NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 364 D-I head coaches for 2024-25 season
By Joey Loose
60. Mike White (Georgia) (Last year: 50)
Overall record: 279-161
It’s been an interesting run to this point for the former Ole Miss point guard turned SEC head coach. White got coaching experience at his alma mater and then began his head coaching career with stints at Louisiana Tech and Florida. He won over 100 games in four years with the Bulldogs before a decent run in Gainesville, including an Elite Eight in his second year. He jumped to Georgia back in 2022 and is trying to replicate that same consistency with the Bulldogs, fresh off a 20-win season with a run to the NIT semifinals.
59. Chris Holtmann (DePaul) (Last year: 34)
Overall record: 251-171
Last year was certainly a disappointment, but Holtmann is bouncing back with his new job at DePaul. He started his head coaching journey with solid efforts at Gardner-Webb before taking over at Butler a year later. Holtmann won four NCAA Tournaments games over the next three years at Butler, including a Sweet Sixteen in 2017. He was off to Ohio State weeks later but never reached the second weekend of the Big Dance with the Buckeyes. Looking to rebound his career, Holtmann takes over a relatively dead DePaul program with hopes of more winning results in the Big East.
58. Fran Dunphy (La Salle) (Last year: 56)
Overall record: 611-361
Dunphy has decades in basketball and one of the greatest ambassadors for basketball in Philadelphia. He played at La Salle way back in 1960’s and spent three decades as head coach at Penn and Temple. While deep postseason runs never materialized, Dunphy made nine NCAA Tournaments with the Quakers before leading Temple to eight more. His exodus appeared to be short-lived, as he accepted the head coaching job at his alma mater back in 2022, though there’s still work ahead with two mediocre finishes in the A-10 to date.
57. Leon Rice (Boise State) (Last year: 61)
Overall record: 290-166
After a few stops earlier in his coaching career, including as a junior college head coach in Washington, Rice became notable for a long stint on Mark Few’s bench at Gonzaga. He got his first D1 head coaching shot at Boise State in 2010 and hasn’t looked back. Regularly a 20-win program, his Broncos have made five trips to the NCAA Tournament including in each of the last three seasons. The record is phenomenal and his Broncos have actually finished Top 2 in each of those last three years in a deep MWC.
56. Mike Woodson (Indiana) (Last year: 41)
Overall record: 63-40
Woodson starred at Indiana in the late 1970’s and was drafted in the first round by the New York Knicks. He wouldn’t return to college basketball for more than four decades, spending a decade in the NBA before a long professional coaching career, including stints as head coach of both the Knicks and the Atlanta Hawks. Indiana called him home to lead the Hoosiers back in 2021 and he led the program to the Big Dance in each of his first two seasons. Last year was definitely a step backwards, as the expectations in Bloomington are certainly sky-high.
55. Steve Forbes (Wake Forest) (Last year: 57)
Overall record: 201-97
Throughout his long career, Forbes has made stops at several schools, working under coaches like Porter Moser, Bruce Pearl, and Gregg Marshall. He had immense success as a junior college head coach before getting his D1 career started at East Tennessee State in 2015. Forbes led the Buccaneers to 130 wins in half a decade before moving to a bigger challenge at Wake Forest in 2020. While he hasn’t yet led the Demon Deacons to the Big Dance, he has a pair of NIT bids including last season’s 21-14 mark and 5th place ACC finish.
54. Mike Young (Virginia Tech) (Last year: 45)
Overall record: 391-310
Never Young’s entire coaching career came at Wofford, spending three decades shaping the Terriers. He had been an assistant for over a decade before becoming head coach in 2002. Young took Wofford to five NCAA Tournaments, notably winning their first-round game during a 30-5 season in 2019. Virginia Tech hired him shortly thereafter and he’s led them on two trips to the Big Dance, including an ACC Tournament title in 2022. Unfortunately, the last two years have seen the Hokies come short of the Big Dance, settling for NIT appearances.
53. Danny Sprinkle (Washington) (Last year: 100)
Overall record: 109-50
Experiencing a meteoric rise in recent years, Sprinkle flew under the radar as a D1 assistant for two decades before becoming Montana State’s head coach in 2019. That first head coaching gig saw great success at his alma mater, taking the Bobcats to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments before departing for Utah State in 2023. Sprinkle only spent last season with the Aggies but he certainly flourished, taking the program to a surprise regular season title and a trip to the second round of the Big Dance. Sprinkle now takes over at Washington, aiding the Huskies on their transition into the Big Ten.
52. Mark Pope (Kentucky) (Last year: 78)
Overall record: 187-108
Pope capped off his collegiate playing career by winning a national title at Kentucky in 1996 and now the Wildcats are in his hands. A former NBA forward, Pope won plenty of games as head coach at Utah Valley before landing at BYU back in 2019. The results were mixed over the next five years, but he’s coming off a prosperous final season with the Cougars, leading them back to the NCAA Tournament in their first season in the Big 12. Pope now takes a much bigger challenge at his alma mater, where the expectations will certainly be immense in the months and years ahead.
51. Andy Enfield (SMU) (Last year: 32)
Overall record: 261-175
A talented shooter at Johns Hopkins over three decades ago, Enfield actually became a shooting coach in the NBA before latching onto Leonard Hamilton’s staff at Florida State for several years. Enfield became nationally notable in his first head coaching gig, taking Florida Gulf Coast to that wild Sweet Sixteen run back in 2013. His last eleven years were spent on the other coast with USC, including an Elite Eight run in 2021 and a number of other postseason runs. After an extremely disappointing season, he departed from the Trojans and is hoping to helm a successful transition as SMU joins the ACC.