Top 25 current coaches who have not made the Final Four

 

Top 25 Current Coaches who have yet to reach the Final Four

It is that time again. We have concluded another exciting college basketball season with Michigan taking home the crown, so now it is time for me to release my new list of top current coaches who have not made the Final Four. From last year’s list, both Tommy Lloyd and Brad Underwood graduated since they made the Final Four this season and Doug McDermott retired, so here is my newest list:

Honorable Mentions:

Penny Hardaway, Memphis (175-87, three NCAA Tournament appearances)

Danny Sprinkle, Washington (138-85, three NCAA Tournament appearances)

Steve Pikiell, Rutgers (353-315, three NCAA Tournament appearances)

 

25. Niko Medved, Minnesota (237-190, three NCAA Tournament appearances)

While the Gophers did not have a great season, they were severely undermanned in Niko Medved’s first season in Minneapolis. While the Gophers were short on man power, they posted victories over Iowa, Michigan State and UCLA, as well as playing right with Wisconsin twice, Purdue and Illinois. As a matter of fact, the Gophers lost on a buzzer beater at home against the Badgers and blew a 20-point lead in Madison. When he gets his guys in, I believe he can do well for the Gophers. Can he make the Final Four? I am not so sure, unless he goes to a different school. He came to Minnesota following a terrific stint at Colorado State, where he led the Rams to the NCAA Tournament in three of the last four years and was a Derik Queen tough shot away from the Sweet 16 in 2025. In five of his last six seasons in Fort Collins, he won 20 games, with 26 in his final season.

 

24. Chris Holtmann, DePaul (281-207, seven NCAA Tournament appearances, one Sweet 16)

After being let go by Ohio State, he is on the verge of turning around a dormant DePaul program that had just three wins and none in conference play in the season before he arrived. In his first season in Chicago, he led the Blue Demons to 14 wins and then up to 20 this past season, including eight conference victories. The 16 wins are the most by the program since 2019-20 and the eight league wins are the most since 2006-07. It feels like he is on the verge of pushing DePaul into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2004. Before he came to DePaul, Holtmann has always had good seasons with the Buckeyes, but not many standout seasons. His teams fell off his final two seasons when his teams went 9-25 in Big Ten play. His teams also could never break through to the second weekend, including when his OSU team was a No. 2 seed in 2021 and lost to Oral Roberts in the first round. He came to the Buckeyes from Butler, where he was hired to take over for a Butler legend in Brad Stevens. Holtmann was 70-31 in three seasons and reached the Sweet 16 in 2017. His overall record is a little deceiving, as he turned around a Gardner-Webb program that had not had a winning record since 2005-06. In his first two seasons with the Runnin’ Bulldogs, they went 23-41 and did not finish higher than ninth in the Big South. However, in his third season, he led them to a 21-13 record and a berth in the CIT. It will be interesting to see how DePaul does in the future. Chicago is a hotbed for great basketball players. I wonder if Holtmann will be able to make the Final Four at DePaul, though.

 

23. Ed Cooley, Georgetown (376-278, seven NCAA Tournament appearances, one Sweet 16)

Ed Cooley hasn’t turned Georgetown around completely yet, but the Hoyas are much better than the dumpster fire they were before he arrived. But still, he needs to make the NCAA Tournament or his seat might get warm. Cooley made a big improvement from year one to year two at Georgetown. After leading the Hoyas to two wins in league play in year one, Cooley led Georgetown to eight wins in Big East play, the most since 2018-19 when the Hoyas recorded nine league wins in Patrick Ewing’s second season at the helm. In his six NCAA Tournament appearances at Providence, his team only advanced past the first round once, but made it to the second weekend in 2022 and put a scare into eventual national champion Kansas and actually had the lead with under six minutes to play. It will be interesting to see how he does this season and in coming seasons.

 

22. Fran McCaffery, Penn (565-396, 13 NCAA Tournament appearances)

McCaffery had a good, but not great, tenure at Iowa in which he led the Hawkeyes to seven NCAA Tournament appearances but never past the first weekend, despite having the Murray twins and Luka Garza. He was let go last offseason but went to Penn and all he did was lead the Quakers to a spot in the Big Dance, winning both games in the Ivy League Tournament in overtime. McCaffery is a solid coach, but he is pushing 70, so we don’t know how much time in the coaching profession he has left. He won’t be making the Final Four at Penn, so it will be interesting if he gets another opportunity with a power conference school.

