16. Brad Underwood (Illinois)
9 NCAA Tournaments (8-9)
Underwood grew up in Kansas and was a guard at Kansas State, though he’s picked up coaching experience across the country. He had success as a junior college coach in Florida and Kansas and was unbelievable in three years leading Stephen F. Austin, taking those Lumberjacks to multiple NCAA Tournament upsets. After a brief stop at Oklahoma State, Underwood landed at Illinois in 2017 and has spent nearly a decade turning the Fighting Illini into a machine, with another 2nd place finish and plenty of wins in the Big Ten this year.
15. Sean Miller (Texas)
13 NCAA Tournaments (22-13)
Across his head coaching career, Miller is responsible for plenty of NCAA Tournament success and is looking to top that with the Longhorns. A former Pittsburgh point guard, he worked under Herb Sendek and Thad Matta before his first stint as head coach at Xavier. He took the Musketeers to an Elite Eight and then got that close three more times during a 12-year run at Arizona. Miller has won over 500 games in his coaching career and was excellent shaping Xavier a second time before taking the Texas job this past offseason. Year one was far from dominant but he does at least have Texas in the Tourney field.
14. Mick Cronin (UCLA)
15 NCAA Tournaments (16-15)
Cronin was born in Cincinnati, graduated from Cincinnati, and certainly has spent a longtime associated with that city. He was a high school coach there before joining Bob Huggins’ staff until spending a few seasons under Rick Pitino at Louisville. His head coaching debut came with success at Murray State before a prosperous 13-year run helming Cincinnati, including nine straight trips to the NCAA Tournament. Cronin jumped to UCLA in 2019 and made a Final Four in his second season. He’s now got the Bruins dancing for the fifth time in six years and for their second straight year since joining the Big Ten.
13. Jon Scheyer (Duke)
3 NCAA Tournaments (8-3)
Duke might have been nervous about who would succeed Mike Krzyzewski but Scheyer has done an impressive job. He starred for the Blue Devils in the late 2000’s and joined the coaching staff in 2014 after a brief playing career overseas. Scheyer would spend eight years on staff, winning a title as an assistant back in 2015. He ascended to the top job in 2022 and already has more than 120 wins, including an Elite Eight in 2024 and last year’s run to the Final Four. This year brought what’s already his third ACC Tournament championship.