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

160. Dana Ford (Missouri State) (Last year: 156)

• Overall record: 146-131

Before getting his own shot as a head coach, Ford was a player at Illinois State and an assistant at a few other colleges, including a brief stint under Gregg Marshall at Wichita State. In 2014, his head coaching career got started at Tennessee State, with Ford making decent headway in the next four years. He was then brought back to the MVC, taking the top job at Missouri State in 2018. He’s had decent success with the Bears, including an NIT run two seasons ago, though he is coming off a 6th place finish in league play.

159. Scott Cross (Troy) (Last year: 171)

• Overall record: 285-225

For more than two decades, Cross was a big part of basketball at Texas-Arlington, playing and coaching for the Mavericks between 1995 and 2018. That included 12 seasons as head coach, several postseason trips, and a decent number of wins before he was relieved of his duties. After a season assisting at TCU, Cross’s second chance as a head coach came at Troy and he’s put in solid work in his first four years. His Trojans have won 20 games in each of the last two seasons, hoping to become more of a fixture near the top of the Sun Belt standings.

158. Jim Les (UC Davis) (Last year: 164)

• Overall record: 329-326

Before he got into coaching, Les was a point guard at Cleveland State, Bradley, and with several organizations at the professional level. He didn’t have a ton of coaching experience when Bradley brought him back to Peoria as their head coach back in 2002. The clear highlight with the Braves was their Sweet Sixteen run in 2006, though Les was fired just five years later. He’s been entrenched at UC Davis ever since, and has kept the Aggies in mostly solid shape in the Big West, with last year’s 18-win mark their best in five years.

157. Steve Donahue (Penn) (Last year: 161)

• Overall record: 312-307

Achieving significant success in the Ivy League, Donahue spent a decade as an assistant at Penn under Fran Dunphy before beginning his head coaching career at Cornell. He led the Big Red to three straight trips to the Big Dance, including a stunning Sweet Sixteen trip in 2010, before a forgettable four year stint lading Boston College. Donahue has been the head coach at Penn since 2015 and has led the Quakers to an NCAA Tournament trip and relative consistency in this conference, fresh off another Top 4 finish in the league.

156. Nick McDevitt (Middle Tennessee) (Last year: 162)

• Overall record: 167-153

Native to North Carolina, McDevitt played college ball at UNC Asheville and would stay with the Bulldogs for more than two decades, becoming an assistant and later the head coach. He took UNC Asheville to the Big Dance and a pair of Big South regular season titles before accepting the Middle Tennessee head coaching job in 2018. His first few seasons with the Blue Raiders were tough, but he’s turned the program around again, leading them to the CBI title game and then a 19-14 mark last season.

155. Rob Lanier (SMU) (Last year: 138)

• Overall record: 121-122

Lanier has really been around in his collegiate career and is now a year into his third head coaching job. He’s been an assistant at Rutgers, Texas, Virginia, Florida, and Tennessee and led both Siena and Georgia State to the NCAA Tournament as a head coach. He’s learned under successful coaches and led talented players, but has quite the job ahead with the Mustangs. His first season saw a 10-22 and a 10th place finish in the AAC in a rebuilding season. With SMU soon joining the ACC, Lanier needs to figure things out fast.

154. Drew Valentine (Loyola-Chicago) (Last year: 116)

• Overall record: 35-29

A forward and assistant at Oakland under Greg Kampe, Valentine rose more into coaching prominence when he joined Porter Moser’s staff at Loyola-Chicago. In his very first season with the Ramblers, he helped lead the program to that surprise Final Four appearance in 2018. Three years later, he was given the top job after Moser left for Oklahoma. In his first season, Loyola won 25 games and returned to the NCAA Tournament again, but last year was really tough, as the Ramblers finished dead last in their first season in the A-10, winning just 10 games on the year.

153. Dan Monson (Long Beach State) (Last year: 150)

• Overall record: 424-381

Monson’s career serves somewhat as a cautionary tale for young coaches, but it’s hard to complain. He was a longtime assistant at Gonzaga and became the program’s head coach, leading them to the Elite Eight in 1999 as a true Cinderella. Monson departed immediately for Minnesota and lasted seven and a half seasons with mixed results. He’s been the head coach at Long Beach State for the last 16 years, winning four Big West regular season titles but leading the Beach to just a single Big Dance. They’re coming off a 7th place finish in league play.

152. Keith Urgo (Fordham) (Last year: 302)

• Overall record: 25-8

Earlier in his career, Urgo was a staffer and assistant under Jay Wright at Villanova before spending nearly a decade at Penn State, mostly under Pat Chambers. After a single season as Kyle Neptune’s associate head coach at Fordham, he ascended to the top job last season when Neptune was called back home to lead Villanova. His Rams greatly exceeded expectations in his first year, not only winning 25 games but tying for 2nd place in an always talented A-10.

151. Takayo Siddle (UNC Wilmington) (Last year; 173)

• Overall record: 58-29

After playing ball at Gardner-Webb, Siddle would return as an assistant under Chris Holtmann before eventually coaching under Kevin Keatts. He actually served on Keatts’ staff at three different schools, including time with both UNC Wilmington and NC State. In 2020, Siddle was summoned back to Wilmington as the Seahawks’ new head coach and it’s been a fantastic hire. In year two, UNC Wilmington tied for the CAA regular season title and won the CBI, while last year featured 24 wins and another solid campaign.

