NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 362 D-I head coaches for 2023-24 season

200. John Pelphrey (Tennessee Tech) (Last year: 210)

• Overall record: 190-208

A successful forward at Kentucky, Pelphrey has been a collegiate coach for the last thirty years. He served under Billy Donovan for over a decade, mostly at Florida, and was previously head coach at both South Alabama and Arkansas. He led both of those programs to NCAA Tournaments and first round wins, but fizzled out with the Razorbacks over a decade ago. He’s gotten a third shot with Tennessee Tech and finally had a breakthrough in his fourth season, taking the Golden Eagles to a 2nd place finish in the OVC, coming painstakingly close to the NCAA Tournament.

199. Bryan Mullins (Southern Illinois) (Last year: 233)

• Overall record: 67-55

Mullins played at Southern Illinois in the late 2000’s and has already gotten his coaching career off to a solid start. After a few seasons playing professionally overseas, he joined Porter Moser’s staff at Loyola-Chicago back in 2013 and was on staff when the Ramblers made that run to the Final Four in 2018. His alma mater called him back home as the new head coach in 2019 and Mullins is coming off his best season leading the Salukis. Southern Illinois tied for 3rd in the new-look MVC, with their 23 wins the program’s most in sixteen years.

198. Jared Grasso (Bryant) (Last year: 198)

• Overall record: 80-89

Grasso played at Quinnipiac right around the turn of the century and assisted several D1 schools, even serving as interim head coach for a really awful Fordham team. He was associate head coach at Iona for nearly a decade during a very successful run for the Gaels and then began his own head coaching career at Bryant in 2018. Grasso led these Bulldogs to the Big Dance in his fourth season, slowly building something special in Rhode Island. This past season saw Bryant’s first in the America East, finishing with a respectable 17-13 mark.
(Grasso is currently taking a leave of absence away from the team due to a personal matter.)

197. Scott Davenport (Bellarmine) (Last year: 189)

• Overall record: 49-39

Davenport has spent nearly his entire life playing and coaching in Louisville. An alum of Louisville, he was a graduate assistant and alter a full-time assistant there under Denny Crum and also spent a decade coaching high school ball in the city. He began his collegiate head coaching career at Bellarmine back in 2005 and has been there ever since. Davenport led the Knights to the D2 national title in 2011 and a slew of other success before helping the program transition to D1 just three seasons ago. They’ve been solid in their first years in the ASUN, though last year’s 15-18 mark was the worst by far.

196. Bucky McMillan (Samford) (Last year: 240)

• Overall record: 48-35

A former player at Birmingham-Southern, McMillan had zero collegiate coaching experience when Samford hired him in 2020. He had spent the last twelve seasons as head coach of Mountain Brook HS nearby in Alabama, but the Birmingham native has done solidly at the collegiate level as well. After a slow first year, McMillan has finished 21-11 in each of the last two seasons, leading the Bulldogs to the SoCon regular season title this past year.

195. Mike Morrell (UNC Asheville) (Last year: 256)

• Overall record: 73-76

Things are certainly trending in a great direction in Asheville now that Morrell has half a decade of head coaching experience under his belt. He had a few brief stops in his coaching career before spending seven years under Shaka Smart at both VCU and Texas as a full-time assistant. In 2018, he was hired by UNC Asheville and got off to a slow start, but he’s rebuilt the program in recent seasons. This past year saw him leading the Bulldogs to regular season and tournament titles in the Big South, culminating in a 27-8 record and a trip to the Big Dance.

194. Martin Ingelsby (Delaware) (Last year: 192)

• Overall record: 112-103

A point guard at Notre Dame over two decades ago, Ingelsby got his coaching career started with a season at Wagner before returning to the Fighting Irish as a staffer. He worked for the next 13 years in South Bend under Mike Brey, who was his college head coach during his senior year. After helping the Fighting Irish to plenty of success, his own head coaching career began at Delaware. He led the Fightin’ Blue Hens to the Big Dance in 2022 and pulled out a decent 17-16 campaign this past season.

193. Andrew Toole (Robert Morris) (Last year: 190)

• Overall record: 216-210

Much of Toole’s basketball experience has come right here at Robert Morris. He was a guard at Elon and Penn and an assistant at Lafayette before he joined the Colonials back in 2007. After three years on Mike Rice Jr.’s staff, he was given the program’s reigns. Early on, he produced some fantastic results and got Robert Morris to the Big Dance back in 2015. However, the program has taken a step back since joining the Horizon League in 2020. It’s worth mentioning that this season’s 16-win mark was significantly higher than their first two years in the conference.

192. Rob Jeter (Southern Utah) (Last year: 196)

• Overall record: 223-215

Jeter cut his teeth early in his career under Bo Ryan, playing and coaching under him at Wisconsin-Platteville before joining his staffs at Milwaukee and Wisconsin. Jeter’s first head coaching chance came at Milwaukee, taking the Panthers to decent success and a first round Tourney upset way back in 2006. He’s coming off a decent three year stretch at Western Illinois, with a 39-45 mark that’s actually better than it sounds in the Summit League. Jeter takes over a Southern Utah program that’s coming off a pretty nice season with 24 wins in their debut in the WAC.

191. Stan Heath (Eastern Michigan) (Last year: 182)

• Overall record: 227-251

It’s been quite a journey for Heath, but it actually began as a player at Eastern Michigan back in the 80’s. After that, he was an assistant at a number of schools, including a stint with Tom Izzo and Michigan State that included the national title in 2000. Heath had varying levels of success as head coach at Kent State, Arkansas, South Florida, and the Lakeland Magic in the G-League before Eastern Michigan brought him home in 2021. He’s just 18-44 in his first two seasons with the Eagles, finishing 9th place in the MAC this past season.

