NCAA Basketball: Top 12 candidates for 2022-23 Coach of the Year
By Joey Loose
This has been another exciting NCAA basketball season filled with memories, performances, and unforgettable moments. New faces, some in new places, have made their mark on the game, while some teams have thrived as others have fallen by the wayside in another wild season. We’ll be focusing not just on the teams excelling but the coaches who have put them in that position.
Today, we’re looking closely at some current candidates for the national Coach of the Year award. There is a flurry of great coaches in this sport, but winning this award takes more than just an impressive season. We’re looking at coaches who exceed expectations, perhaps in their first season at the helm. We’re also focusing on some coaches you may not have expected to have this type of success this season, while they’ve all built impressive rosters and are making their mark on the game. Let’s not waste any more time and get into the first of our twelve candidates.
Randy Bennett (Saint Mary’s)
Since arriving at Saint Mary’s way back in 2001, Bennett has quietly put together one of the most impressive coaching tenures in the nation. The Gaels have always been second-fiddle to Gonzaga, and have at times taken a backseat to teams like BYU in recent years, but Bennett has now eclipsed 500 career wins and may have his finest squad in Moraga this season.
Saint Mary’s is a top 10 team in a number of metrics and has worked their way up to #14 in the most recent AP Top 25, sitting pretty with a 21-4 mark. They’ve won their first 10 conference games and sport a two-game lead in the WCC. They’ve played impressively for most of the season. They gave Houston a tough battle back in January, upended San Diego State and BYU, and recently pulled off their best effort in an overtime win over Gonzaga.
Freshman point guard Aidan Mahaney has come out of nowhere and becomes an important piece of this Gaels team. In a conference where everyone expects Gonzaga to just run rampant, it’s actually been the Gaels who have been the best team this season. There aren’t household names like Drew Timme on this roster, but Bennett has this program in fantastic shape going forward. Heck, the Gaels did win an NCAA Tournament game last season and may have the ability to go well further than that this year.