NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 68 head coaches in 2023 NCAA Tournament
By Joey Loose
64. Mike Morrell – UNC Asheville
0 NCAA Tournaments
After seven years as an assistant under Shaka Smart, and a few other stops as well, Morrell got his head coaching career started in Asheville in 2018 and it wasn’t the best start. The Bulldogs were a rebuilding project and he finished just 4-27 in his first season. Four years later, UNC Asheville is champions of both the regular season and tournament title in the Big South and Morrell will join his former boss in the Big Dance, this time leading his own squad, with the Bulldogs winning more games this season (27) than in any of their D1 seasons.
63. Steve Lutz – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
1 NCAA Tournament (0-1)
The former assistant to Greg McDermott at Creighton and Matt Painter at Purdue is having his way as a head coach. Lutz began his head coaching career with the Islanders just two years ago and is already leading Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to a second trip to the Big Dance, winning the Southland Tournament again. His work has certainly been impressive, albeit in one of the nation’s weakest conferences, plus he played a major role in recruiting and on-court success as an assistant, especially for the Boilermakers.
62. Joe Pasternack – UC Santa Barbara
1 NCAA Tournament (0-1)
A student manager at Indiana under Bob Knight more than two decades ago, Pasternack picked up valuable coaching experience on the staffs of California and Arizona in the Pac-12. He spent four years as head coach at New Orleans but has been far more successful at UC Santa Barbara. He’s won at least 21 games in five of his first six seasons leading the Gauchos and now has his second Big West Tournament title in the last three years.
61. Danny Sprinkle – Montana State
1 NCAA Tournament (0-1)
A former player and assistant at Montana State, Sprinkle has done impressive work in his first four seasons leading the Bobcats. Prior to beginning his head coaching career at his alma mater, he was also an assistant at Cal State Northridge and Cal State Fullerton, though his finest success has come in Bozeman. This will be the second straight year that Montana State heads to the NCAA Tournament, having won back-to-back Big Sky Tournaments in an impressive turnaround for this program.