NCAA Basketball: Picking each league’s Coach of the Year for 2023-24 season

Southland: Will Wade (McNeese State)

The choice here is obvious, but the honorable mentions are worthy. Tevon Saddler just turned 29 and has Nicholls playing great ball in his first season. Alvin Brooks has greatly exceeded expectations with Lamar while it’s been a prosperous first head coaching year for Jim Shaw in Corpus Christi. Regardless, what Wade is doing in year one (and perhaps his only year) at McNeese State is unmatched.

His Cowboys sit 23-3, a record that includes impressive road wins over VCU, UAB, and Michigan earlier in the season. They’re three games clear of the pack in the Southland at 12-1 in league play and currently have the best metrics we’ve ever seen from a Southland team at this time of the year. Wade has been an instant hit down in Lake Charles, but can he continue that magic into the postseason?

SWAC: Kevin Johnson (Southern)

Among the programs in the SWAC, Southern’s season might be the most notable. The Jaguars made a head coaching change in the offseason and yet are the only team above .500 in the league right now. Johnson is no stranger, having been head coach at Centenary back when they were still a D1 program, but his work in year one with the Jaguars already outclasses that earlier experience.

These Jaguars are tied at 10-3 with Grambling State for the conference lead, impressive work for a team picked to finish more in the middle of the pack. The impressive moment of the season came with a true road win at Mississippi State back in early December. Since then, the Jaguars have done their best against the SWAC, including a recent seven-game winning streak, and Johnson looks like a great fit in Baton Rouge.