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

70. Shaheen Holloway (Seton Hall) (Last year: 83)

Overall record: 106-82

A standout point guard at Seton Hall in the late 90’s, Holloway played professionally for nearly a decade before flexing his own acumen in his coaching career. He was an early assistant under Kevin Willard both at Iona and Seton Hall before getting his head coaching start at Saint Peter’s. Many haven’t forgotten his efforts in 2022, helming a Peacocks squad that went to the Elite Eight as a 15-seed. Holloway was soon hired by his alma mater and is coming off an NIT championship last season in just his second season with the Pirates.

69. Rodney Terry (Texas) (Last year: 86)

Overall record: 206-177

Terry’s coaching story is a complicated one, starting with success at the high school level before long stints on Big 12 staffs. His collegiate head coaching career started with seven years at Fresno State and three with UTEP, with some success along the way, especially with the Bulldogs. He fled that head coaching job for a spot on the Texas staff in 2021 and was promoted to head coach less than two years later after Chris Beard’s controversies. After an Elite Eight in his interim season, he took Texas back to the Big Dance last year and now leads them into the SEC.

68. Ben Jacobson (Northern Iowa) (Last year: 64)

Overall record: 354-233

Certainly among the most accomplished coaches in mid-major basketball, Jacobson was a North Dakota guard and assistant who’s spent the last 23 years of his life at Northern Iowa. After he was an assistant under Greg McDermott, he was promoted to head coach in 2006 and hasn’t look back or forward ever since. He’s won four NCAA Tournament games with the Panthers, including that wild Sweet Sixteen and upset over Kansas in 2010. Things haven’t always been ideal, but he’s recently won a pair of MVC regular season titles and pulled out 19 wins this past year.

67. Penny Hardaway (Memphis) (Last year: 55)

Overall record: 133-62

Hardaway starred for Memphis in the early 90’s before having quite the playing career in the NBA. A 4-time All-Star, Hardaway made himself well-known to the basketball world and didn’t start his coaching career until more recently at the high school level. Without any collegiate or pro coaching experience, Memphis named him their head coach in 2018. He’s won at least 20 games in every season, has taken two trips to the Big Dance, and won an NIT championship, but his time in Memphis has been plagued with underachieving with talented rosters.

66. Tad Boyle (Colorado) (Last year: 71)

Overall record: 350-225

After playing for a pair of legends at Kansas in the early 80’s, Boyle got his coaching start at the high school level before catching on in the college game. Notably an assistant for Oregon, Tennessee, and Wichita State, his head coaching career started with four solid years at Northern Colorado before getting the nod at Colorado in 2010. He’s overseen the Buffaloes as they’ve gone from the Big 12 to the Pac-12 and now back to the Big 12, with six trips to the Big Dance and three Tourney wins, including another this March.

65. Craig Smith (Utah) (Last year: 63)

Overall record: 203-129

Smith’s top mentor has been Tim Miles, who he assisted at four different schools, including with Nebraska in the Big Ten. After D2 success at Mayville State, Smith has been a D1 head coach for the last decade. After decent work at South Dakota, he was immensely successful in a 3-year stint with Utah State, winning multiple league titles and more than 75% of his games. He arrived at Utah in 2021, making the semifinals of the NIT in a prosperous third season last year, though a newer, bigger challenge in the Big 12 awaits him.

64. Chris Collins (Northwestern) (Last year: 112)

Overall record: 178-174

Collins is another coach who’s a prominent member of Mike Krzyzewski’s coaching tree. He played guard at Duke in the mid-90’s before aiding former Duke star Tommy Amaker at Seton Hall. Collins then spent more than a decade with Coach K before returning home to Chicago as Northwestern’s new head coach in 2013. Inheriting a program with zero basketball success, Collins has produced the program’s first three trips to the NCAA Tournament. He’s fresh off consecutive trips and wins in the Big Dance, even more impressively boasting back-to-back Top 3 finishes in the Big Ten.

63. Porter Moser (Oklahoma) (Last year: 52)

Overall record: 347-287
Final Four in 2018

Life at Oklahoma hasn’t exactly gone according to plan, but it’s impossible to deny Moser’s successful coaching career. He worked at several schools in the early days after playing ball at Creighton, while his first head coaching run came with Little Rock and Illinois State. He shook off any early coaching struggles with a prosperous 10-year stretch at Loyola-Chicago, taking the Ramblers to a wild Final Four run in 2018. Just after a Sweet Sixteen run in 2021, Moser moved to Oklahoma and hasn’t yet taken the Sooners to the Big Dance, with 54 wins in his first three seasons.

62. Steve Pikiell (Rutgers) (Last year: 54)

Overall record: 324-279

A UConn point guard back in the 80’s and 90’s, Pikiell has proven to be quite the formidable coach. After various levels of early experience, he spent 11 years building Stony Brook into an NCAA Tournament team before taking the Rutgers job in 2016. He has helmed a phenomenal turnaround for a Scarlet Knights program that looked dead in the Big Ten, with a pair of NCAA Tournaments and other relative success. Rutgers finished just 15-17 and took a step back this year, though things could turn around very quickly in Piscataway after Pikiell’s recent recruiting wins.

61. Ed Cooley (Georgetown) (Last year: 26)

Overall record: 343-245

Seemingly on top of the world in recent years, it’s been a rough start at Georgetown for Cooley. He formerly was a longtime assistant at Boston College under Al Skinner and began his head coaching career with solid gains at Fairfield. Across 12 seasons at Providence Cooley had plenty of Big East success, making seven NCAA Tournaments, including a league title and a Sweet Sixteen in 2022. His decision to bolt for the Hoyas doesn’t look great after twelve months, as Georgetown won just 9 games and beat only DePaul in conference play.