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

80. Mark Byington (Vanderbilt) (Last year: 139)

Overall record: 213-133

It’s been quite a rise in recent years for Byington, who played collegiately at UNC Wilmington before cutting his teeth on several staffs, most notably at the College of Charleston. He had seven solid seasons leading Georgia Southern to begin his head coaching career before his recent success at James Madison. Byington won the CAA title in his first year, lead the Dukes into the Sun Belt, and came away with an NCAA Tournament upset win against Wisconsin this past March; now he’ll try to resurrect basketball at Vanderbilt.

79. Kyle Smith (Stanford) (Last year: 104)

Overall record: 258-193

Smith has been a rising name for several years but last season he really hit it out of the park. A longtime former assistant on the West Coast, he won a CIT title as head coach at Columbia and then built success in a brief stint at San Francisco. Smith took over at Washington State back in 2019 and is coming off the Cougars’ best season in recent memory, taking them to 25 wins and the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Now he jumps over to Stanford for a new challenge, leading the Cardinal into the ACC.

78. Jeff Capel III (Pittsburgh) (Last year: 76)

Overall record: 272-202

Yet another Duke player turned coach, Capel played for the Blue Devils in the mid-90’s and began his coaching career under his father at Old Dominion in 2000. His head coaching career began just two years later at VCU, with Capel having success with the Rams before leading Oklahoma to the Elite Eight during a 5-year stretch. After working with Coach K at Duke for several years, Capel has bounced back as Pittsburgh’s head coach and has won at least 22 games in each of the last two seasons, a major step forward.

77. Fred Hoiberg (Nebraska) (Last year: 98)

Overall record: 178-150

Once considered “The Mayor” at Iowa State, Hoiberg is certainly endearing himself in his hometown of Lincoln. He starred for the Cyclones before a 10-year NBA career and later had a successful start to his head coaching career back at Iowa State. After a Sweet Sixteen and a few other Tourney bids, Hoiberg spent four seasons leading the Chicago Bulls before returning to the college game with Nebraska. After a few less than inspiring seasons, Hoiberg just took the Cornhuskers to a surprising 3rd place finish in the Big Ten and a trip to the Big Dance.

76. Herb Sendek (Santa Clara) (Last year: 75)

Overall record: 553-402

During the early days of his career Sendek aided Rick Pitino at Providence and Kentucky. He’s become more known for his own head coaching career, spending 30 years at four D1 programs. He stretched out success at Miami (OH), NC State, and Arizona State and has been with Santa Clara since 2016. While he hasn’t had the same type of postseason success for a Broncos team buried in a top-heavy WCC, Sendek did take Santa Clara to a pair of NIT’s very recently and won 20+ games for a third straight season this year.

75. Matt McMahon (LSU) (Last year: 60)

Overall record: 185-102

A former shooting guard at Appalachian State, McMahon spent more than a decade on coaching staffs before really hitting gold at Murray State. He won big in the OVC, secured multiple NCAA Tournament wins, and is most notable for recruiting Ja Morant. He’d use that success as a springboard, landing at LSU two seasons ago, taking over a Tigers program in rough shape. Year one was really rough as expected, though LSU took a step forward at least in his second season, getting back into the NIT at the very least.

74. Steve Lavin (San Diego) (Last year: 72)

Overall record: 266-185

Known by many for his TV work in recent years, Lavin enters his third season as head coach at San Diego. He previously spent over a decade with UCLA, winning a title as an assistant in 1995 before seven eventful years as the Bruins’ head coach, with an Elite Eight and five Sweet Sixteen’s. Years later he had a similarly eventful tenure with St. John’s, but now is trying to transfigure a San Diego program buried in the WCC. His first season was tough with just 11 wins, though last year’s 18-15 mark saw a 5th place finish in conference play.

73. John Becker (Vermont) (Last year: 73)

Overall record: 308-120

Now likely synonymous with Vermont basketball, Becker’s first collegiate steps were actually at Gallaudet, a school for the deaf in Washington DC. After a few early stops on that career, he landed as an assistant at Vermont and became head coach in 2011 after half a decade on the staff. Quite simply he has made the Catamounts the face of the America East, winning the last eight regular season titles while getting Vermont to each of the last three NCAA Tournaments, making six trips in total.

72. Lamont Paris (South Carolina) (Last year: 102)

Overall record: 124-101

Paris is a coach whose stock has really risen high in recent years. He picked up experience as an assistant at several schools, notably with Keith Dambrot at Akron and Bo Ryan at Wisconsin. After those Final Fours with the Badgers, his own head coaching journey began in 2017 at Chattanooga. Paris’s fifth and final year saw him take the Mocs to a 27-win season including a trip to the Big Dance. That next season saw him jump to South Carolina and it’s fair to say he’s having success in Columbia. His Gamecocks won 26 games, reached the NCAA Tournament, and were one of the major surprises last season.

71. Todd Golden (Florida) (Last year: 80)

Overall record: 97-65

During his college days, Golden played at Saint Mary’s under Randy Bennett and clearly learned from the experience. His coaching career is still in relative infancy, but the 39-year old aided brilliant coaches in Bruce Pearl and Kyle Smith before starting his own journey at San Francisco. Three solid years with the Dons saw him hired by Florida, and the results started to come to Gainesville this past season. One of the brilliant young minds in this game led the Gators back to the Big Dance, capping off a 24-win season with hopefully more to come in the near future.