NCAA Basketball: 10 best first year head coaches for 2022-23 season

4. Bart Lundy – Milwaukee

It’s a new era for the Panthers, who brought Lundy in from Queens, a program that ironically just transitioned to D1 this season. Lundy had two separate stints with the Royals, taking Queens to a plethora of bids in the D2 NCAA Tournament and also spent six decent seasons leading High Point. He has a few other seasons of collegiate experience, including a three-year stint as director of basketball operations for nearby Marquette.

Back in Milwaukee, Lundy has been just what this program needed. The Panthers have already won more games this season than each of the last two seasons combined. Milwaukee sits 21-10 and finished 2nd in the Horizon League, especially impressive when you consider they were picked to finish 9th and have been dreadful in recent years. Before this year, the Panthers had been under .500 in six straight seasons, but now they’ve found their way to the semifinals of the Horizon League Tournament.

Neither of the last two coaches at Milwaukee won more than 16 games in any of their seasons and Lundy has already accomplished that right out the gates. There’s no telling what could happen in the future, but there’s no denying that Lundy has done one of the best jobs in the season with this turnaround. We don’t know if this continues next year or after that, especially at a Milwaukee program that has been just dreadful for a half-decade, but it’s clear that this change of leadership came at a perfect time for a team that has a real chance to dance.