260. Matt Logie (Montana State) (Last year: 253)
Overall record: 32-36
The work has been solid throughout a length coaching career for Logie, whose first decade in the sport came as a player and assistant out at Lehigh. His head coaching journey began with brilliance at Whitworth and a boatload of D3 Tourney appearances. Logie then did fantastic work helming Point Loma with D2 success before taking Montana State’s opening in 2023. That brilliant momentum continued by taking the Bobcats to the NCAA Tournament in his first season, though last year was a disappointment at 15-18.
259. K. T. Turner (UT Arlington) (Last year: 231)
Overall record: 33-32
Over the years Turner was more than a reliable assistant, spending time on a number of prominent coaching staffs over the years. The Kansas native aided Wichita State, SMU, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kentucky, working under coaches like Larry Brown and John Calipari before beginning his own head coaching career two years. UT Arlington brought him aboard and cashed in with a 20-win campaign in his debut. However, the Mavericks took a step back last season with a 13-18 finish.
258. John Griffin III (Bucknell) (Last year: 316)
Overall record: 32-34
Another coach building success at his alma mater, Griffin played for the Bison back in the mid-2000’s before spending a few seasons playing overseas. His return back to the states came as a video coordinator with the Indiana Pacers before picking up a few coaching positions in college ball. Griffin was associate head coach at Saint Joseph’s before Bucknell brought him back as head coach in 2023. After decent strides in year one, Griffin just took the Bison to 18 wins and a tie for the Patriot League regular season crown.
257. Gerry McNamara (Siena) (Last year: 319)
Overall record: 14-18
Last year was the beginning of a new opportunity for McNamara at Siena and it’s only the beginning of the second stage of his basketball life. He arrived as a guard at Syracuse back in 2002 and was part of that program for much of the next two decades, winning a national title as a player before joining the coaching staff a few years later. A longtime assistant under Jim Boeheim, McNamara was passed over for the top job and left for Siena’s job last year, tying for 8th place in the MAAC in his first run with the Saints.
256. Matthew Graves (Indiana State) (Last year: 264)
Overall record: 79-114
Graves grew his love for basketball at Butler, playing guard for the Bulldogs under Barry Collier before a long stint on the coaching staff. He was part of those two Final Four teams under Brad Stevens before leaving in 2013 to be South Alabama’s head coach. While he didn’t make much progress with those Jaguars, he’s back running a program at Indiana State, taking over last season. His 14-18 mark in year one was a fine first step but can’t be the ceiling like it was at South Alabama.
255. Jase Coburn (Portland State) (Last year: 278)
Overall record: 62-64
In his early coaching career, Coburn worked at the high school and junior college level, winning a decent amount of games for a few programs in Arizona and Texas. He arrived at Portland State way back in 2013 as an assistant coach and worked his way up the staff over the years, later becoming associate head coach before ascending to the top job in 2021. His work with the Vikings has been relatively steady but otherwise uninspiring, though this past season was his best with 19 wins and 3rd place in the Big Sky.
254. Tony Madlock (Alabama State) (Last year: 304)
Overall record: 57-78
Many years have passed since Madlock played at Memphis in the late 80’s and he’s been coaching college basketball for a lot of that time. He spent nearly a quarter century as a D1 assistant, including stops at Auburn, Ole Miss, and Memphis. Though he was briefly interim head coach with the Rebels, he got his head coaching started with a solid year at South Carolina State before taking Alabama State’s job in 2022. Three years of growth resulted in last season’s success as Madlock led the Hornets to the NCAA Tournament.
253. Patrick Sellers (Central Connecticut) (Last year: 298)
Overall record: 63-64
It’s fitting that Sellers is the coach winning games at Central Connecticut, the place where the played guard back in the 80’s and early 90’s. He’s had a long coaching career, which included work with Jim Calhoun at UConn, Greg McDermott at Creighton, and several other stops over three decades. His alma mater brought him on for his first collegiate head coaching job in 2021 and haven’t regretted that move. After two rough seasons, Sellers has led the Blue Devils to consecutive NEC regular season titles, though he still hunts for that trip to the Big Dance.
252. Mike DeGeorge (Cal Poly) (Last year: 335)
Overall record: 16-19
For the last 25 years, DeGeorge has been a very solid head coach in college basketball and has recently worked his way up to D1 ball. While there were mixed results early at Eureka and Cornell (Iowa), DeGeorge took both the latter and Rhodes to the D3 Tournament and had plenty of D2 success over his years leading Colorado Mesa. Last offseason he inherited a Cal Poly program in terrible shape and a 16-win campaign right off the bat is actually remarkable work.
251. Joe Scott (Air Force) (Last year: 239)
Overall record: 278-346
Although Scott is likely nearing the end of his coaching career, it’s been an eventful journey for the former Princeton point guard. He was an assistant coach for the Tigers during their great season in 1996 and later became head coach in the 2000’s. Before that, Scott took Air Force to the NCAA Tournament in 2004 and had some decent years leading Denver in the years following that. However, since returning for his second stint with the Falcons, Air Force hasn’t turned the corner, with a paltry 4-28 mark last year.
