Another year of college basketball will soon be upon us. After an offseason full of changes, we’re firing up our yearly rankings of all 365 D1 head coaches for the ninth year in a row. Nothing has changed about how we rank these coaches, but we’re presenting the information differently, focusing on just one conference at a time.
This time around it’s the Patriot League who gets the spotlight and it’s an intriguing conference when you really look into it. There were zero head coaching changes in the offseason and there’s plenty to build on or improve on for the ten leaders in the league; but who will really stand out this season?
330. Mike McGarvey (Lafayette) (Last year: 312)
Overall record: 37-65
The jury is still out on McGarvey’s work, though it’s been an interesting journey to this point. A player and coach at D3 Ursinus, he got his first taste of D1 ball on Matt Langel’s Colgate staff before relative success as head coach at Lycoming, a D2 school. McGarvey then jumped on staff at Lafayette and was made interim head coach in 2023. Since then the results haven’t exactly been incredible, peaking with a 13-win campaign before last year’s 6th place finish in the Patriot League standings.
327. Josh Loeffler (Loyola MD) (Last year: 323)
Overall record: 24-39
Since playing at Swarthmore and graduating back in 2003, Loeffler has had quite an eventful coaching career. There have been numerous stops, working for Rutgers and Cincinnati while also getting head coaching experience at the D3 level with Stevens Tech and Johns Hopkins. He took the latter to several D3 Tourneys and is hoping the future is bright with Loyola. He enters year three leading the Greyhounds and has mustered just 12 wins in each of his first two seasons.
314. Kevin Kuwik (Army) (Last year: 288)
Overall record: 38-59
This may be the first head coaching stop for Kuwik, but he’s another coach who’s been a lot of places. He had long stints on staff at Ohio and Dayton, aided names like Thad Matta and Bob McKillop for several years, and has now been leading Army since 2023. The Notre Dame grad had a pretty solid breakthrough, taking the Black Knights to 17 wins and the CBI quarterfinals in his second season, though last year was less appealing, finishing just 11-21 and 9th in conference.
287. John Griffin III (Bucknell) (Last year: 258)
Overall record: 42-57
This is stint number three for Griffin with Bucknell, a former player and assistant who returned to the Biston as head coach in 2023. Before that he was briefly a video coach for the Indiana Pacers and had other experience with Rider and Saint Joseph’s. As a head coach, his first three years have had some nice moments, including a tie for the regular season title in 2025. Unfortunately, his Bison struggled to a 10-23 mark and quite the downturn last year.
228. Jon Perry (Navy) (Last year: 354)
Overall record: 26-8
Perry owes his basketball career to Ed DeChellis, who he first played for at East Tennessee State right around the turn of the century. He was a grad assistant afterwards and later a staffer for him at Penn State before eventually reuniting with Navy. After spending 12 years on staff, Perry succeeded him as head coach this past offseason and produced instant results. He couldn’t quite break the Midshipmen into the Big Dance, but Navy did win the Patriot League regular season and get into the NIT.
201. Joe Jones (Boston University) (Last year: 199)
Overall record: 337-332
There’s been a lot of basketball played under Jones’ watch over the years, now entering the 23rd year of his head coaching career. An early Jay Wright assistant at Hofstra and Villanova, he had seven years as head coach at Columbia with mixed results before a brief stint on staff at Boston College. Jones arrived at Boston University in 2011 and has fared largely well in the Patriot League. He’s won a regular season title and made plenty of Top 5 finishes, though his only qualified trip to the NCAA Tournament was canceled by the pandemic.
195. Dave Paulsen (Holy Cross) (Last year: 186)
Overall record: 263-249
This is the sixth head coaching job for Paulsen and his third at the D1 level, with decent success across his journey. He’s done his best work at the D3 level with St. Lawrence and Williams, taking the later to the national title in 2003. More recently, Paulsen was incredible at Bucknell with several Patriot League titles and two trips to the Big Dance before struggling at George Mason. He took the Holy Cross job in 2023 hoping to bounce back and has yet to finish higher than 8th in conference in three years.
188. Duane Simpkins (American) (Last year: 184)
Overall record: 54-45
A great player at Maryland under Gary Williams in the early 90’s, Simpkins was a solid high school coach before jumping to the collegiate level. He gained experience on staff at UNC Greensboro and George Mason before taking over at American back in 2023. After a second place finish in year one, he took the Eagles to the NCAA Tournament in 2025 but is fresh off a slightly underwhelming 16-16 campaign.
136. Brett Reed (Lehigh) (Last year: 159)
Overall record: 305-276
We’re more than a decade removed from the most notable moment of Reed’s coaching career, leading Lehigh to that unforgettable upset over Duke in 2012. He actually began coaching with the Mountain Hawks as an assistant back in 2002 and rose to the top job five years later. After that historic upset, Lehigh had a few solid seasons, but Reed only just returned for his third trip to the NCAA Tournament this past season.
108. Matt Langel (Colgate) (Last year: 101)
Overall record: 259-218
Certainly the most successful of the Patriot League head coaches, Langel got his start thanks to the leadership of Fran Dunphy, playing under him at Penn before time as an assistant both there and with Temple. Langel got his head coaching start with Colgate way back in 2011 and had a slow start, but his hard work paid off. He took the Raiders to five consecutive NCAA Tournaments, including six straight regular season titles, though he is just 32-34 since the most recent trip in 2024.
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