190. Dustin Kerns (Appalachian State) (Last year: 195)

• Overall record: 101-95

A student assistant at Clemson over two decades ago, Kerns served as an assistant at a number of schools, including two separate stings with Mike Young at Wofford. His head coaching career began at Presbyterian and resulted in a 20-win campaign in his second and final season. Appalachian State hired him in 2019 and was quickly rewarded, as he led the Mountaineers to the NCAA Tournament in his second season. Year four produced his lowest finish in the Sun Belt, but Kerns still has this program in fantastic shape.

189. Terrence Johnson (Texas State) (Last year: 169)

• Overall record: 55-34

Originally from New Orleans, Johnson split his playing career between two SWAC schools before beginning his coaching career over at Samford. He’d spend some time coaching at the AAU level before joining Danny Kaspar’s coaching staff at Texas State back in 2015. Five years later, he was promoted to head coach after Kaspar’s dismissal and the Bobcats have produced since then. Texas State won the Sun Belt regular season titles in each of his first two seasons, though last year’s 16-19 mark was clearly a step back.

188. Damon Stoudamire (Georgia Tech) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 71-77

After starring at Arizona, Stoudamire spent over a decade in the NBA and was even the league’s Rookie of the Year back in 1996. After his retirement, he went into coaching, with stints at Memphis, Arizona, and two different NBA franchises as an assistant. His first head coaching experience came in a surprisingly solid five-year stint at Pacific before bailing for the Boston Celtics. Stoudamire begins his career at Georgia Tech this upcoming season, taking over an ACC program that yearns to contend on a more consistent basis.

187. Donnie Jones (Stetson) (Last year: 212)

• Overall record: 211-194

After playing and coaching at Pikeville, an NAIA school in Kentucky, Jones would catch on at Marshall and end up as an assistant under Billy Donovan. He’d help Donovan build the Gators into a fantastic program and became a head coach right after Florida won a pair of titles. Jones had a solid stint leading Marshall before a lame finish as head coach at UCF. Stetson gave him a third shot at head coach a few years later, with Jones’ most recent season his finest. His Hatters tied for 3rd in the ASUN.

186. Mike Magpayo (UC Riverside) (Last year: 218)

• Overall record: 52-32

A former player at UC Santa Barbara, Magpayo made history as the first Asian head coach in college basketball history, but that’s not the only history he’s been making. He began his coaching career under Kyle Smith at Columbia and would later work with him at San Francisco, but has had his success at UC Riverside. Prior to becoming head coach in 2020, he worked two seasons under David Patrick before his promotion. Magpayo’s first two seasons were solid enough, but he’s coming off a season where the Highlanders won 21 games, by far their most as a program at the D1 level.

185. Ed DeChellis (Navy) (Last year: 183)

• Overall record: 387-424

DeChellis has spent the last 27 years as a D1 head coach and it’s been quite the journey. He’s a graduate and longtime assistant at Penn State who started off with seven years leading East Tennessee State. After slowly building the Buccaneers into a Tournament team, he returned to his alma mater as head coach. Back in 2011, he was hired away by Navy after eight seasons leading the Nittany Lions. While DeChellis hasn’t led the Midshipmen to the Big Dance, he’s been relatively solid, leading Navy to three straight Top 2 finishes in the Patriot League.

184. Todd Simon (Bowling Green) (Last year: 201)

• Overall record: 127-114

It’s a new opportunity for Simon as he takes over at Bowling Green this year. Despite being from Michigan, he had spent much of his coaching career on the west coast. He was a high school coach in Las Vegas and was on the UNLV staff twice, even serving as interim head coach in 2016. He’d spend the next seven years leading Southern Utah for his first collegiate head coaching gig, winning at least 20 games in his last three seasons with the Thunderbirds. He begins his tenure with a Falcons program under .500 these last two years and hoping to compete someday soon in the MAC.

183. Jon Coffman (Purdue-Fort Wayne) (Last year: 184)

• Overall record: 156-130

Earlier in his coaching career, Coffman was an assistant at a few D1 schools, including an 8-year stint with Stetson. In 2011, he was brought onto the IPFW staff under Tony Jasick and would actually succeed him as head coach just three years later. Coffman is nearly a decade into his head coaching career, though many things have changed with these Mastodons. He’s won regular season titles in both the Summit League and Horizon League, has kept Purdue Fort Wayne in relatively good position, coming off a mediocre 17-win season.

182. Tony Stubblefield (DePaul) (Last year: 139)

• Overall record: 27-51

Before DePaul hired him in 2021, Stubblefield had been around as an assistant coach for a long time. His career began at Omaha, his alma mater, back in the early 90’s, and he’s spent time at numerous schools. He was briefly interim head coach at New Mexico State, spent time with Mick Cronin at Cincinnati, and was an Oregon assistant for 11 years. Stubblefield’s first season with the Blue Demons showed plenty of promise but last year’s 10-23 mark looks a lot more like the DePaul program we’ve seen in recent memory.

181. Kyle Neptune (Villanova) (Last year: 181)

• Overall record: 33-33

After Jay Wright’s surprise retirement, Neptune was hired by Villanova last season, though he certainly was no stranger to the Wildcats. He played ball at Lehigh and was briefly an assistant at Niagara, but Neptune also spent a decade on Wright’s staff, including during both of their recent national championships. Neptune had a decent single season as head coach at Fordham before being brought back to Villanova last year. His first year was a disappointment, finishing just 16-16, though it was a season hampered by injuries and inconsistency and we’re willing to see what this year brings.