Big Ten Basketball: Ranking all 14 head coaches in 2023 offseason

By Joey Loose | Apr 17, 2023

Feb 16, 2021; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Purdue Boilermakers head coach Matt Painter fist bumps Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo after the game at Mackey Arena. The Purdue Boilermakers defeated the Michigan State Spartans 75 to 65. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports /

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Big Ten Basketball Rutgers Scarlet Knights head coach Steve Pikiell Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports /

5. Steve Pikiell – Rutgers

Long ago, Pikiell was a point guard at UConn early in Jim Calhoun’s tenure with the Huskies. His coaching career saw him take a number of assistant coaching jobs, and he was also head coach at Wesleyan on an interim basis. An assistant at Yale, George Washington, and a few other schools, he had an 11-year stint as head coach at Stony Brook, leading the Seawolves to the NCAA Tournament in 2016, his final year on campus.

Pikiell arrived at Rutgers soon after and has been a revelation for the Scarlet Knights. After three slow seasons, he got the Scarlet Knights to a 20-win campaign and then lead them to consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament. A complete afterthought since joining the Big Ten, Pikiell has had Rutgers in competitive shape each of the last four seasons, including recent upsets over top-ranked Purdue. He’s actually responsible already for 1/4th of the Scarlet Knights’ trips to the NCAA Tournament.

His record (117-106) doesn’t scream success, but few coaches in the country could’ve manufactured what Pikiell has built at Rutgers. There was nothing going on for the Scarlet Knights for years before his arrival. Rutgers isn’t an afterthought any more, and this former Huskie has done one of the best coaching jobs in the nation in recent years. Rutgers had their bubble burst this past season, but those two recent Big Dance trips and success are enough to justify this spot on the list.

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