 

21. Ben Jacobson, Utah State (397-259, five NCAA Tournament appearances, one Sweet 16)

Jacobsen is another guy who I didn’t think would leave his previous job. He built a really good mid-major program at Northern Iowa. After 20 seasons with Panthers, he decided to heat to Utah State. During his tenure, he led UNI to five NCAA Tournament appearances, including this past season. He led the Panthers to a pair of 30-win seasons, including 30 in the 2009-10 season where he led them to the Sweet 16, thanks to Ali Farokhmanesh’s dagger triple against top-ranked Kansas. However, Jocobson hasn’t led a team to more than 25 wins since 2014-15. I will be curious to see what he can do with a change of scenery in the new Pac 12 that Utah State is a part of.

 

20. Steve Alford, Nevada (568-306, 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, four Sweet 16s)

Alford is one of those outstanding mid-major coaches, but his one showing at a power conference school didn’t go great, even if he did lead Iowa to a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. That game didn’t go great for the Hawkeyes, as Jermaine Wallace buried a 3-pointer from the corner to lift the mighty Demons of Northwestern State to a big 64-63 victory. Under his watch, the Hawkeyes had three 20-win seasons but never advanced to the second weekend. He also started out hot at UCLA, leading the Bruins to three Sweet 16s in his first four years there, including a 31-win season with Lonzo Ball. But his tenure soured with a First Four loss and a sluggish start to the 2018-19 season. However, when at mid-major programs, he has been outstanding, starting with leading Southwest Missouri State to the Sweet 16 in 1999. After Iowa, he led New Mexico to four conference championships and three NCAA Tournament berths. With Nevada, he has done pretty well, but I think he will need to be at a bigger program to make the Final Four. Unfortunately, I think that Lonzo Ball year at UCLA might have been his one chance.

 

19. Kevin Willard, Villanova (359-258, eight NCAA Tournament appearances, one Sweet 16)

Kevin Willard is coming off a strong first season at Villanova, leading the Wildcats to 24 wins and an NCAA Tournament appearance. He comes from Maryland, where he led the Terps to 65 wins in three seasons, including 27 wins in 2024-25 and a Sweet 16 appearance. Prior to Maryland, he had 225 victories for Seton Hall. In his first five seasons with the Pirates, they never had a .500 or above conference record. However, in his final seven seasons, he had at least a .500 mark during league play. In those seven years, Seton Hall made the tournament five times and it would have been six if COVID hadn’t forced a cancellation of the 2020 March Madness. He is not as good of a coach as Jay Wright, but Wright showed you can win in a big way at Villanova (as did the late, great Rollie Massimino). Willard has a chance to improve the Wildcats to a perennial Final Four contender.

 

18. Andy Enfield, SMU (305-200, seven NCAA Tournament appearances, one Sweet 16, one Elite 8)

Andy Enfield is making an appearance on this list for the first time in a few seasons after he led SMU back to the NCAA Tournament before falling in the First Four to Miami (OH). Despite having a better season in 2024-25, the Mustangs only made the NIT. In his first two seasons, he has led the Ponies to 44 wins in the first two seasons with 21 in ACC play. Before an under .500 season in his final year at USC, he led the Trojans to four straight 20 win seasons and seven 20+ win seasons in the previous eight. That included an Elite 8 berth in 2021 before falling to UCLA. I admit, I thought he was not a great hire by USC and was hired because of one flukey run with Florida Gulf Coast in 2013, but he has turned out to be a good hire. It will be interesting to see how he does in future seasons with the Mustangs or if he will be a good coach who can’t make a run in March.

 

17. Bob Richey, Furman (203-94, two NCAA Tournament appearances)

Bob Richey makes his debut on this list after leading Furman to another NCAA Tournament appearance. In his nine seasons as the head coach with the Paladins, he has led his teams to at least 20 wins seven times, and one of the two times he didn’t was the COVID season when he led Furman to a 16-9 mark. That includes 28 wins in 2022-23 and a memorable first round victory over Virginia. He also had two seasons in which he had his teams to a berth in the NIT. Allegedly, he was in the running at North Carolina State but has stayed at Furman. I do think it is just a matter of time before Richey is hired at a power conference school.

 

16. Kevin Young, BYU (49-22, two NCAA Tournament appearances, one Sweet 16)

Kevin Young’s BYU team was set on being a tremendous team again and make a run in the NCAA Tournament with likely top overall draft pick AJ Dybantsa. He was hurt early in the win over Colorado on Valentine’s Day and the team went downhill after that, culminating with a loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Texas. However, the Cougars had a massive recruiting budget, and I think BYU was disappointed by the result from this past season, even with the injury to Saunders. He got the job in 2024 and led BYU to a Sweet 16 appearance in year one and he will receive all the resources needed to help lead his alma mater to its first Final Four appearance ever.

