NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 364 D-I head coaches for 2024-25 season

90. Steve Prohm (Murray State) (Last year: 70)

Overall record: 230-159

Now a few years into his second stint with Murray State, Prohm’s earliest coaching days came into being under Billy Kennedy. Prohm aided him at three different schools, spending five years on his staff at Murray State before being promoted to head coach in 2011. Prohm won over 100 games in four years, including an NCAA Tournament win and a CIT title before heading to Iowa State for a stint that had greatness and despair, including a 2-22 season before his firing. Prohm has been back with the Racers since 2022 but has just a pair of 7th place finishes in the MVC.

89. Scott Nagy (Southern Illinois) (Last year: 92)

Overall record: 334-190

Certainly an underrated coach in today’s game, Nagy has quietly done solid work at the mid-major level through his career. It all started as a graduate assistant with Illinois before eventually getting his head coaching start at South Dakota State. Over the next 21 years, Nagy transformed the Jackrabbits into a D2 powerhouse and led the transition into D1, making the program’s first three NCAA Tournaments. He then accepted the job at Wright State and made a few more trips to the Big Dance over the last eight seasons. Now Nagy takes over a Southern Illinois program hoping for similar success.

88. Ryan Odom (VCU) (Last year: 88)

Overall record: 173-110

Even years later, the highlight of Odom’s career remains that unbelievable upset at 16-seed UMBC back in 2018. He worked as an assistant at several schools before head coaching experience at Lenoir-Rhyne kick started his career. He followed D2 success with that run with UMBC and later spent a pair of years at Utah State. Last offseason saw Odom make the jump back to the East Coast after success with the Aggies. He led VCU to 24 wins and a deep NIT run in his first season but certainly has his eyes on a bigger prize in the years to come.

87. Steve Lutz (Oklahoma State) (Last year: 110)

Overall record: 69-35

Lutz was a D1 assistant for many years, serving prominent stints at SMU, Creighton, and Purdue. After that experience with Greg McDermott, Matt Painter, and others, he began his own head coaching career in 2021. The results have been stellar, taking Texas A&M-Corpus Christi twice to the Big Dance before getting Western Kentucky into the NCAA Tournament last season in his lone year there. Lutz arrives at Oklahoma State after quick turnarounds and progress with a pair of mid-majors, but can he translate that into gains in the Big 12?

86. Johnny Dawkins (UCF) (Last year: 81)

Overall record: 304-218

A Duke guard in the early 80’s, Dawkins spent nearly a decade playing in the NBA before joining Coach K’s Duke staff in the late 90’s. He was associate head coach for nearly a decade before taking the Stanford head coaching gig in 2008. Dawkins took the Cardinal to a Sweet Sixteen and two NIT titles over eight seasons and has now been with UCF for another eight. He did great work with an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2019 and did a decent job transitioning the Knights to the Big 12 this season, though it’s difficult to get too excited over this program.

85. Archie Miller (Rhode Island) (Last year: 62)

Overall record: 227-163

Seemingly on top of the world when he was named head coach at Indiana seven years ago, things haven’t gone according to plan for Miller in recent years. He aided several prominent head coaches before a prosperous 6-year run as head coach at Dayton, including an Elite Eight back in 2014. He couldn’t get Indiana into the NCAA Tournament during his 4-year tenure. Miller took the Rhode Island job in 2022 and has been extremely underwhelming, sitting just 21-42 after two seasons.

84. John Groce (Akron) (Last year: 87)

Overall record: 320-212

Groce spent several years as an assistant under Thad Matta, working under him at Butler, Xavier, and Ohio State before beginning his own head coaching career. He actually won three NCAA Tournament games in 4 years as head coach at Ohio before a less successful run in the Big Ten at Illinois. Groce bounced right back after his firing, taking the Akron job in 2017. His efforts have gotten the Zips back in solid shape and he’s fresh off his second trip to the NCAA Tournament in the last three years.

83. Bob Richey (Furman) (Last year: 67)

Overall record: 156-70

Native to New Orleans, Richey began his coaching career at Charleston Southern before joining Furman way back in 2011. He spent six years as an assistant for the Paladins until he succeeded Niko Medved back in 2017. Richey built on the foundation for the program and has won nearly 70% of his games as head coach. The most notable run was the NCAA Tournament upset win over Virginia in 2013, which pairs nicely with other postseason success. However, this past year was his first that Furman did not finish Top 3 in the SoCon standings.

82. Wes Miller (Cincinnati) (Last year: 74)

Overall record: 248-178

A national champion as a reserve at North Carolina back in 2005, Miller got into coaching soon after graduating and actually became a head coach when he was just 28 years old. Named interim head coach at UNC Greensboro in 2011, he’d earn the full-time and built prosperity over an entire decade, winning a boatload of games and making two NCAA Tournaments. Miller jumped to Cincinnati in 2021 and is trying to resurrect the Bearcats while leading them into the Big 12, with a pair of NIT appearances so far.

81. Mitch Henderson (Princeton) (Last year: 79)

Overall record: 232-122

Henderson was notably part of success as a player at Princeton in the 1990’s and later began his coaching tree under Bill Carmody at Northwestern. Carmody had been his coach for two seasons with the Tigers, and Henderson helped him lead the Wildcats for 11 years. Henderson headed back to his alma mater in 2011 and remains head coach at Princeton. The clear highlight of his career is that Sweet Sixteen as a 15-seed in 2023, while this past season was actually the Tigers’ third-straight regular season title in the Ivy League.