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

260. David Patrick (Sacramento State) (Last year: 257)

• Overall record: 41-56

As a player, Patrick was part of a Final Four team at Syracuse in 1996 before ending his college playing career at Louisiana. He’d spent time playing professionally over in Australia and would even assist their national team later in his career. Patrick has been an assistant for six different D1 schools and had two solid years as head coach at UC Riverside. Sacramento State handed him the reigns last offseason, with year one’s results being a decent 14-18 mark, albeit an improvement from their previous season.

259. Chris Caputo (George Washington) (Last year: 313)

• Overall record: 16-16

After a playing career at Westfield State, a D3 college in Massachusetts, Caputo would join Jim Larranaga’s coaching staff at George Mason and would be set up for success. He’d become a full-time assistant and later helped lead the Patriots to the Final Four in 2006. Caputo followed Larranaga to Miami, spending 11 years in the ACC on his mentor’s bench. Caputo’s first shot at running his own program came last year when George Washington hired him. Tying for 6th place in the A-10 is certainly a solid enough start.

258. Keith Richard (Louisiana-Monroe) (Last year: 255)

• Overall record: 302-369

Richard has spent nearly all of his career in the state of Louisiana, including most of his four decades in the collegiate game. He’s been an assistant at several schools, including a stint at LSU, and previously spent nine seasons as head coach at Louisiana Tech. Since 2010, Richard has been head coach at Louisiana-Monroe and it’s been an interesting journey with the Warhawks. He led the program to four postseason bids in five years earlier in his tenure, but his Warhawks have been under .500 and have struggled in the last four seasons.

257. Talvin Hester (Louisiana Tech) (Last year: 341)

• Overall record: 15-18

Two decades as a collegiate assistant prepared Hester for this moment and he’s now a year into his first head coaching job. He spent time at a number of D1 colleges over the years, with his first taste at Prairie View A&M before success with Houston, Oral Roberts, Louisiana Tech, and Texas Tech in recent years. The Bulldogs brought him back as head coach in 2022 after a year in the Big 12 and it was a decent enough start to his head coaching career, though a 9th place finish in the CUSA certainly isn’t the ceiling.

256. Donald Copeland (Wagner) (Last year: 334)

• Overall record: 15-13

A former point guard at Seton Hall, Copeland played international ball for nearly a decade before beginning his coaching career. He originally arrived at Wagner in 2015 as a graduate assistant and would only leave for a season on Kevin Willard’s staff at Seton Hall. Copeland would depart his alma mater to return to Wagner as head coach in 2022. While 15 wins and a 5th place finish in the NEC is actually a step backwards form last season, it’s certainly a great start to a head coaching career.

255. Monte’ Ross (North Carolina A&T) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 132-184

Ross previously spent a decade as the head coach at Delaware and has been a college basketball coach for the better part of three decades. He started as an assistant at Lehigh way back in 1993 before later spending a decade at Saint Joseph’s, helping them to that memorable 2004 season. Ross had spent the last four years on the staff at Temple and now gets his second shot as head coach, taking over a North Carolina A&T program looking for stability.

254. Billy Taylor (Elon) (Last year: 245)

• Overall record: 173-192

It’s been a mixed bag of a coaching career for Taylor, who just began his fourth head coaching job last season at Elon. He led Lehigh to the NCAA Tournament in 2003 before six mediocre seasons leading Ball State. Taylor was also an assistant under Fran McCaffery, with two stints at Iowa sandwiching time leading D2 Belmont Abbey. Elon won just 8 games in Taylor’s first season leading the Phoenix, though it’s too early to know if he can turn this program around.

253. Landon Bussie (Alcorn State) (Last year: 276)

• Overall record: 41-44

Bussie ended his own playing career at Xavier University of Louisiana, an NAIA school that he later served at as an assistant. He’d move on to Prairie View A&M, spending seven years first as a women’s assistant and then coaching with the men’s team. His first shot at running a program came when Alcorn State gave him their job in 2020. After struggling in his first season, he’d led the Braves to back-to-back SWAC regular season titles, though Alcorn State has settled for the NIT in both campaigns.

252. John Dunne (Marist) (Last year: 250)

• Overall record: 211-312

No strange to collegiate coaching, Dunne’s career began over three decades ago with short stints at schools like Wilkes and Adelphi. He assisted Louis Orr at Siena and Seton Hall before starting his head coaching career at Saint Peter’s back in 2006. Dunne has spent the last 17 years as a head coach in the MAAC, leading the Peacocks to a Tourney appearance and CIT title before transitioning to Marist in 2018. His only season above .500 with the Red Foxes was the shortened post-pandemic season and his team is coming off an 11th place finish in the league.

251. Kenny Payne (Louisville) (Last year: 84)

• Overall record: 4-28

Easily the largest dropper in the history of these rankings, Payne begins his second year at Louisville with almost nowhere to go but up. A former forward at Louisville and for the Philadelphia 76ers, he had long coaching stints at Oregon and Kentucky, helping John Calipari build a fantastic program as an assistant. After a pair of seasons in the NBA with the New York Knicks, Payne was brought back to his alma mater last season and it was horrific. The Cardinals somehow won just 4 games and were the worst power conference team we’ve seen in several years.

