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

180. Preston Spradlin (Morehead State) (Last year: 208)

• Overall record: 114-100

A former player at Alice Lloyd College, an NAIA school, Spradlin was hired by John Calipari to be a graduate assistant at Kentucky. He served as a staffer for the Wildcats four years before getting his first full-time gig at Morehead State. After allegations ended Sean Woods’ coaching tenure, Spradlin was named interim head coach in late 2016 and has been there ever since. He led these Eagles to the Big Dance back in 2021, is coming off his first OVC regular season title, and has won at least 22 games in each of the last three seasons.

179. Amir Abdur-Rahim (South Florida) (Last year: 306)

• Overall record: 45-74

For the better part of a decade, Abdur-Rahim was a D1 assistant responsible for plenty of success, especially in recruiting. He was an aide at Murray State, Texas A&M, and Georgia before getting his first shot as a head coach back in 2019. Abdur-Rahim took over a meek Kennesaw State program and finished just 1-28 in his first season. Three years later, he led the Owls to ASUN titles and their first trip to the NCAA Tournament. He begins this season at South Florida, hoping for similar turnaround success in the AAC.

178. Pat Skerry (Towson) (Last year: 194)

• Overall record: 193-185

Early in his career, Skerry was head coach at D3 Curry, but his head coaching career started in earnest at Towson. Before that he had stints at several D1 schools, serving as an assistant at Rhode Island, Providence, and Pittsburgh most recently. Skerry landed at Towson back in 2011 and won just a single game in his debut, but slowly turned this Tigers program around. Towson is just two years removed from a CAA title and trip to the NIT and did win 20 games again last season.

177. Rick Croy (Cal Baptist) (Last year: 177)

• Overall record: 85-67

Croy played college ball at San Francisco State and became a D1 assistant soon after graduation. He spent time at UC Riverside before taking over at Citrus College, winning a lot of games at the junior college level. Croy was named to Randy Bennett’s staff at Saint Mary’s before departing in 2013, becoming head coach at Cal Baptist. After leading the Lancers to five straight trips to the D2 Tournament, he guided the program as they transitioned to D1, resulting in five decent seasons in the WAC, all above .500.

176. Carmen Maciariello (Siena) (Last year: 180)

• Overall record: 64-44

Maciariello has proven himself to be a solid coach and has learned from some solid names in this sport. He was a staffer under Fran McCaffery at Siena and aided Ed Cooley at Fairfield before later taking coaching jobs at Boston University and George Washington. Maciariello returned to Siena in 2018 and would become the head coach just one year later after Jamion Christian’s departure. He won the MAAC regular season titles in his first two seasons and is coming off a solid 17-win campaign, certainly boasting decent success four years into his time leading the Saints.

175. Justin Hutson (Fresno State) (Last year: 159)

• Overall record: 80-73

A native of southern California, Hutson played and coached early in his career at Cal State Bakersfield and at the high school level in that same city. He had two 5-year stints as an assistant at San Diego State, mostly under Steve Fisher, and also worked at Cal Poly and UNLV in his career. Fresno State hired him back in 2018. After winning 23 games in his first season, he led the Bulldogs to the TBC title in year four, though last season’s 11-20 mark was certainly a step backwards.

174. Richie Riley (South Alabama) (Last year: 178)

• Overall record: 129-95

For Riley, his coaching career featured a series of short coaching stints before settling in at South Alabama. He bounced around as an assistant at Coastal Carolina, Eastern Kentucky, UAB, and Clemson before Nicholls State gave him their head coaching job in 2016. After winning a Southland title in year two, he was hired by South Alabama and has been with the Jaguars for the last half decade. Riley is averaging just under 19 wins a season at South Alabama, including last year’s 19-win mark.

173. Tim Craft (Gardner-Webb) (Last year: 174)

• Overall record: 171-150

A graduate of Florida, Craft has been a basketball coach for more than two decades, starting off with time at the high school and junior college levels. His first D1 experience actually came at Gardner-Webb before spending time under Jeff Lebo at both Auburn and East Carolina. Craft’s head coaching journey began at Gardner-Webb back in 2013 and featured a trip to the Big Dance in 2019. He has regularly had the Runnin’ Bulldogs among the consistent programs in the Big South, even though they finished a hair under .500 last season.

172. A. W. Hamilton (Eastern Kentucky) (Last year: 219)

• Overall record: 87-74

A longtime associate of Kevin Keatts, Hamilton played under and coached under Keatts had several different places, including Hargrave Military Academy, where Hamilton began his head coaching career. After a year on Keatts’ staff at NC State, Hamilton’s collegiate head coaching career got started at Eastern Kentucky back in 2018. He’s had decent success in both the OVC and ASUN and is coming off a 23-win season with a trip to the CBI title game a 3rd place finish in the OVC.

171. Kevin Kruger (UNLV) (Last year: 191)

• Overall record: 37-27

Kruger played point guard at Arizona State and for a season at UNLV under his father. After half a decade playing professional ball, he spent time as an assistant at Northern Arizona, Oklahoma, and UNLV, with that stint in the Big 12 with the Sooners coming under father Lon again. In 2021, UNLV promoted him to the top job after T. J. Otzelberger left for Iowa State. There are no complaints so far for the Runnin’ Rebels through two seasons; we’re just wondering what the future holds for this program.

