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

362. Tevon Saddler (Nicholls State) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 0-0

Just five seasons ago, Saddler was a star player at Nicholls State and now he’s taking over as head coach of his alma mater. He actually began his career at UNC Greensboro and spent just a single season with the Colonels under Richie Riley. During a brief coaching career, he’s aided Riley at South Alabama and spent this most recent season in Kevin Willard’s personnel staff at Maryland. Saddler is just 28 years old but takes over a Nicholls State team that’s won two of the last three regular season titles in the Southland.

361. Larry Stewart (Coppin State) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 0-0

It’s the beginning of Stewart’s head coaching career, though it came at the perfect place for him. A former star player for the Eagles more than three decades, he led Coppin State to the NCAA Tournament as a player in 1990 and will hope to have a similar breakthrough as head coach. He had a long international playing career before spending the last fourteen seasons as a collegiate assistant, the last four of which were at Maryland Eastern Shore.

360. Nate Champion (Le Moyne) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 0-0

A former player and graduate assistant for the Dolphins, Champion became the head coach at Le Moyne back in 2019. Also an assistant at a pair of D2 schools, he’s had some success in his first four years leading the Dolphins. This will be Le Moyne’s first year as a D1 program, joining the NEC. Overall, Champion (who’s just 31 years old) is still a relatively young coach and has a task ahead as this program adjusts to D1 ball in the coming years.

359. Alex Pribble (Idaho) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 0-0

Pribble begins his D1 head coaching career at Idaho this season, though he’s previously been a high school and D2 head coach. He actually led Saint Marin’s to a D2 Sweet Sixteen in 2019 before spending the last four seasons as an assistant at Seattle. The Vandals have mightily struggled in recent memory, meaning Pribble’s new task in the Big Sky won’t be easy. However, he’s a former player at Cal and has more than half a decade as a collegiate assistant.

358. Chad Boudreau (Western Illinois) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 0-0

Boudreau’s D1 head coaching career begins this season at Western Illinois after three years as associate head coach. He succeeds Rob Jeter, who actually gave him his D1 coaching start nearly two decades ago at Milwaukee. Boudreau has previously been a head coach, leading Highland CC for three seasons, but this is certainly a much different position. He’s got quite the task ahead as the Leathernecks transition into the OVC.

357. Jack Castleberry (Fairleigh Dickinson) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 0-0

A native of Virginia, Castleberry has spent much of the last two decades involved in college basketball, first as a player at VMI and then as an assistant at five different schools. He had long assistant coaching stints under his former college coach Duggar Baucom, most recently at The Citadel. He begins his first head coaching job this season after assisting Tobin Anderson last season as these Knights pulled off a history upset as a 16-seed; now the program is in Castleberry’s hands.

356. John Griffin III (Bucknell) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 0-0

Nearly two decades ago Griffin was a player for the Bison and now he’ll begin his head coaching career as their new leader. He played a few years overseas and worked briefly with the Indiana Pacers before getting into college coaching. He was an assistant for Rider, Bucknell, and Saint Joseph’s across the last decade, spending four years aiding predecessor Nathan Davis with the Bison. This program isn’t in as great a shape as back then and Griffin has a task ahead of him.

355. Rick Cabrera (Northwestern State) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 0-0

This’ll be Cabrera’s first season as a D1 head coach, but it’s a longtime coming after a long winding coaching career. He played college ball at Tennessee Tech and served as an assistant there and at three other D1 schools. Cabrera has spent six years as a junior college head coach, including the last two at Tallahassee CC in Florida. He inherits a Demons program coming off a pretty decent season, but can he match his excellent junior college coaching while in the Southland Conference?

354. Shane Heirman (Incarnate Word) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 0-0

A minor at Tulsa just twelve years ago, Heirman was a high school coach before spending the last six years as a D1 assistant, including a four-year stint under Dave Leitao at DePaul. After picking up that experience in the Big East, he spent the last two years as Central Michigan’s associate head coach and will began his collegiate head coaching career with the Cardinals this season. Incarnate Word has yet to make much headway since joining D1 a decade ago; Heirman’s tasked with changing that.

353. Matt Crenshaw (IUPUI) (Last year: 355)

• Overall record: 8-53

A former point guard at IUPUI, Crenshaw enters his third season at the helm of his alma mater hoping for better results. He briefly played overseas and spent a dozen years as an assistant to the Jaguars before a short stint at Ball State. Crenshaw took over as head coach in 2021 and hasn’t won more than five games in either of his first two seasons. IUPUI has been a bottom feeder in the Horizon League in recent years and he’ll need to start showing some progress here soon.

352. Aaron Fearne (Charlotte) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 0-0

Fearne is from Sydney and has been a major part of basketball in Australia. He came to America and played for three different schools but has spent much of his professional playing and coaching career over in Australia. He played and coached for the Cairns Marlins and Cairns Taipans for two decades, including nine years leading the Taipans. Fearne was brought to Charlotte by Ron Sanchez back in 2018 and takes over as interim head coach for this upcoming season.