250. Brette Tanner (Abilene Christian) (Last year: 231)

• Overall record: 38-28

Much of Tanner’s experience has come in the great state of Texas, including junior college stints long ago. He had long stints as an assistant or associate head coach at both Stephen F. Austin and Abilene Christian with varying levels of success. When Joe Golding left the program in 2021, Abilene Christian handed him the reins. Winning 25 games in his first season was excellent, but a 13-17 mark last year was clearly a step back as the program reloaded some talent.

249. Steve Smiley (Northern Colorado) (Last year: 221)

• Overall record: 45-47

Smiley spent six years as a junior college head coach at Sheridan College, but this time with Northern Colorado is his first shot running a D1 program. He had spent time at a few non-D1 schools before coaching stints at Weber State and Northern Colorado. When Jeff Linder was hired by Wyoming, Smiley was promoted to head coach and is three years into his stint. His second season featured 22 wins and a deep run at the CBI, but the Bears won just 12 games and finished 8th in the Big Sky last year.

248. Marty Simmons (Eastern Illinois) (Last year: 248)

• Overall record: 198-223

A native of southeastern Illinois, Simmons has spent nearly his entire coaching career in that part of the country, including all four of his head coaching stints. He was head coach at Wartburg and SIU Edwardsville (before they were D1) and spent 11 years leading Evansville, his alma mater. He won a CIT title at Evansville, but was fired in 2018 and spent three years as a special assistant at Clemson. Eastern Illinois brought him to town two seasons ago, but he’s just 14-48 to this point.

247. Tony Barbee (Central Michigan) (Last year: 241)

• Overall record: 148-171

Barbee played his college ball at UMass under John Calipari and has been an assistant under him at three different schools. Barbee spent long stints at Memphis and Kentucky on Calipari’s coaching staffs, sandwiching his first taste of head coaching. He led UTEP to the NCAA Tournament and a few CBI runs before stalling in four seasons as head coach at Auburn. Central Michigan gave him the job in 2021, though a pair of 10th place finishes in the MAC and just 17 total wins hasn’t been the greatest start for the Chippewas.

246. Mark Slessinger (New Orleans) (Last year: 246)

• Overall record: 144-184

After working at a few different schools early in his career, including two seasons as a junior college head coach at Northland Pioneer, Slessinger had a 12-year stint as an assistant at Northwestern State under Mike McConathy. His first D1 head coaching opportunity came in 2011 at New Orleans and he’s led the Privateers ever since. His tenure included a trip to the Big Dance in 2017 and a few other postseason trips, though last year’s 12-20 mark was certainly a down year for the program.

245. Tom Pecora (Quinnipiac) (Last year: N/A)

• Overall record: 199-232

Pecora begins his fourth head coaching job and his third at the D1 level, taking the top job for Quinnipiac this past offseason. Formerly head coach at SUNY Farmingdale more than three decades ago, he had varying levels of success leading Hofstra and Fordham, though his time with the Rams wasn’t great. Eight years after Fordham fired him, he begins his next quest, having spent the last six years on the Quinnipiac staff in various roles. Can he build on last year’s 3rd place finish in the MAAC?

244. Eric Duft (Weber State) (Last year: 350)

• Overall record: 18-15

He began his career as a junior college coach in his home state of Kansas, but Duft has made himself quite a life out in Utah at Weber State. He joined the staff when Randy Rahe was originally hired back in 2006 and spent the next sixteen years as an assistant, taking over as the head coach this past season. It’s hard to tell too much from a first season, but 18 wins and a 3rd place finish in the Big Sky certainly seems like a solid first season for the Wildcats.

243. Geno Ford (Stony Brook) (Last year: 229)

• Overall record: 172-185

Long before arriving at Stony Brook, Ford already had a plethora of coaching experience. He was briefly an assistant at Ohio, his alma mater, and has been the head coach at Shawnee State and Muskingum, two non-D1 schools. As a D1 head coach, he took Kent State to a pair of NIT’s before bottoming out at Bradley nearly a decade ago. He joined the Seawolves’ staff under Jeff Boals in 2016 and was promoted to the top job three years later. He’s had a few good seasons, but last year’s 11-22 finish in their first year in the CAA was certainly disappointing.

242. Brian Earl (Cornell) (Last year: 251)

• Overall record: 74-95

While his career certainly hasn’t all been spent in Ithaca, Earl has only known life in the Ivy League, at least at the collegiate level. He played at Princeton back in the 90’s, appearing in a few NCAA Tournaments, before joining the coaching staff for nearly a decade. In 2016, he began his head coaching career at Cornell and has had decent results with the Big Red. Not only did he get Cornell to the CIT in his third season, but he’s lead them to at least a 4th place finish in four of his six seasons at the helm, including a personal-high 17 wins last year.

241. Reggie Witherspoon (Canisius) (Last year: 238)

• Overall record: 292-340

Much of Witherspoon’s life has been spent in and around Buffalo, including his playing career and his entire head coaching career. He was a high school and junior college coach in the city before being hired by the Buffalo, the program in the MAC. He spent 14 years with the Bulls and made a few postseason trips. After two brief coaching stints outside the state, including at Alabama, he was hired by Canisius in 2016 and led the Golden Griffins to success early in his tenure. Unfortunately, Canisius hasn’t won more than 12 games in the last four seasons.