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College basketball coaching tiers 2023: Dan Hurley moves into Tier 1, John Calipari falls
Based on expert input and our own criteria, here's how we rank the top coaches in Division I.
theathletic.com
Criteria:
Criteria for inclusion span a few categories that, we think, encapsulate a picture of college basketball’s pecking order. Coaches rated here are required to fit the following qualifications:
• All coaches from the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC.
• Any coach from a non-“power” conference who has led his team to the NCAA Tournament in the last three seasons.
• Any coach leading a program currently ranked in KenPom’s top 100 program rating.
• Each must have coached a full season at the Division I level.
• Each must be an active Division I coach.
It must be said, there’s no science or unassailable consistency to our grading. As in, each tier doesn’t come with benchmark qualifications. A lot of this is based on feel, opinion, familiarity and some occasional admitted recency bias.
Everything is debatable, and that’s partially the point.
We reviewed these tiers with a former player-turned-analyst, an X’s and O’s guru, multiple former coaches, a high-profile grassroots director, a current university basketball administrator and a search firm head. All were granted anonymity in exchange for their candor. We took their opinions, used them to shape some of what you see here and will share with you some of their insight.
There’s no exact definition of what makes a great coach — be it drawing up plays, in-game adjustments, scouting chops, recruiting, program leadership, player relations, etc. What matters most is arbitrary, hence our variant panel. Each agreed that the challenge of this task is the quantity, quality and variety of college basketball coaches. That, and, of course, the results.
As one industry insider put it: “We are definitely in a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world, which is what makes this so hard. Fan bases not only don’t have a lot of patience; they don’t have a real appreciation for what people have done in the past.”
So, now that it’s clear that this is an impossible task, let’s get to these infallible, incontrovertible tiers.
Hurley in tier 1 along with Bennett, Drew, Few, Izzo, Pitino, Sampson and Self.