 

15. Mark Pope, Kentucky (230-134, four NCAA Tournament appearances, one Sweet 16)

Mark Pope went down a few spots after this year after his high-priced roster fell in the second round by 19 points to an Iowa State team missing its best player. In the first round, the Wildcats needed an Otega Oweh buzzer beater to send the first game into overtime against Santa Clara. That Sweet he led them to in 2025 was Kentucky’s first since 2019, which is wild. But last season was a bit of a letdown since that school is all about basketball and will put as many resources into that program as possible. He’ll need to make some noise this upcoming season or his seat might start to get warm.

 

14. Will Wade, LSU (266-119, eight NCAA Tournament appearances, one Sweet 16)

After one season at North Carolina State, Will Wade was hired back at LSU. After a 12-19 season the year before Wade was hired by the Wolfpack, he led them to 20 victories and a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Now he goes back to the place where he was let go in 2020. Following being let go with the Tigers, he made his mark on McNeese, leading the Cowboys to an upset of Clemson in 2025. The marriage could not have gone much better for Wade and McNeese, as Wade repaired his image while leading McNeese to two of its best seasons in program history. Wade had a terrific stint with LSU prior to McNeese, leading the Tigers to 105 victories in not quite five full seasons, including an SEC championship and Sweet 16 appearance in 2019. He would have led his teams to NCAA Tournament appearances in each of his last seven seasons with three different teams, as the Tigers would have made it in during the COVID season. It will be interesting to see how he does in his second stint with LSU.

 

13. Randy Bennett, Arizona State (589-228, 12 NCAA Tournament appearances, one Sweet 16)

It is something I didn’t think I’d see—Randy Bennett leaving St. Mary’s. After building the Gaels into a min-major power, Bennett is going to the Big 12 and is trying to turn around Arizona State in a brutal conference. In the last four years, he led St. Mary’s to the conference championship all four years—in a league that had Gonzaga. In the last five seasons, the Gaels made the NCAA Tournament all five seasons. Unfortunately for him and St. Mary’s, it didn’t translate to as much NCAA Tournament success as it hoped for, as the Gaels lost to Texas A&M in the first round of the Big Dance this past season. That has been a theme for Bennett. With the exception of the COVID-shortened season, SMC has won at least 20 games every year since 2007-08, including at least 25 wins on 15 occasions in that time period. However, the Gaels have reached the Sweet 16 just once in that time—in 2009-10. He has been a remarkable regular season coach, but will he be a coach who can’t win the big one or finally make a run and make the trip to the Final Four after so many misses Matt Painter, Tony Bennett or Bo Ryan? When Bennett arrived in 2001, he inherited a program that went 2-27 and has turned it into one of top mid-major programs in the country. It will be interesting to see how he does, considering he is in the toughest conference in the country now.

 

12. Buzz Williams, Maryland (385-249, 11 NCAA Tournament appearances, three Sweet 16s)

He slid down on this list after a brutal season in the first year for him at Maryland, one in which the Terps won just 12 games and 13 of their 16 losses in Big Ten play came by double digits, including nine by 15+ and three by at least 30. Maryland did bring in a good transfer class, led by forward Tomislav Buljan and guards DJ Wagner and Bishop Boswell. The Terps will need to make the NCAA Tournament next year—especially as the tournament expands to 76—or else Williams’ seat will get hot. Williams came to College Park after six seasons at Texas A&M, where he led the Aggies to three NCAA Tournament appearances. His Aggies recorded four consecutive seasons of at least 20 wins, but none of three NCAA Tournament teams made it past the first weekend. Before A&M, he had a strong season with Virginia Tech. With the Hokies, he led them to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1966-67 and nearly knocked off Duke. Before Virginia Tech, he averaged more than 23 wins per season with Marquette and made the Sweet 16 twice and an Elite 8. With four missed tournaments in the last seven years, he needs to put together some solid seasons in the near future.

 

11. Ryan Odom, Virginia (231-123, four NCAA Tournament appearances)

It is funny that Ryan Odom is at Virginia since he was the coach at UMBC the year his team upset top-seeded Virginia in the NCAA Tournament. He led the Cavaliers to 30 wins in his dfirst season and a trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Between UMBC and Virginia, he was at Utah State and VCU, where he led each team to the NCAA Tournament in his second season at the helm. Odom is now at a spot where he can make his way off this list—or maybe into the top five. Virginia is in great hands with Odom and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him make it to the Final Four in the near future.

