Best Active College Basketball Coaches

The Top Ten
1 Mike Krzyzewski - Duke

Is there any doubt? His resume at Duke and with USA Basketball in international play demonstrates his ability to motivate and win while earning the respect of his players despite his abrasive style.

Coach K has won 5 national titles at a small private school. With all the restrictions he has faced, he has never come close to having any violations.

Coach K, will finish as the Ncaa Division 1 all-time winningest coach.

As much as I hate Duke this man is an elite coach. By far the best

2 Roy Williams - North Carolina

Roy Williams is by far the best coach that is active. The second best behind dean smith. How is coach k number 1. He is a jerk who looks like a rat. And he has his players do stupid thing like have players step on people and has players like Grayson Allen who trip players on intentionally. UNC players would never do anything like that. UNC has good coaches like dean smith and Roy Williams who win and have good players on and off of the court.

Roy begs and pleads with his most talented players to stay around another year or two. That’s why Duke and Kentucky keep getting the top recruiting classes every year. They are fine with their players going pro after one year. Roy always has an advantage in experience. No wonder, he wins so much. Elite youth doesn’t win as big these days.

Kids want to play in his up tempo style. If not for injuries, he would have 2 more national championships on his resume.

He won a title and a lot of other games with players taking fake classes.

3 John Calipari - Kentucky

Definitely will be considered master recruiter and--if it really means that much to you--okay, "amazing" speaker. He'll also be responsible for the first Natl Championship to be vacated.

At the end of his stay at Kentucky, he will be considered one of the greatest. Master recruiter and AMAZING speaker. Lives by the motto "be your brother's keeper"

All you have to do to be like him is watch the movie blue chips

A coach that cares about his players and know how to win

4 Bill Self - Kansas

He only has 10 losses at Allen Fieldhouse over 14 years he's been there. He turned a 3 star recruit named Frank Mason into a national player of the year. He's led Kansas to win 13 consecutive Big 12 titles which is amazing in today's sports world. To put that into perspective no team has accomplished that feat since the John Wooden era at UCLA.

12 straight big 12 regular season titles. Only one more away from tying UCLA's record. Only 9 losses at Allen Feildhouse. Enough said

I wish he was still at Illinois! Bruce Webber sucks! He can't recruit. We miss you Bill!

Can you deny the fact that he has won more big 12 titles than other coaches have wins at Allen Fieldhouse.

5 Tom Izzo - Michigan State

Tom Izzo has brought Michigan State to 5 Final Fours in 11 seasons as their head coach and now, in 2010 he has brought them to 7 Elite 8s. Not too mention he has a chance to bring them to 6 Final Fours in his 12th season against Tennessee and could probably win the entire tournament if his best player, Kailan Lucas wasn't out on injury with a ruptured achille's tendon. Michigan State was a sub par team since the days of Magic Johnson and he has brought the program back to its former glory with a National Championship in 2000. He also brought his team to the national championship game vs UNC and beat two number 1 seeds to get there. Tom Izzo is probably the best active coach given the amount of time he has been head coach and the improvements he has made in the Spartan's basketball program.

6 final fours in 12 seasons, if my math is correct that means he gets there half the time. not to mention a national title and countless Big Ten titles. plus the fact that he does not recruit the one and dones says alot. or even that he nationally recruits other than one player on his team they have all come from Michigan or surrounding states. Tom Izzo #1!

The only coach I would want to coach my son. A terrific, humble person who has more integrity than the other top 10 combined.

He rarely gets 5 star recruits an still wins big.

6 Jim Boeheim - Syracuse

Jim, for one reason or another, struggles in the regular season. If they get into the tournament, all bets are off. It seems like most teams have never seen a 2-3 zone. He does very well, considering the location of the school.

Second most wins, perennial contenders, great recruitment, incredible energy around the program. He never has received the credit he deserves.

a lot of you don't know much about college basketball jim boeheim should be higher on this list

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G coaching great job boeheim... hows jardine, rautins, flynn, hmm.

7 Rick Pitino - Louisville

With all due respect, he's better than Roy or Cal. He has final fours at three different schools, championships at two different schools, and has succeeded at every college he's coached at without cheating.

Greatest COACH in the country. He deserves a spot in the hall of fame and I firmly believe he will bring a national championship to Louisville before retiring. Mad love to Pitino, VILLE ALL DAY!

Horrible coach just horrible

Probably the best I've seen!

8 Bob Huggins - West Virginia

Simply put -he does the most with the least! This guy deserves to be coach of the year. Although he is not the best active coach historically (not too far off though), he is coaching the best right now. I hope he wins his first championship!

It's amazing how well he does with his teams considering the talent he has to choose from. He is truly an amazing coach.

Gets greater results out of less talent than anybody on the list.

A regular guys who cares about his players.

9 Rick Barnes - Texas
10 Jim Calhoun - Connecticut
The Contenders
11 Fred Hoiberg - Iowa State

Brought a pro system to college and it worked. Changing CBB with his "free agent" transfer system and offensive versatility.

12 Billy Donovan - Florida

Built a consistently great program out of nothing

13 Tony Bennett - Virginia

Winning big with slightly less talent or guy that totally flew under the radar. His style is very confusing to other coaches. His low key persona will probably keep him at a non blue blood if he ever decides to leave Virginia.

They’re rubbing elbows with UNC and Duke without getting high end talent. Usually, they only get 3 or 4 star talent but all their guys play defense or they sit on the bench. I’m predicting a Final Four in 2019, last year was a fluke.

14 Jay Wright - Villanova
15 Bruce Pearl - Tennesse
16 Scott Drew - Baylor

Scott Drew has done a great job and has gotten the least respect. He works hard and he has earned my vote. He also has to put up with Rick Barnes being critical. All of the Big 12 coaches do not hate Scott Drew. But the media has played this drum and beat it hard. I didn't see him (Rick Barnes) saying, "Hey Baylor, Let me come coach for you since I am such a good coach. I will be glad to help turn your program around" It is easy to hate a small private school but it seems to be hard for some to be proud for others in the Big 12 even if it is not your school. I for one was very ready to root for a Big 12 team any time they played in the NCAA tournament. What is good for one Big 12 school helps us all!

greatest coach doesn't necessarily mean highest number of wins, championships or being coach of a blue blood program. I think it takes more coaching talent to turn around a struggling program or a less recognized team such as the Baylor Bears, which is what Scott Drew certainly has done

Scott Drew is the real deal. He has held his tongue as others (mostly media----wanting a story) have trashed him. Other coaches have talked openly and negatively about him to the media. He has not returned the poor behavior. He and his staff have worked hard recruiting players. They have made the parents feel comfortable. The current players are also very happy and this shows and is contagious. But most of all, he has brought Baylor basketball further than any other school in a short amount of time.

Someone above said it best when they said does the most with the east. In my opinion is best expressed at this website: barnessucks. Blogspot.com because I think that almost any team is better coached! Scott Drew is better, no doubt.

17 Shaka Smart - VCU
18 Tubby Smith - Minnesota
19 Matt Painter - Purdue
20 Mike Brey - Notre Dame
21 Sean Miller - Arizona
22 Thad Matta - Ohio

Always has Ohio State contending in the Big Ten tourney. Second best coach in that league behind Izzo.

23 Bo Ryan - Wisconsin
24 Lon Kruger - Oklahoma
25 Steve Alford - New Mexico
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