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

240. Dan Earl (Chattanooga) (Last year: 252)

• Overall record: 91-156

A former point guard at Penn State, Earl played briefly overseas before beginning his coaching career at his alma mater back in the mid-2000’s. He’d serve on Ed DeChellis’s staff and later followed him to Navy as associate head coach. Earl got his own head coaching start at VMI in 2015, spending the next seven years building the Keydets program. He moved on to Chattanooga in 2022, staying in the SoCon, and taking over a program riding high off a trip to the Big Dance. A 7th place finish in the league in year one doesn’t sound great, but it’s a decent start for the Mocs.

239. Mark Prosser (Winthrop) (Last year: 242)

• Overall record: 75-79

The son of a fantastic head coach in his own right, Prosser has done well to mark his own path in the sport. He was an assistant at numerous schools, including stops at Bucknell, Wofford, and Winthrop. Prosser spent a single year as head coach at D2 Brevard, but really got his career going when Western Carolina hired him in 2018. Three decent seasons leading the Catamounts led Winthrop to bringing him back to the program as head coach, where he delivered a regular season title in his first season and a less impressive 4th place mark in year two.

238. Ryan Ridder (Tennessee-Martin) (Last year: 260)

• Overall record: 75-81

It’s been a recent rise for Ridder who has spent the last decade as a college basketball head coach. Still just 38 years old, he assisted at a few schools, including Campbell at the D1 level, before starting his head coaching career at Daytona State. After a ton of junior college success, he was hired at Bethune-Cookman and had four decent years with those Wildcats. UT Martin hired him in 2021 and things are going well early on, with the Skyhawks winning 19 games and tying for 3rd in the OVC this past season.

237. Scott Pera (Rice) (Last year: 259)

• Overall record: 85-106

A longtime high school head coach, Pera’s collegiate career got started in earnest on Herb Sendek’s staff at Arizona State. He worked at a few different colleges and joined Mike Rhoades’ Rice staff back in 2014. After three years, Rhoades departed for VCU and Pera became the head coach. He’s slowly been building the Owls into a better program, with back-to-back CBI trips in the last two seasons. He failed to finish above .500 in the CUSA and has a tougher challenge ahead, with Rice joining the AAC this year.

236. Joe Scott (Air Force) (Last year: 234)

• Overall record: 265-296

Currently in his second stint leading Air Force, Scott has had an eventful coaching career already. A former point guard at Princeton, he was a longtime assistant for the Tigers and even became head coach way back in 2004, the very job that caused him to leave Air Force the first time. Add on a 9-year stint leading Denver and Scott had been the head coach for three different D1 programs, with his lone trip to the Big Dance coming with these Falcons. The program is improving but he’s just 30-56 during this second stint.

235. Steve Henson (UTSA) (Last year: 215)

• Overall record: 99-123

Still serving his first head coaching job at UTSA, Henson spent much of his early coaching career under Lon Kruger. He played point under Kruger at Kansas State, and after a playing career that included a few years in the NBA, Henson assisted Kruger with Illinois, the Atlanta Hawks, UNLV, and Oklahoma. After helping the Sooners to a Final Four in 2016, he advanced to UTSA and has had mixed results in seven years. He won 20 games in his second season in San Antonio but has won just 10 apiece these last two seasons, finishing 11th in the CUSA for this year.

234. Kevin McGeehan (Campbell) (Last year: 225)

• Overall record: 155-164

Formerly head coach at the high school and D3 level (at Beaver College), McGeehan has been a D1 coach for the better part of the last two decades. His entire experience as an assistant came under Chris Mooney, brief at Air Force before a long stint at Richmond. He was hired as the new head coach at Campbell back in 2013 and has had some success with the Camels, making the NIT in 2019 and winning plenty of games. Coming off a 16-18 season, Campbell transitions to the CAA this season, meaning new challenges are ahead for McGeehan and this program.

233. Kenny Blakeney (Howard) (Last year: 304)

• Overall record: 43-59

Blakeney played at Duke in the early 90’s and has bounced around quite a bit in his coaching career. He was an assistant at James Madison, Seton Hall, Harvard, and a few other schools before eventually being hired by Howard back in 2019. His first head coaching job started a little rough, but this past season certainly made up for early struggles. Blakeney led the Bison to the MEAC regular season and tournament titles, getting Howard to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 31 years.

232. Donte Jackson (Grambling State) (Last year: 254)

• Overall record: 99-87

Originally from Milwaukee, Jackson has had himself a pretty decent run to this point as a collegiate coach. He’s a former player, assistant, and head coach at Central State, while also leading Stillman to the D2 Tournament a few years later. After those two D2 head coaching gigs, he was hired by Grambling State in 2017. He’s been pretty steady with the Tigers, a program once considered one of the nation’s worst. Grambling finished 24-9 this past season, with Jackson earning a second SWAC regular season title.

231. Brad Korn (Southeast Missouri State) (Last year: 282)

• Overall record: 44-51

After playing at Southern Illinois under Bruce Weber and Matt Painter, Korn began his coaching career with those same Salukis for nearly a decade. He was on Weber’s staff at Kansas State and also spent time at Missouri State as well before getting his shot to run a program. Southeast Missouri State hired him in 2020 and he’s just achieved the desired results in year three, leading the Redhawks to the NCAA Tournament this past March.

