Each and every college basketball season brings something to new to this incredible sport, and that includes a new crop of coaches. In this year’s edition of our D1 head coach rankings, we’re not including all 365 names in one article, instead breaking them down by league.
The ACC clearly boasts some of the best coaching talent in the nation, but the conference also had a number of coaching changes in the past offseason. There are two first-time head coaches and five total new faces in ACC ball and it’ll be interesting to see how these rankings change as this season progresses.
255. Justin Gainey (NC State) (Last year: N/A)
Overall record: 0-0
New blood in coaching circles, Gainey played point guard at NC State and briefly overseas but now finally begins his head coaching career in 2026. He bounced around several schools as an assistant beforehand, notably putting in work with Arizona, Marquette, and Tennessee over the last decade. Gainey has been a notable recruiter though we’ll see how he handles running an ACC program fighting for relevance.
161. Luke Murray (Boston College) (Last year: N/A)
Overall record: 0-0
Another first-year head coach with extended experience, Murray spent nearly two decades coaching in college ball and building to this moment. He bounced around at several schools, notably working for Chris Mack at Xavier and Louisville as well as Dan Hurley. Murray helped the Huskies to a pair of national titles as an assistant and now hopes to bring success to a Boston College program that’s long been dormant.
141. Gerry McNamara (Syracuse) (Last year: 257)
Overall record: 37-30
After two years away, McNamara is back as the new head coach at Syracuse, reuniting him with the program where he’s spent nearly his entire basketball life. McNamara was a player, graduate manager, and longtime assistant for the Orange under Jim Boeheim and briefly under Adrian Autry. He got his first taste of running his own program with Siena the last two years and just led the Saints to the Big Dance and nearly an unforgettable upset. We’ll see how the Syracuse lifer handles the pressure of running the Orange.
139. Micah Shrewsberry (Notre Dame) (Last year: 98)
Overall record: 78-87
A native of Indianapolis, Shrewsberry has spent most of his career coaching in his home state. He was on Butler’s staff when they made those two trips to the national title game and did solid work with Purdue too. Shrewsberry’s first taste as a head coach was at Indiana-South Bend, though his next stop was even better, taking Penn State to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2023. He hopped to Notre Dame right after that run and hasn’t continued that momentum, sitting just 41-56 in three seasons with the Fighting Irish.
125. Mark Madsen (California) (Last year: 145)
Overall record: 119-101
Madsen is a former big man who played during some great years for Stanford basketball before spending a near decade in the NBA. He played for and coached with the Los Angeles Lakers before getting his head coaching start at Utah Valley in 2019. Madsen engineered a turnaround and won a pair of WAC titles before heading to California four years later. Transitioning the Golden Bears into the ACC hasn’t been easy, though he’s coming off his best season yet with 22 wins and an NIT trip.
115. Luke Loucks (Florida State) (Last year: 197)
Overall record: 18-15
A former Florida State guard under Leonard Hamilton, Loucks would succeed his head coach last offseason, though there were a few stops in between. Loucks played professional ball for a few seasons before spending nearly a decade on NBA benches, most recently with the Sacramento Kings. After all that experience, he’s begun his head coaching journey with the Seminoles and a tie for 7th place in year one in the ACC was certainly a great start.
103. Michael Malone (North Carolina) (Last year: N/A)
Overall record: 0-0
It’s hard to know just how to rank a new college head coach with this much experience, let alone an NBA championship. Malone was briefly a college assistant before spending a quarter century coaching in the NBA. After a brief stint helming the Sacramento Kings, he spent a decade leading the Denver Nuggets, taking that franchise to the NBA title in 2023. Dismissed two years later, he’s hoping to guide North Carolina into their next era of success.
91. Scott Cross (Georgia Tech) (Last year: 115)
Overall record: 350-260
Yet another new face in the ACC, Cross was a guard, assistant, and head coach at UT Arlington for more than twenty years combined before his career was thrown for a loop. He did great work but was still fired after consistent winning with the Mavericks but has had a sensational second arc. Cross bounced back with Troy and is fresh off two straight Sun Belt titles and trips to the Big Dance. He now takes over at Georgia Tech with hopes of building something with the Yellow Jackets in the years ahead.
75. Jeff Capel III (Pittsburgh) (Last year: 74)
Overall record: 302-237
We’re entering year 9 for Capel at Pittsburgh and the 18th year of his head coaching career. He was already thrown into a top job at VCU when he was just 27 years old, taking the Rams to the Big Dance back in 2004. Capel then did solid work with Oklahoma, engineering an Elite Eight run before being shown the door. After a long stint on the Duke bench, he’s been at Pittsburgh since 2018 with mixed results. Capel finally broke through and made the Big Dance in 2023 but is coming off a rough 15th place finish in the ACC.
