NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 364 D-I head coaches for 2024-25 season
By Joey Loose
While football has led the airwaves in recent days and weeks, the NCAA basketball season’s beginnings are less than two months away. The next several weeks will see a boatload of previews, predictions, and other expectations levied on the 364 D1 programs in the nation. The possibilities are limitless in a sport so full of unpredictability and intrigue at every level.
This past season saw a second-straight national title for Connecticut, while many other players and programs across the country got their own moments in the spotlight. This historic season is now a thing of the past, with many of those players graduating, leaving for the pros, or entering the Transfer Portal. Today isn’t specifically about reflecting on the recent past, but looking at the bigger picture for each of these programs.
After all, even the most talented players in the nation don’t get very far without the right leadership. Coaching in this sport is quite possibly as tough as it’s ever been, especially with the advent of the Transfer Portal and the way that NIL has consumed the world of athletics. Beyond all of that, even after recruiting it’s on the coaches and their staffs to put these student athletes in the best position for success on the court.
The situation is different for each program, with Blue Bloods jockeying for destiny while the smallest of mid-majors hope for even that smallest iota of attention on the national stage. Each coach faces challenges alike and today’s challenge involves comparing them all against each other in some crazy manner.
Believe it or not, this marks the 7th straight year that we are ranking every single D1 head coach in the country from top to bottom, considering their careers, their recent success, and their roles in shaping these programs and their own destinies. Virtually an impossible task to perfect, we’re putting our best foot forward and including plenty of background information on every single one of these 364 coaches.
Before we get into the actual rankings, there are a few things to keep in mind. These rankings were not put together with a computer or fancy formula; it’s a unique balance of entire careers with recent results. A relatively young or new head coach has a great shot to shoot up the rankings, as several of these names have done this past season. Likewise, there are some older names perhaps higher up than expected riding on the overall achievements of their careers.
As mentioned earlier, every coach has some background information and Sports Reference and other sites were used heavily to compile all of the data and research presented today. With the incredible stories of these head coaches, this article could have easily been 5x times longer, but that just goes to show you what it takes to be a successful coach in today’s game.
Learn something new about a head coach, perhaps one of the newer ones nearer to the very bottom of these rankings. From those D1 rookies to the Hall of Famers and national champions near the top, we now present this conclusive list, with references to how these coaches were ranked last season included as well.