NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 68 head coaches in 2024 NCAA Tournament

44. Chris Collins (Northwestern)

2 NCAA Tournaments (2-2)

Collins grew up just north of Chicago before playing his college ball for Coach K at Duke. His most formative coaching experience came in a long stint with the Blue Devils’ staff, winning a pair of national titles as an assistant. Collins returned home as Northwestern’s head coach in 2013 and has established himself as the Wildcats’ best coach in their history. He broke the Wildcats’ long Tournament drought in his fourth season and now has Northwestern dancing for a third time in their history.

43. Mark Pope (BYU)

1 NCAA Tournament (0-1)

A forward at Washington and Kentucky back in the 90’s, Pope has developed into quite the head coach in recent years. A former BYU assistant, he built Utah Valley into a prominent team, making three trips to the postseason before returning to the Cougars as head coach in 2019. Pope’s early years were varying levels of success, including his first trip to the Big Dance in year two, but he’s been excellent in BYU’s first season in the Big 12; BYU sits at 23 wins and on the precipice of a return to the Tourney.

42. Fred Hoiberg (Nebraska)

4 NCAA Tournaments (4-4)

Born in Lincoln, the town where he now works, Hoiberg starred at Iowa State in the early 90’s before a successful ten seasons playing in the NBA. After front office work in the NBA, his coaching career began as the Cyclones’ head coach, with a Sweet Sixteen and four Tourney trips in five years. Hoiberg spent time leading the Chicago Bulls before returning to the college game in 2019 at Nebraska. He’s gotten the Cornhuskers program trending in a great direction, leading them to their first Big Dance in a decade.

41. Rodney Terry (Texas)

2 NCAA Tournaments (3-2)

A high school coach in Texas some thirty years ago, Terry has had quite the run at the college game. After a long previous stint as an assistant at Texas, he was head coach at both Fresno State and UTEP, doing decent works with both programs while getting the Bulldogs to the Big Dance. He joined Chris Beard’s bench at Texas in 2021 and was promoted to head coach after Beard was dismissed, taking the Longhorns to the Elite Eight as the interim coach last season. Terry has Texas dancing again in his first full season at the helm.