With a new season of college ball fast approaching, we’re endearing the difficult task of ranking all 365 D1 head coaches once again. It’s our ninth straight year doing this project but our first time breaking the coaches up by conference. We’re still ranking them nationally against each other, though these pieces only include one league’s coaches, in this case the Colonial.
It’s a league that has certainly changed in membership over the last half-decade, though it’s a league with some familiar faces who have been here a number of years. There’s an intriguing mix of new blood, experienced talent, and coaches on the rise in the CAA. Let’s not waste any time and detail what’s happening with each of these leaders.
352. Jimmie Williams (Campbell) (Last year: N/A)
Overall record: 0-0
Last season Williams took Anderson to the D2 Tournament and now his career takes a big step forward. He has limited experience coaching at the D1 level, dating back to a 4-year run on Bob Richey’s bench at Furman, but Campbell gives him a big chance to run this program. He’s had many stops over the last two decades and seems ready for the opportunity, though Campbell isn’t exactly the easiest place to win these days.
288. Ivan Thomas (Hampton) (Last year: 286)
Overall record: 30-35
Much of the early work for Thomas came at the high school level, spending nearly two decades coaching that level mostly in the state of Virginia. He jumped to the college game on Ed Cooley’s staff, aiding him for eight years with Providence before a single year as Georgetown’s associate head coach. In 2024, Thomas got his first collegiate head coaching chance with Hampton and won 17 games in year one, though his Pirates were just 10th in the CAA last season and didn’t take that next step.
276. Monte’ Ross (North Carolina A&T) (Last year: 275)
Overall record: 157-253
We’ve seen Ross impact a lot of teams over the years, dating back to his first assistant coaching gig at Lehigh back in 1993. He’s done significant work in and around his hometown of Philadelphia on staff at Drexel, Saint Joseph’s, and Temple, though his first head coaching stint came at Delaware. His decade full of mixed results with the Fightin’ Blue Hens included a trip to the 2014 NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, he’s just 25-69 since landing at North Carolina A&T three seasons ago.
244. Billy Taylor (Elon) (Last year: 232)
Overall record: 217-245
A former player at Notre Dame, Taylor got his coaching start with the Fighting Irish with most of his work for Fran McCaffery. His head coaching career started when he was just 29 years old at Lehigh, taking the Mountain Hawks to the Big Dance in 2004. Taylor spent five years there and six at Ball State while also winning some games at Belmont Abbey at the D2 level. He’s been Elon’s head coach for 4 seasons now and does have a CBI appearance, though last year saw another 11th place finish in the CAA.
232. Geno Ford (Stony Brook) (Last year: 237)
Overall record: 217-239
This is the fifth head coaching stop for Ford, who gained early experience at Shawnee State and Muskingum before his work at the D1 level. He had multiple stints on staff with Kent State and later won 68 games in three years as head coach, though his subsequent work at Bradley was unimpressive. Since 2019 he’s had the top job at Stony Brook and has a few 20-win seasons and some notable moments, including a bounce back year last season.
197. Zach Spiker (Drexel) (Last year: 202)
Overall record: 250-273
A native of Morgantown and former admin assistant at West Virginia, Spiker has made his mark on basketball and now enters year 18 as a D1 head coach. His first experience came at Army, taking the Black Knights to decent success in a 7-year turnaround. Spiker has been the head coach for Drexel since 2016, leading the Dragons to the Big Dance right after the pandemic while maintaining their footing as a contender or middle of the pack team in this league.
192. Brian Earl (William & Mary) (Last year: 200)
Overall record: 133-130
During his playing career, Earl did great things at Princeton in the late 90’s and was part of success for the Tigers. After a brief pro playing career, he got his coaching start on the Tigers bench before another Ivy League school gave his head coaching debut. Earl landed at Cornell and had an 8-year run that culminated in a 22-win campaign in 2024. Weeks later he took the William & Mary job and is fresh off his first 20-win season leading the Tribe.
189. King Rice (Monmouth) (Last year: 194)
Overall record: 239-243
Another experienced name, Rice played point guard at North Carolina more than three decades ago and was a captain on the Tar Heels’ 1991 Final Four team. A few years later he got early coaching experience on staff at Oregon and later spent a decade with Kevin Stallings at both Illinois State and Vanderbilt. Opportunity arose when Monmouth gave him his first head coaching chance in 2011. While he hasn’t taken the Hawks to the Big Dance, he’s won a ton of games, including three MAAC titles, and is coming off the program’s best performance since joining the CAA at 19-15.
172. Bill Coen (Northeastern) (Last year: 169)
Overall record: 306-323
Now owning two decades of head coaching experience, Coen has certainly become something of an elder statesman in this profession. Most of his initial work came under Al Skinner, spending long stints on his staffs at both Rhode Island Boston College before taking Northeastern’s job in 2006. Since then he’s taken these Huskies to two NCAA Tournaments and four CAA titles, though his team struggled mightily to a 7-24 mark last year.
159. Pat Skerry (Towson) (Last year: 155)
Overall record: 254-225
An established head coach still hunting for that breakthrough, Skerry was briefly a D3 head coach at Curry but most of his experience has come at Towson. He spent many years as D1 assistant at programs like Charleston, Providence, and Pittsburgh before joining the Tigers back in 2011. He’s still looking for his first trip to the NCAA Tournament, though he’s led Towson to two CAA regular season titles in the last five years and has won at least 19 games in five straight seasons.
114. Speedy Claxton (Hofstra) (Last year: 148)
Overall record: 105-63
An impressive point guard at Hofstra back in the late 90’s, Claxton played a decade in the NBA and won a title with the San Antonio Spurs. A few years after retirement, his alma mater brought him aboard as an assistant coach before ascending to the top job in 2021. The record in his first 5 seasons has been impressive, though this past year was the icing on the cake as he took Hofstra to the NCAA Tournament for the first time as head coach.
86. Takayo Siddle (UNC Wilmington) (Last year: 91)
Overall record: 133-54
Siddle is another coach on the rise and is still just 40 years old. He spent his early coaching days largely under Chris Holtmann and Kevin Keatts, including time on staff at UNC Wilmington and NC State. After that work in the ACC, UNC Wilmington brought him back in 2020 as their new head coach and he got right to work. The record across six years is obviously impressive and includes a CBI title in 2022, a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2025, and another regular season title this past year.
53. John Groce (Charleston) (Last year: 71)
Overall record: 377-225
It’s the start of a new adventure for Groce, who learned under Herb Sendek and Thad Matta before starting quite the head coaching career. He won three NCAA Tournament games in four years at Ohio, including a Sweet Sixteen in 2012, before a largely underwhelming run leading Illinois. He bounced back nicely in the MAC with Akron and has taken the Zips to four of the last five NCAA Tournaments. After that brilliance, including 127 wins in the last five years, he takes over a Charleston program with even greater resources.
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