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

Big West: Eric Olen (UC San Diego)

Out west, UC San Diego has emerged from a sea of California schools and are having their best season since joining the D1 ranks back in 2020. Olen has been with this program since 2004 (his entire coaching career) and led the program to great success at the D2 level early in his head coaching run. What he’s done this season is leading the Tritons to the next level, now in their fourth year in the Big West.

They’re not just winning games; they’re also proving they belong. Despite being picked to finish 9th, the Tritons sit just a game back of UC Irvine for the conference lead. They have several big wins, including a sweep of preseason favorite UC Santa Barbara and a blowout win at UC Davis last month. The Tritons needed a few years to adjust to D1 athletics and clearly Olen has this program thriving again.

CAA: Pat Kelsey (Charleston)

There isn’t much variance in the CAA this season. Much of the preseason picks are ringing true, leaving us without much obvious direction in making this league’s choice. Despite the fact that the Cougars aren’t having the same type of season as last year, it’s hard not to lean towards Kelsey and this Charleston team, who are sitting pretty once again.

Charleston sits atop the league standings at 12-3, having already won 21 games this season. As mentioned, they’re a bit beneath last season, where this squad was nationally ranked and won 30 games, but the Cougars keep winning in this CAA with new pieces on this roster. Kelsey has done another fantastic job with this program; it’s hard to bet against him and the Cougars in the near future, especially with their recent winning streak.