59. Mike Young (Virginia Tech) (Last year: 60)
Overall record: 423-342
Most of Young’s coaching career came at Wofford, though the Radford native is trying to turn the tide at Virginia Tech. He spent 17 of his 30 years with Wofford as head coach, leading the Terriers to five NCAA Tournaments and a memorable 30-win campaign in 2019. Right after that he took over at Virginia Tech and quickly took the Hokies to the Big Dance twice, though recent years have been drier, though last year was a step back in the right direction with 19 wins.
58. Kyle Smith (Stanford) (Last year: 64)
Overall record: 299-220
Smith has spent much of his coaching career doing solid work on the west coast. He had long runs on staff at San Diego and Saint Mary’s, though his first head coaching gig actually came at Columbia. After solid work in the Ivy League, he’s done great work rebuilding San Francisco and Washington State before hopping to Stanford in 2024. He hasn’t quite replicated that work with the Cougars, though he’s won 20 games in each year with the Cardinal and has them in fighting shape as new members of the ACC>
54. Steve Forbes (Wake Forest) (Last year: 50)
Overall record: 240-125
There’s a long list of experience throughout Forbes’ career, dating back to multiple stints as head coach at the junior college level. He’s worked for great coaches like Porter Moser, Bruce Pearl, and Gregg Marshall before getting his D1 shot leading East Tennessee State. Forbes led the Buccaneers to 130 wins in five years and then made his way to Wake Forest. While he hasn’t taken the Demon Deacons to the Big Dance in six years, most of the work had been solid before last year’s 13th place finish.
49. Jai Lucas (Miami-Florida) (Last year: 193)
Overall record: 26-9
Already known as a fantastic recruiter, Lucas had one of the best head coaching debuts in recent memory last season with the Hurricanes. A former point guard at Florida and Texas, he became a key recruiter on staff at Texas, Kentucky, and Duke before getting that head coaching shot last season. Inheriting a Miami team that had been struggling, Lucas took the Hurricanes to 26 wins, 3rd place in the ACC, and the second of the Big Dance.
42. Andy Enfield (SMU) (Last year: 43)
Overall record: 305-200
A former NBA shooting coach and 3-point phenom as a player at Johns Hopkins, Enfield got his head coaching career started at Florida Gulf Coast, taking Dunk City to that memorable Sweet Sixteen in 2013. He then spent more than a decade helming USC, with an Elite Eight trip and plenty of postseason bids before jumping to SMU in 2024. Enfield has done largely solid work transitioning the Mustangs into the ACC with a pair of 20-win campaigns and a trip to the NCAA Tournament last year.
39. Ryan Odom (Virginia) (Last year: 65)
Overall record: 231-123
Influential at every stage of his coaching career, Odom bounced around as an assistant and has now done great work helming five different schools. After early work leading Lenoir-Rhyne at the D2 level, he led UMBC to that historic upset as a 16-sed and then won plenty of games in two-year stints with Utah State and VCU. It didn’t take long for Odom to lead a fourth different school to the Big Dance, leading Virginia to 30 wins and the second round of the Tourney in his first year in Charlottesville.
29. Brad Brownell (Clemson) (Last year: 32)
Overall record: 483-292
Brownell has now spent nearly a quarter century as a collegiate head coach, dating back to his early work at UNC Wilmington. He led both the Seahawks and Wright State to NCAA Tournament appearances before Clemson hired him way back in 2010. The Tigers have had some memorable moments under Brownell’s leadership, including a Sweet Sixteen in 2018, an Elite Eight in 2024, and now three straight trips to the Big Dance at a football school.
27. Pat Kelsey (Louisville) (Last year: 29)
Overall record: 312-141
Long considered a rising name in the coaching world, Kelsey played the point at Xavier under Skip Prosser and later worked as an assistant with him at Wake Forest. After being associate head coach at his alma mater, Kelsey started his head coaching career with a prosperous 9-year stretch at Winthrop. Kelsey took both Winthrop and later Charleston to multiple NCAA Tournament appearances before getting the Louisville job in 2024. His first year saw a 2nd place finish in the ACC while this past year was his first Tourney win.
15. Jon Scheyer (Duke) (Last year: 16)
Overall record: 124-25
While he was a really good player at Duke back in the late 2000’s, Scheyer is hoping to make a more significant impact as the Blue Devils’ head coach. He won a national championship as a guard in 2010 and an assistant in 2015 before succeeding Mike Krzyzewski back in 2022. There has been a lot of winning in his first four years, picking up right where Coach K left off, getting the Blue Devils to a Final Four in 2025 and three straight trips to the Elite Eight.
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