150. Brian Wardle (Bradley) (Last year: 168)

• Overall record: 230-191

Originally from the suburbs of Chicago, Wardle has had a successful playing and coaching career in the Midwest. He was a player and staffer at Marquette, mostly under Tom Crean, before heading to Green for his first full-time gig. Five years later he became Green Bay’s head coach, leading the Phoenix to 95 wins and a few NIT bids across the next half decade. Wardle was brought to Bradley in 2015 for a rebuild and has been successful, winning a pair of MVC Tournaments. Last season, he led the Braves to the MVC regular season title and a trip to the NIT.

149. Mark Madsen (California) (Last year: 224)

• Overall record: 70-51

Madsen was a star frontcourt weapon at Stanford and later won a couple NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers. He returned to both places an assistant coach, departing the Lakers in 2019 to become head coach at Utah Valley. These last four years have seen the Wolverines achieve a ton of success in the WAC, with a pair of regular season titles, including a run to the NIT during last year’s 28-win campaign. Now, Madsen takes over a California program devoid of any basketball success in recent memory, hoping to turn things around.

148. Kim English (Providence) (Last year: 226)

• Overall record: 34-29

A successful shooting guard at Missouri just over a decade ago, English was a second round NBA Draft pick who didn’t play professional ball for too long. He got into coaching and had stints on staff for Tulsa, Colorado, and Tennessee. English’s first head coaching job came these last two seasons at George Mason, putting in decent work with the Patriots. Last season, George Mason won 20 games and finished 5th in the A-10. This season, English takes over at Providence, hoping to continue his coaching success.

147. Tod Kowalczyk (Toledo) (Last year: 158)

• Overall record: 394-281

Kowalczyk has been doing this coaching thing for quite a while ever since catching on as an assistant at Minnesota-Duluth, his alma mater, some 35 years ago. After serving as an assistant at Rider, Rutgers, Marquette, and a few other schools, he became head coach at Green Bay back in 2002. He had a decent record across eight years with the Phoenix before accepting the Toledo job in 2010. Though he hasn’t led the Rockets to the Big Dance, he’s won four MAC regular season titles, including each of the last three, with Toledo coming off a 27-8 finish.

146. Joe Golding (UTEP) (Last year: 133)

• Overall record: 168-146

After bouncing around as a junior college and high school coach, Golding caught on as an assistant at Abilene Christian, his alma mater. He’d return later on as their head coach and helped lead the program to the D1 level back in 2013. Not only did he lead the Wildcats for a decade, but he got them to the first two trips to the NCAA Tournament, including a first-round upset win over Texas back in 2021. A few weeks later, he accepted the UTEP job and is still getting going with the Miners, winning just 14 games in year two last season.

145. Eric Konkol (Tulsa) (Last year: 109)

• Overall record: 158-100

After growing up and playing college ball in the state of Wisconsin, Konkol has had coaching success all over. He was an aide under Buzz Peterson initially and assisted Jim Larranaga for a decade at both George Mason and Miami. His first head coaching opportunity came with Louisiana Tech and he had seven mostly successful seasons, winning at least 20 games in all but one of those years with the Bulldogs. Tulsa hired him last offseason and his first year was a rough rebuild, with a paltry 5-25 record and just a single win in AAC play.

144. Eran Ganot (Hawaii) (Last year: 155)

• Overall record: 139-90

Ganot has spent his coaching career bouncing between Saint Mary’s and Hawaii and he’s been pretty successful. He actually started off as a volunteer assistant under Randy Bennett with the Gaels before joining Hawaii’s staff. He was back at Saint Mary’s in the early 2010’s and was even acting head coach for five games. In 2015, Hawaii brought him back as their head coach and he immediately delivered not just a trip to the Big Dance but a first-round upset over California. The Rainbow Warriors haven’t returned to NCAA Tournament in the last seven years but are coming off a 22-win season.

143. Speedy Claxton (Hofstra) (Last year: 193)

• Overall record: 46-21

Formerly the star point guard at Hofstra in the late 90’s, Claxton spent nine seasons playing in the NBA and even served as a scout for the Golden State Warriors after his retirement. His first coaching experience came under Joe Mihalich at his alma mater. The Pride had success during that time and later turned to Claxton to take over the program in 2021. After a 21-win debut season, Claxton led Hofstra to the CAA regular season title and a trip to the NIT last year, winning 25 games in the process.

142. Greg Kampe (Oakland) (Last year: 140)

• Overall record: 413-361

Now the longest-tenured college basketball head coach, Kampe played at Bowling Green, was an assistant at Toledo, and was then hired by Oakland in 1984. He begins his 40th season with Oakland, having taken the Golden Grizzlies to several D2 Tournaments before leading them to D1 ball in the late 90’s. He won a few Summit League titles and has led Oakland into March Madness three times, though none of those trips have come since joining the Horizon League a decade ago. He’s fresh off three consecutive 5th place finishes in the Horizon.

141. Tobin Anderson (Iona) (Last year: 357)

• Overall record: 21-16

Early in his head coaching career, Anderson had decent success at Clarkson and Hamilton, two D3 schools, but nothing compares to this past season. Formerly an assistant at Siena, Anderson spent nearly a decade leading D2 St. Thomas Aquinas to a host of success before being hired by Fairleigh Dickinson. Taking several of his players with him, he led the Knights not just to a historic season, but to an upset win over 1-seed Purdue. Anderson parlayed that success into the Iona job, taking over for Rick Pitino, and is certainly set up for success in years to come with the Gaels.