170. Bart Lundy (Milwaukee) (Last year: 244)

• Overall record: 118-99

Certainly successful throughout his coaching career, Lundy is in his fourth stop as a head coach and his second at the D1 level. He had two very successful stints at Queens when the program was still D2 and was decent across six seasons leading High Point from 2003 to 2009. Also a staffer at Marquette and an assistant at North Texas, Lundy was hired last season by Milwaukee after his second stint at Queens. The Panthers made a major jump in his first season, winning 22 games and finishing 2nd in the Horizon League.

169. Griff Aldrich (Longwood) (Last year: 186)

• Overall record: 88-72

Much of Aldrich’s coaching career came at the AAU level following a very brief stint at Hampden-Sydney, his alma mater. His return to collegiate coaching came as the director of recruiting for Ryan Odom’s UMBC staff, helping those Retrievers to that historic 1-seed upset in 2018. Soon after, he was hired as the new head coach at Longwood and these last five years have been pretty strong. The record is pretty good for a Big South school, he led the Lancers to the Big Dance in 2022, and is coming off a second straight 20-win campaign.

168. Rod Barnes (Cal State Bakersfield) (Last year: 166)

• Overall record: 369-382

A longtime collegiate head coach, Barnes was a player, assistant, and head coach at Ole Miss early in his career, even leading the Rebels to a Sweet Sixteen before he was fired in 2006. Barnes later spent four years leading Georgia State with poor results before landing in Bakersfield back in 2011. In his fifth season he led the Roadrunners to their first trip to the NCAA Tournament and is responsible for a few other trips to the postseason. Things haven’t been as great since they joined the Big West three seasons ago and Barnes is just 20-41 over the last two years.

167. Dave Paulsen (Holy Cross) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 229-185

New beginnings for both Holy Cross and Paulsen, who begins his sixth head coaching job this season. A former assistant at Michigan and a few other schools, Paulsen led St. Lawrence, Le Moyne, and Williams, winning a D3 title at that last school. As a D1 head coach, he had good results at Bucknell before flaming out two years ago at George Mason. Fresh off a two-year stint aiding at Fordham, he inherits a Crusaders program that hasn’t finished above .500 in a decade and could use his experience and new direction.

166. Travis Steele (Miami OH) (Last year: 117)

• Overall record: 82-70

Things simply haven’t gone as anticipated for Steele in his head coaching career, but it’s far from over. Still just 41 years old, he was briefly an assistant at Indiana before a long run at Xavier, beginning as director of basketball operations before becoming head coach in 2018. Despite winning 70 games in four years, he failed to lead the Musketeers to the Big Dance and was fired, landing at Miami a few weeks later. A 12-20 mark and 8th place finish in the MAC wasn’t exactly the first season the RedHawks were hoping for, but there’s potential for a turnaround in Oxford.

165. Billy Gillispie (Tarleton State) (Last year: 170)

• Overall record: 189-152

Quite literally, Gillispie has been around and it’s been quite the career. We could talk a lot about his high school success, his time under Bill Self at Tulsa and Illinois, or his rise and fall as head coach at UTEP, Texas A&M, Kentucky, and Texas Tech. Disappointment and scandal ruined those last two positions, but the story isn’t finished for Gillispie. He begins his fourth year leading Tarleton State and is coming off his best season yet, albeit a 17-17 mark, finishing 7th place in the WAC.

164. Chris Victor (Seattle) (Last year: 200)

• Overall record: 43-21

Victor played at Concordia-Irvine and later assisted there, though his first head coaching experience came at Citrus College. After five years and an impressive record at the junior college level, he joined Jim Hayford’s staff at Eastern Washington and followed him to Seattle. In 2021, Hayford was dismissed and Victor became interim head coach, leading the Pioneers to a regular season title in the WAC. Now the permanent coach, he won 20 games yet again in year two and has Seattle primed as one of this league’s best programs.

163. Bill Coen (Northeastern) (Last year: 157)

• Overall record: 270-264

After playing and coaching at Hamilton, a D3 school in New York, Coen would spend a significant amount of time with Al Skinner, joining his staff at Rhode Island back in 1989. He’d spend the next 17 years with Skinner, coaching both the Rams and at Boston College before accepting the Northeastern head coaching position in 2006. In the last seventeen years, Coen has led the Huskies to a pair of NCAA Tournaments, four CAA regular season titles, and plenty of other success. Unfortunately, the Huskies have turned in 10th and 9th place finishes the last two seasons.

162. Joe Gallo (Merrimack) (Last year: 185)

• Overall record: 61-52

A guard at Merrimack in the early 2000’s, Gallo has done his alma mater proud as their head coach. He was previously an assistant at Dartmouth and Robert Morris before starting his head coaching career with the Warriors, taking over back in 2016. After leading the program to three straight trips to the D2 NCAA Tournament, he helped Merrimack make a successful transition to D1. After winning the NEC regular season title in their very first season, Gallo is fresh off a season where the Warriors won both the regular season and tournament titles in the league.

161. Brett Reed (Lehigh) (Last year: 167)

• Overall record: 262-222

Reed has been a fixture at Lehigh for more than two decades. After experience at a few other schools, including UNC Greensboro and High Point, he joined the Mountain Hawks’ coaching staff back in 2002. After five years on that staff, he was promoted to head coach and has held that role for the last 16 years. Reed led Lehigh to the Big Dance twice in his first five seasons and has kept them consistently as a contender in the Patriot League, finishing 3rd place in something of a bounce back year this past season.