250. Matt McKillop (Davidson) (Last year: 282)
Overall record: 48-49
You could easily argue that McKillop is still trying to escape his father’s shadow. Bob led Davidson for many years, and Matt played under him in the early 2000’s before joining his coaching staff in 2008. After 14 seasons as an assistant, McKillop was named head coach after his father’s retirement. Unfortunately, the Wildcats just haven’t taken that next step during his first three seasons in charge of the program. His 17 wins last year was his best to date but Davidson landed in 12th place in the A-10.
249. Justin Gray (Coastal Carolina) (Last year: 250)
Overall record: 61-69
Gray was a shooting guard at Wake Forest during some of the program’s better days in the early 2000’s before a long playing career overseas. After all that time, he joined Pat Kelsey’s coaching staff at Winthrop but was quickly named head coach at Western Carolina in 2021. His hard work with the Catamounts resulted in a 21-win season before he jumped to Coastal Carolina after three seasons. His first year with the Chanticleers wasn’t a standout effort at 10-22 but it’s only the beginning.
248. Reggie Theus (Bethune Cookman) (Last year: 261)
Overall record: 149-202
Theus has been in basketball for a long time, dating back to his work at UNLV in the 70’s before becoming a first round NBA draft pick. He played over a decade in the NBA and later became a G League head coach, but Theus has done solid work coaching collegiately. He was on an early Rick Pitino staff at Louisville before taking New Mexico State to the Big Dance in 2007. Things fizzled out at Cal State Northridge but the work with Bethune-Cookman has been solid, coming off a 3rd place finish in the SWAC in his fourth season on campus.
247. Jay Ladner (Southern Miss) (Last year: 220)
Overall record: 152-199
Ladner coached high school ball in his home state of Mississippi for two decades before getting into the college scene, first as a junior college head coach. He took a big step up as Southeastern Louisiana’s new coach in 2014 and won 76 games with the Lions, including a trip to the NIT in his fourth season. In 2019, Ladner made the jump to Southern Miss and has made another NIT with the Golden Eagles and won several games since joining the Sun Belt, though last season’s 12th place finish was disappointing.
246. Eric Duft (Weber State) (Last year: 227)
Overall record: 50-49
Born in Kansas, Duft played collegiately at Sterling, an NAIA school, and would begin his coaching career with stints at a few community colleges in his home state. After a long stint on the bench at Hutchinson CC, he joined Randy Rahe’s coaching staff at Weber State back in 2006. Duft was a material part of great success for the Wildcats over the next 16 years until becoming head coach himself after Rahe’s retirement. Duft’s work was solid in his first two seasons, but last year was a step back at 12-22.
245. Jon Jaques (Cornell) (Last year: 342)
Overall record: 18-11
Much of Jaques’ experience has come in the Ivy League, with many years at Cornell, starting as a player back in the late 2000’s. After a brief playing career, his coaching got started in earnest as a graduate assistant under Kyle Smith at Columbia before an assistant job opened at his alma mater in 2013. After more than a decade on the Big Red Staff, Jaques was promoted to head coach this past offseason. The LA native finished 2nd place with 18 wins in his first year leading his own program.
244. Jeremy Ballard (FIU) (Last year: 240)
Overall record: 98-124
After playing and coaching at Colgate to kick start his basketball career, Ballard found a spot on several prominent coaching staff. He aided Shaka Smart for a few years at VCU and also worked at Illinois State, Pittsburgh, and Tulsa before getting FIU’s head coaching gig back in 2018. The early work was great from Ballard, winning 39 games in his first two years with the Panthers but things haven’t been as solid post-pandemic. The Panthers were just 10-23 this past year, dead last in the CUSA standings by three games.
243. Landon Bussie (Chicago State) (Last year: 248)
Overall record: 66-83
This season begins a new challenge for Bussie, whose previous coaching experience had mostly come in the SWAC. An alum of Xavier (LA), Bussie spent several years as an assistant at Prairie View A&M before a 5-year stint as Alcorn State’s head coach. He won a pair of regular season titles in the SWAC, taking the Braves to the NIT in both 2022 and 2023 before a pair of less successful campaigns. Now Bussie transitions to Chicago State, hoping he can be the one to make the Cougars a winner.
242. Kevin Johnson (Southern) (Last year: 288)
Overall record: 103-126
Another basketball lifer from Louisiana, Johnson played out of state at Texas Pan-American but has spent nearly all of his coaching career in his home state. He notably was head coach at Centenary two decades ago when that program was still at the D1 level, with other stints on staff at Louisiana and Louisiana Tech. After four years on Ron Hunter’s Tulane staff, Johnson got the Southern job in 2023. After an 18-win debut, Johnson took the Jaguars to the regular season title in the SWAC in year two.
241. Byron Smith (Prairie View A&M) (Last year: 229)
Overall record: 128-161
Among the most unique coaching journeys in the sport, Smith played basketball at Northwestern State and Houston but early in his career was actually the head coach of the Harlem Globetrotters. After brief work at schools like Texas A&M and Texas Southern, Smith caught on at Prairie View A&M and was named head coach in January 2016. He quickly shed the interim tag and led the Panthers to the NCAA Tournament in 2019, his first of three straight SWAC titles. Recent seasons have been far sparser, with the program winning just five games last year.