NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 68 head coaches in 2024 NCAA Tournament
By Joey Loose
12. Nate Oats (Alabama)
6 NCAA Tournaments (6-6)
Just over a decade ago, Oats was a high school coach in Detroit. The Wisconsin native has burst onto coaching scene in recent years, starting with a pair of NCAA Tournament wins in four years leading Buffalo. He was hired by Alabama in 2019 and has transformed this Crimson Tide, with a pair of SEC titles and a pair of trips to the Sweet Sixteen. He has the Crimson Tide dancing for a fourth straight time with a crazy talented offense.
11. Bruce Pearl (Auburn)
12 NCAA Tournaments (17-12)
Pearl has won everywhere he’s been in a long coaching career. After playing and coaching under Tom Davis at three schools, he took Southern Indiana to a D2 national championship nearly 30 years ago before catching on at the D1 level. He took Milwaukee to a Sweet Sixteen as a 12-seed then had a nice run before his dismissal at Tennessee. Pearl has been entrenched at Auburn since 2014, with the highlight being their first ever Final Four in 2019. This year included his second SEC Tournament title with the Tigers.
10. Rick Barnes (Tennessee)
27 NCAA Tournaments (27-27)
Barnes has been a part of a lot of winning basketball over the years, boasting nearly four decades of collegiate head coaching experience. He did solid work leading George Mason, Providence, and Clemson before a 17-year stretch at Texas, including a Final Four run with the Longhorns way back in 2003. The Longhorns were a perennial Tournament team and he’s had the same success in recent years at Tennessee. Barnes led the Volunteers to a second Sweet Sixteen last season and no doubt hopes for an even deeper run with this year’s team, even after a rough performance at the SEC Tournament.
9. Matt Painter (Purdue)
15 NCAA Tournaments (17-15)
It’s fitting that a former Purdue guard is having all this success as head coach of the Boilermakers. Painter is an Indiana native who got his coaching staff at smaller schools, but was briefly head coach at Southern Illinois before returning to Purdue. He’s been at the helm since 2005, with a number of deep runs at March Madness. Painter won his fifth Big Ten regular season title this season and leads Purdue to a ninth straight NCAA Tournament with hopes of avoiding repeats of last season’s upset.