230. Jim Ferry (UMBC) (Last year: 232)

• Overall record: 257-288

Ferry has been a collegiate head coach at six different schools, though one of those stops was as the interim leader. Early in his career he had success at D3 Plymouth State and D2 Adelphi before starting a decade as head coach at Long Island, taking the Blackbirds to a pair of NCAA Tournaments in the early 2010’s. He struggled at Duquesne and was briefly interim head coach at Penn State before landing at UMBC in 2021. Two 18-win campaigns with decent conference finishes have followed, though it’s nothing too special yet for him with the Retrievers.

229. Edward Joyner (Hampton) (Last year: 222)

• Overall record: 213-233

For more than a decade, Joyner was a player and assistant coach at Johnson C. Smith, a D2 school in North Carolina. He joined Hampton’s coaching staff in 2006 and was promoted to head coach just three years later. There’s been success for the Pirates across the last fourteen years, including three trips to the Big Dance in his first seven years. Hampton took a slight step back after joining the Big South in 2018 and finished just 8-24 last year, the program’s first season in the CAA.

228. Jeremy Ballard (Florida International) (Last year: 236)

• Overall record: 77-79

Following a playing career at Colgate, Ballard served as an assistant at several D1 schools, starting right back at his alma mater. He’s worked with Shaka Smart at VCU, Kevin Stallings at Pittsburgh, and Mike Rhoades in a second stint with the Rams. In 2018, he got his first head coaching job at Florida International. The first two years were solid, winning 39 games combined in those seasons, but the Panthers have been below .500 in the three years since, though they did tie for 6th in the CUSA this season.

227. Michael Schwartz (East Carolina) (Last year: 319)

• Overall record: 16-17

A longtime D1 assistant, Schwartz only just began his head coaching career this past season at East Carolina. He briefly played at Texas under Rick Barnes and spent a decade on his staffs both with the Longhorns and most recently at Tennessee. Between that Schwartz spent time Miami, Tulsa, and a few other schools. This 16-win campaign wasn’t exactly outstanding, but it was the Pirates’ most wins in a season in nine years, a more than solid start to a head coaching career.

226. Jordan Mincy (Jacksonville) (Last year: 223)

• Overall record: 34-26

After playing his college ball at Kent State, Mincy spent just over a decade as a collegiate assistant, starting off as a graduate assistant at South Carolina. He split time between six different schools, including seven years under Mike White at both Louisiana Tech and Florida as one of his top assistants. Mincy’s first head coaching position came at Jacksonville, where he’s been since 2021. His Dolphins won 21 games in a phenomenal first year, but tied for 11th in the ASUN this past season.

225. Byron Smith (Prairie View A&M) (Last year: 220)

• Overall record: 113-113

Smith bounced around as an assistant at a number of schools early in this career, and was even the coach of the Harlem Globetrotters two decades ago. He was all over the game of basketball in the state of Texas, even spending time on staff at Houston and Texas A&M. He was hired by Prairie View A&M back in 2013 as an assistant and would become interim head coach just over three years later. Smith led the Panthers to just their second-ever trip to the Big Dance in 2019 and won three straight SWAC regular season titles, though the last two years have been more mediocre.

224. King Rice (Monmouth) (Last year: 187)

• Overall record: 189-193

Rice has been entrenched at Monmouth since 2011 and spent several years as a D1 assistant before that. A former North Carolina point guard, he served time at Oregon, Illinois State, Providence, and Vanderbilt, spending time under Kevin Stallings at two of those schools. He led the Hawks to a pair of MAAC titles early in his career, but hasn’t yet sniffed the Big Dance. He’s led Monmouth during two conference changes, though this one’s off to a rough start, as the Hawks were just 7-26 last year in their CAA debut.

223. Pat Duquette (UMass Lowell) (Last year: 283)

• Overall record: 136-163

UMass Lowell’s head coach for their entire run at the D1 level, Duquette’s coaching career began with short stints at non-D1 schools. He was hired by Al Skinner at Boston College and would spend thirteen seasons with the Eagles. After a short run at Northeastern, Duquette moved over to Lowell, taking over the River Hawks’ program in 2013. His first decade produced a lot of average finishes but culminated in success, as the River Hawks finished 26-8 last season with a 2nd place finish in the America East.

222. Zach Spiker (Drexel) (Last year: 227)

• Overall record: 195-230

Native to West Virginia, Spiker actually served as an admin assistant with the Mountaineers early in his career before getting his first full-time shot at Cornell. A few years later, his head coaching career began with a solid seven-year stint at Army. Spiker moved to Drexel back in 2016 and has fared much better in recent years. He’d lead the Dragons to the NCAA Tournament back in 2021 and has finished above .500 in CAA play in each of the last two seasons as well.

221. Jerrod Calhoun (Youngstown State) (Last year: 230)

• Overall record: 96-96

Influenced by some of the sports’ best coaches, Calhoun played at Cleveland State under Rollie Massimino and was a student assistant and later a staffer under Bob Huggins at both Cincinnati and West Virginia. His first head coaching experience came at Fairmont State, as he led the Fighting Falcons to the D2 title game in 2017. A few weeks later he was hired by Youngstown State and has turned the Horizon League’s perennial doormat into a contender, winning 24 games and the league’s regular season title this past season.