351. Jim Shaw (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 0-0

After spending two decades as a D1 collegiate assistant and staffer, Shaw is getting his first shot at running his own program. He spent a number of years under Doc Sadler at UTEP and Nebraska before spending seven years on staff at Texas State. He had a few brief stints at schools in the state of Texas before joining Steve Lutz’s coaching staff in Corpus Christi in 2021. After two trips to the Big Dance in two seasons, Lutz is off to Western Kentucky and Shaw takes over a program that’s hoping to be a mainstay atop the Southland standings.

350. Andrew Wilson (VMI) (Last year: 356)

• Overall record: 7-25

A former guard at Florida State, Wilson’s head coaching career got started last year at VMI, though it wasn’t a super notable beginning. He spent much of his coaching career alongside Mark Byington, including nearly a decade under him as an assistant at both Georgia Southern and James Madison. VMI brought him aboard last season and a 7-win season isn’t exactly a fantastic start but he’s still got time to win games for the Keydets.

349. Sundance Wicks (Green Bay) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 0-0

Wicks takes over at Green Bay but this actually isn’t his first head coaching experience. He had a pair of seasons leading D2 Missouri Western before his most recent three year stint on Wyoming’s coaching staff. Prior to that, Wicks had more than a decade as an assistant, including time in the Big 12 at Colorado many years ago. Green Bay has largely been a disappointment in recent years, and the former MWC assistant has a Wisconsin-based rebuild ahead.

348. Rod Strickland (LIU) (Last year: 338)

• Overall record: 3-26

Long ago, Strickland starred at DePaul and became a 1st round draft pick back in 1988. He was a talented point guard who spent parts of 17 seasons in the NBA and has only recently gotten his coaching career going. Strickland had stints on staff at Memphis, Kentucky, and South Florida but was surprisingly named LIU’s head coach last summer. The record speaks for itself: it was a really rough debut season for the Sharks, though the jury’s not out on Strickland quite yet.

347. Chris Mudge (Sam Houston State) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 0-0

A former student manager at Texas, this is the beginning for Mudge, who takes over as head coach at Sam Houston State after a long stint on their coaching staff. Much of his coaching career has come with the Bearkats, as he joined the staff back in 2010, spending Jason Hooten’s entire tenure by his side. This is Mudge’s program now after the last two years as associate head coach, and he’ll look to keep the program competitive as they transition into the new-look Conference USA.

346. Matt Logie (Montana State) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 0-0

A native of Washington, Logie spent more than a decade at Lehigh as a player and assistant before beginning his head coaching career back in 2011. He’s already had two very successful coaching stints, though not at the D1 level. Logie took Whitworth to seven D3 Tournaments in eight years and produced results at D2 Point Loma, but this is a different animal. Fortunately, he’s taking over a Montana State program that’s been the league’s best in recent years.

345. Kyle Gerdeman (Lindenwood) (Last year: 361)

• Overall record: 11-21

Gerdeman spent a decade as a junior college assistant and head coach before another decade as a D1 assistant, spending most of that time under Keno Davis at Central Michigan. Though he’s yet to have a season above .500, he begins his fifth season at Lindenwood and his second year since the Lions joined the D1 level. Last year’s 8th place finish in the OVC wasn’t exactly life-altering, but there’s hope ahead for a program and coach who isn’t exactly new to this, though we’re still waiting on the results.

344. Stan Waterman (Delaware State) (Last year: 354)

• Overall record: 8-50

After spending more than three decades coaching high school ball, principally at the Sanford School in Delaware, Waterman was named Delaware State’s head coach two seasons ago. He boasts very little collegiate coaching experience and his Hornets struggled mightily, winning just two games in his debut season. They did triple that, finishing with six wins this past season, but there’s clearly still a lot of work ahead for this longtime resident of the Diamond State.

343. Grant Billmeier (NJIT) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 0-0

Much of Billmeier’s career has come in his home state of New Jersey and now he gets his first shot as a head coach. A former center at Seton Hall, he’d return for multiple stints under Kevin Willard at his alma mater before following him as an assistant at Maryland last year. Nearly his entire coaching career has come by Willard’s side, minus a season as an assistant over at Fairleigh Dickinson. That’s not a ton of outside experience, though his expertise in the state makes him an appealing hire at NJIT.

342. Andy Newman (Cal State Northridge) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 0-0

Much of Newman’s collegiate coaching career has taken place in California and he’s taking over a Northridge program that needs a new direction. He was an assistant at a number of schools and actually spent a season as interim head coach at Cal State Fullerton. Newman spent the last decade spending five years apiece as head coach at Texas-Permian Basin and Cal State San Bernardino, two D2 schools that had great success. Fresh off a D2 Final Four, Newman is ready for this new challenge.

341. David Ragland (Evansville) (Last year: 346)

• Overall record: 5-27

Although briefly a junior college head coach at Vincennes over a decade ago, Evansville gave Ragland the head coaching job last season and it was his first real experience running his own program. He spent the last decade plus bouncing around six different D1 institutions, including success at Utah State and Butler, but Evansville is a different animal. The last place finish in the MVC in year one wasn’t a shocker, but it’s on Ragland to make sure it’s not a regular occurrence like it has been in recent memory.