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

15. Nate Oats (Alabama) (Last year: 23)

• Overall record: 188-85

Native to Wisconsin, Oats was a college assistant in his home state before coaching high school ball in Detroit for many years. He caught on at the D1 level on Bobby Hurley’s Buffalo staff but really shined in four years as the Bulls’ head coach, getting a pair of Tournament wins. Oats was brought to Alabama in 2019 and has created magnificent success with the Crimson Tide. He’s led the program to a pair of SEC titles and Sweet Sixteen’s, the second of each coming in this past season.

14. Rick Pitino (St. John’s) (Last year: 19)

• Overall record: 834-293
• Final Four in 1987, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2005, 2012*, 2013*
• National championships in 1996, 2013*

Pitino played point guard at UMass, was Jim Boeheim’s first hire at Syracuse, and has been a head coach at six different colleges and for two NBA franchises. He led Providence to a Final Four before winning national championships at both Kentucky and Louisville, with the Cardinals’ title obviously vacated. Pitino spent the last three years with success at Iona, including a pair of trips to the Big Dance and plenty of wins in the MAAC. Now he’s back in the Big East, taking over a St. John’s program that seriously needed this kind of boost.

13. Bruce Pearl (Auburn) (Last year: 17)

• Overall record: 418-210
• Final Four in 2019

After serving as a manager at Boston College and an assistant at a few other schools, Pearl’s head coaching career began in style, winning a D2 title at Southern Indiana over two decades ago. The winning didn’t stop there, as he’d lead Milwaukee to the Sweet Sixteen in 2005 before a nice run with Tennessee was broken up by violations. Auburn brought him aboard in 2014, with Pearl building this program into a winner. The Tigers made the Final Four back in 2019 and have been in the Big Dance these last two seasons again.

12. Mick Cronin (UCLA) (Last year: 13)

• Overall record: 464-207
• Final Four in 2021

Cronin was born in Cincinnati and graduated a Bearcat, yet he left the school even after 13 successful years as head coach. He assisted Bob Huggins with the Bearcats and also spent time at Louisville before getting his career started at Murray State. During that decade-plus leading Cincinnati he took the Bearcats to nine straight NCAA Tournaments but has had a breakthrough at UCLA. He bolted for the West Coast in 2019 and had the Bruins in the Final Four in just his second year. He’s coming off a 31-win season, a Pac-12 regular season title, and a third straight trip to the Sweet Sixteen.

11. Eric Musselman (Arkansas) (Last year: 15)

• Overall record: 205-76

Musselman has only been a collegiate head coach for eight years, but he’s been everywhere in this sport. He was a coach in the CBA and NBA, briefly serving as head coach of both the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings. His first collegiate chance came as led Nevada to 110 wins and a Sweet Sixteen in four seasons. Since arriving at Arkansas in 2019 the results have been even greater, taking the Razorbacks to two Elite Eights plus a Sweet Sixteen run this past season, with a few gnarly upsets along the way.