Thanks to the Transfer Portal and other things, the college basketball product can look very different from one season to another. We’ll talk more about that soon, as we keep exploring our head coach rankings. It’s our ninth annual list of all 365 D1 head coaches, though instead of one big article it’s a conference breakdown, with today’s focus on the Mountain West.
As the MWC just lost a large chunk of its membership to the new Pac-12, the product is going to look very different in this league. There are new head coaches and there are old coaches who are new to life in the MWC. This conference also has some experience near the top of these rankings, so let’s dive into where all of them sit.
346. Joe Crispin (Air Force) (Last year: N/A)
Overall record: 0-0
Crispin played point guard at Penn State around the turn of the century and then had an extensive pro career, including work with the Los Angeles Lakers and several overseas landing spot. When his playing career ended, Crispin headed to Rowan and did great work across seven years leading that D3 school as head coach. He was back at his alma mater on Penn State’s bench and now has a major task ahead with an Air Force team recently buried in the MWC.
199. Sundance Wicks (Wyoming) (Last year: 205)
Overall record: 48-49
As a player, Wicks did solid work at Northern State in the early 2000’s and even got early coaching experience with his alma mater. His later coaching work took him to Colorado, San Francisco, and a few other schools, including a head coaching stop at D2 Missouri Western. Wicks won 18 games in what became his only season as Green Bay’s head coach, as Wyoming hired him in 2024. He had previously spent three years on staff with the Cowboys and just led the team to 18 wins and the NIT in his second season.
160. Tim Miles (San Jose State) (Last year: 138)
Overall record: 249-306
A head coach at six different colleges, Miles picked up early experience at NAIA Mayville State and at the D2 level with Southwest Minnesota State and North Dakota State. He actually led the Bison through their D1 transition before making the Big Dance as head coach at Colorado State. While he had some initial success at Nebraska, his time in the Big Ten was underwhelming before he was fired after 7 years. Miles has been with San Jose State since 2021 and outside of a 21-win campaign in year two has been below .500 in every season.
155. Joe Golding (UTEP) (Last year: 143)
Overall record: 215-197
While he’s brand new to the Mountain West, Golding is no stranger to this coaching thing. A former guard at Abilene Christian, he spent time on several staffs including his alma mater before becoming their head coach back in 2011. Over the next decade, he led the Wildcats through their D1 transition and to their first two NCAA Tournaments, including a Tourney upset win over Texas in 2021. Soon after he was off to UTEP where the progress has slowed considerably and he’s coming off a disappointing 11-20 campaign.
137. Jim Les (UC Davis) (Last year: 144)
Overall record: 383-370
After playing collegiately at Cleveland State and Bradley, Les was drafted in 1986 and spent nearly a decade playing professional basketball. The former point guard has now been a D1 head coach for nearly a quarter century and actually took Bradley to a memorable Sweet Sixteen run in 2006. He was fired by the Braves a few years later and has been with UC Davis since 2011. He’s won two Big West titles and made an NCAA Tournament with the Aggies, though he now leads them into uncharted territory in the Mountain West.
113. Eran Ganot (Hawaii) (Last year: 146)
Overall record: 198-129
The entirety of Ganot’s coaching career has seen him bouncing between Saint Mary’s and Hawaii. He spent multiple stints under Randy Bennett with the Gaels and had previous experience with the Rainbow Warriors. He was brought back as Hawaii’s new head coach in 2015 and immediately took the program to an NCAA Tournament appearance and upset win. After a decade of decent results, Ganot just took Hawaii back to the Big Dance last year in the Big West but now transitions into his new league.
102. Eric Olen (New Mexico) (Last year: 124)
Overall record: 107-74
Despite being raised in Alabama, Olen has done his coaching work on the West Coast. After graduating from Spring Hill, an NAIA school in Mobile, he joined the UC San Diego staff and stayed there more than two decades. Olen was head coach of the Tritons for 12 years, with great D2 success before a nice D1 transition, leading to their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2025. Right after that, Olen took the jump to New Mexico, winning 26 games in his first year helming the Lobos.
55. Josh Pastner (UNLV) (Last year: 58)
Overall record: 294-204
He’s still only 49 years old, but Pastner has been around quite a bit at this point in the college basketball world. A player and assistant largely for Lute Olsen at Arizona, he got his head coaching start by succeeding John Calipari at Memphis, taking the Tigers to 4 straight NCAA Tournaments. Pastner then spent 7 years at Georgia Tech, with an ACC championship and an NIT title game appearance across a shaky tenure. Pastner jumped at a new opportunity with UNLV last offseason, taking this program to an 18-17 mark in his debut.
44. Bryce Drew (Grand Canyon) (Last year: 47)
Overall record: 304-160
A talented point guard responsible for an all-time buzzer beater in the NCAA Tournament, Drew had that breakthrough success at Valparaiso in 1998 before a few years in the NBA. His coaching career began on his father’s staff at his alma mater before winning 124 games in five years as head coach there. Drew saw a downturn during a brief run at Vanderbilt, but has been special since arriving at Grand Canyon in 2020, taking the Antelopes to their first four NCAA Tournament trips in program history, including an upset win back in 2024.
41. Steve Alford (Nevada) (Last year: 48)
Overall record: 646-357
Alford won a national championship as a point guard at Indiana in 1987 and spent a few years in the NBA, but has now been a collegiate head coach for 35 years. He nearly won a D3 title at Manchester and took Missouri State to the Sweet Sixteen in 1999 before an 8-year run at Iowa. He made several NCAA Tournament appearances with those Hawkeyes and later on at New Mexico and UCLA, including three Sweet Sixteen runs with the Bruins. Since 2019, Alford has been at Nevada and recently made two more trips to the Big Dance, though he’s announced he’ll retire at the end of this upcoming season.
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