NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 68 head coaches in 2024 NCAA Tournament
By Joey Loose
36. Darian DeVries (Drake)
2 NCAA Tournaments (1-2)
DeVries has really burst onto the scene in recent years for his work at Drake, this coming after playing college ball at Northern Iowa and spending two decades on the staff at Creighton. He tied for the MVC regular season title in his first season and won an NCAA Tournament game in the First Four just a few years later. His Bulldogs are averaging 25 wins a year and are in the Big Dance for the third time in four years, winning the MVC Tournament as the 2-seed.
35. Bryce Drew (Grand Canyon)
5 NCAA Tournaments (0-5)
Famous for his shot in the 1998 NCAA Tournament, Drew was a talented point guard at Valparaiso and had parts of six years in the NBA. His coaching career began under his father at his alma mater before succeeding him as head coach. Drew took Valpo to the Big Dance twice before a 3-year stint at Vanderbilt. After fizzling out with the Commodores, he took over at Grand Canyon and has his third WAC Tournament title in the last four seasons.
34. Grant McCasland (Texas Tech)
1 NCAA Tournament (1-1)
McCasland played point guard at Baylor, coached a few junior colleges, and then spent half a decade on the Baylor staff under Scott Drew. His own D1 head coaching career began with a nice year at Arkansas State before a six-year jaunt at North Texas. During that time McCasland led the Mean Green to an NIT title, a CBI title, and a Tourney upset win over Purdue back in 2021. He started at Texas Tech this past offseason and tied for 3rd in a tough Big 12 in year one, getting the Red Raiders dancing once more.
33. Anthony Grant (Dayton)
3 NCAA Tournaments (1-3)
Grant got his coaching start in his hometown of Miami, but make bigger moves as an assistant for Billy Donovan, winning a national championship with the Gators. Grant then began his head coaching career with great success at VCU before an up-and-down period at Alabama. Grant returned to Dayton, his alma mater, as head coach in 2017 and built a championship-level team that never got to dance back in 2020. As a result, this is his first Flyers team to reach the NCAA Tournament, with Grant looking for his first Tourney win in seventeen years.