eastern Illinois) (Last year: 247)
- Overall record: 189-201
Simmons is back in the head coaching chair, taking over at Eastern Illinois last season. He led SIU Edwardsville to a pair of D2 Tournaments and had some success over an 11-year stint at Evansville, winning the CIT back in 2015. After time on the Clemson bench, Simmons’ return as a head coach has been a struggle, finishing just 5-26 in his first season with the Panthers. However, this is just the beginning for Simmons and it’s hard to judge him based on that season alone.
247. Lennie Acuff (Lipscomb) (Last year: 243)
- Overall record: 45-47
Acuff enters year four at his fourth head coaching position, hoping to inspire some success at Lipscomb. He had a decent run at Belhaven and Berry, two NAIA schools, before more than two decades at Alabama-Huntsville, taking the Chargers to nearly a dozen D2 Tournaments. Acuff has been decent to start his D1 coaching career, but last year’s 14-19 mark was his worst to date with the Bisons. This program is trending in the wrong direction after the success he inherited three years ago, but can perhaps Acuff turn things around and win an A-Sun title?
246. Mark Slessinger (New Orleans) (Last year: 258)
- Overall record: 132-164
Things are looking up again at New Orleans, as Slessinger begins his eleventh season as head coach of the Privateers. He picked up much of his early coaching experience on Mike McConathy’s staff at Northwestern State before beginning his D1 head coaching career. Slessinger’s record seems unimpressive, but he took the Privateers to the NCAA Tournament in 2016 and had an 18-14 mark this past season, finishing 2nd in the Southland. Perhaps Slessinger has another run of success or postseason appearance in the near future.
245. Billy Taylor (Elon) (Last year: N/A)
- Overall record: 165-168
It’s a bit of a long-awaited return for Taylor, who takes over at Elon this season, accepting his third D1 head coaching job. The former Notre Dame and Iowa assistant led Lehigh to an NCAA Tournament in 2004 and also spent six years leading Ball State. Taylor picked up recent head coaching experience at D2 Belmont Abbey and hopes to turn around an Elon program that has struggled in recent memory. Taylor’s certainly had success both as a head coach and assistant, especially in recent years on Iowa’s staff, and we’ll have to see if that pays off for the Phoenix.
244. Bart Lundy (Milwaukee) (Last year: N/A)
- Overall record: 96-87
Lundy takes over as head coach at Milwaukee this season, hoping to turn around a Panthers program that has been struggling recently. He’s got a ton of previous head coaching experience and was even a staffer at Marquette. Across two stints at Queens, he took the Royals to a plethora of D2 Tournaments, and even a few deep postseason runs. He also spent six years at High Point, with decent success in the Big South and a record above .500. Can any of this success translate with the Panthers in the Horizon League in the coming years?
243. Sean Woods (Southern) (Last year: 246)
- Overall record: 176-215
Woods previously built success at two other D1 schools and might be doing the same now at Southern. A former Kentucky basketball player, Woods led Mississippi Valley State to the NCAA Tournament and had Morehead State trending upwards until he was dismissed for battery charges in late 2016. Woods has bounced back, rejuvenating his career over these last four seasons at Southern. He just had his best season with the Jaguars, leading the program to a 17-14 mark and a 3rd-place finish in the SWAC.
242. Mark Prosser (Winthrop) (Last year: 270)
- Overall record: 60-62
The son of legendary coach Skip, this Prosser has gotten his own head coaching career off to a decent start. A former aide at schools like Wofford and Bucknell, Prosser was briefly a head coach at D2 Brevard before a long stint under Pat Kelsey at Winthrop. His first D1 head coaching job saw him spent three years leading Western Carolina, with a 19-win season in the middle. He was named Kelsey’s successor at Winthrop last season and had a tremendous 23-9 mark to start his career with the Eagles.
241. Tony Barbee (Central Michigan) (Last year: 226)
- Overall record: 138-150
Barbee has spent a lot of his career playing and coaching under John Calipari, serving on his staff at all three of his schools, including a recent stint at Kentucky. Barbee has also been a head coach at three schools, winning a ton of games at UTEP before falling flat across a four-year stretch at Auburn. He took over as head coach at Central Michigan this past offseason, leading the Chippewas to an underwhelming 7-23 mark in his debut season. He’s only just getting started, but he’s hoping this tenure progresses more like UTEP than his time at Auburn.