 

10. Pat Kelsey, Louisville (312-141, six NCAA Tournament appearances)

Kelsey could be even higher on this list. In his two seasons with the Cardinals, he has led his team to 51 wins and 29 victories in conference play. This season wasn’t as productive as his first record-wise, but he led them to a victory in the NCAA Tournament this time around, a close triumph against South Florida. Kelsey turned around a Louisville team from eight wins in 2023-24 the year before he came to 27 in his first year, a trip to the ACC Tournament title game and an NCAA Tournament berth. For his efforts, he was named ACC Coach of the Year. He started his collegiate head coaching career at Winthrop, where he turned around a team that had 12 wins the season before he arrived to a 23-2 mark in his final season, which earned the Eagles a No. 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament. He took a job at College of Charleston in 2021-22 and all he did was lead the Cougars to a pair of conference titles and tournament berths, where it helped him earn the job at Louisville. The Cardinals have a good one in Kelsey, who could leave this list shortly with all the materials at his disposal with the Cardinals.

 

9. Mark Byington, Vanderbilt (267-160, three NCAA Tournament appearances)

It was another successful season for Byington and Vanderbilt and was centimeters away from his first trip to the Sweet 16, losing when a halfcourt shot nearly went down in the loss to Nebraska in the second round. Vanderbilt started the season with 16 straight wins, including a win over Alabama and a Battle 4 Atlantis championship. After losing seven of the last 13 games of the regular season, the Commodores rebounded with a victory at Tennessee and victories over Tennessee and Florida in the conference tournament. In his first season, he led the Commodores to five top 25 wins. He took over a program that had only two winning seasons in five years under Jerry Stackhouse. Prior to coming over to Vanderbilt, he spent four seasons at James Madison, where he led the Dukes to 82 victories, including 32 in 2023-24, leading them to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Before JMU, he led Georgia Southern to 131-97 in seven seasons, including three straight 20-win seasons to finish his tenure with the Eagles. He is one to watch in the Final Four in the coming years with Vandy.

 

8. Jamie Dixon, TCU (527-261, 15 NCAA Tournament appearances, two Sweet 16s, one Elite 8)

Jamie Dixon is one of those coaches who is consistently good, but I don’t know if he’ll ever be able to get over the hump at his alma mater, TCU, especially in the brutal conference that is the Big 12. The Horned Frogs have made the NCAA Tournament four times in the past five years and five seasons total under Dixon after not making it once since 1998. Coming over from Pitt, he took over a dormant program after Trent Johnson couldn’t win in his four years with the program. TCU only had one winning season and was a combined 8-64 in conference play, never finishing higher than ninth in the conference. Prior to Dixon, TCU had not made the NIT either since 2005. One thing he did improve upon was his Big 12 record, going 11-7 this season, his first one above .500 with the Horned Frogs.

 

7. Grant McCasland, Texas Tech (229-108, four NCAA Tournament appearances, one Elite 8)

I feel for Grant McCasland, as his Red Raiders could have made a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, but they were bit with the injury bug as JT Toppin tore his ACL in February and missed the rest of the season. Texas Tech made it to the second round after rolling Akron but was smoked by Alabama in round two. Toppin averaged nearly 22 points and 11 rebounds per game on 55 percent shooting. Tech will be fine either way, but the Red Raiders could be a contender for the Final Four if Toppin comes back late next season. His team had a golden opportunity in 2025 where it could not hold a nine-point lead in the final three minutes and lost to eventual national champion Florida. The Gators finished the contest on an 18-4 spurt to send them to the Final Four and leave the Red Raiders to think what could have been. He came to Lubbock following a successful stint at North Texas. While with the Mean Green, he compiled a 135-65 mark, making the postseason four times, including one NCAA Tournament berth in which they upset Purdue in overtime and made the second round. In his final season in Denton, he guided UNT to the NIT title. It feels like a matter of time for McCaslund.

 

6. Ben McCollum, Iowa (55-17, two NCAA Tournament appearances, one Elite 8)

What an opening for McCollum as a power conference coach, leading Iowa to its first Elite 8 appearance since 1987. In that game, the Hawkeyes led much of the game before falling to Illinois. During the tournament run, the Hawkeyes had their biggest win in years with an upset of the top-seeded defending national champion Florida Gators. This will be the first time without star guard Bennett Stirtz in a number of years, so it will be interesting to see how Iowa does since Stirtz was the straw that stirred the drink. Before he arrived in Iowa City, the Hawkeyes hadn’t reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament this millennium. An Iowa native, McCollum came to Iowa after one season at Drake, where led it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Just two years ago, he was at Northwest Missouri State (Division II), where he built a dynasty, compiling a 395-91 mark and four national championships in his last eight years and it could have been five if COVID hadn’t forced a cancellation of that season’s tournament. McCollum showed his team has a chance to make a deep run every year and it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see the Hawkeyes in the Final Four in the near future.

 

5. Greg Gard, Wisconsin (237-128, eight NCAA Tournament appearances, two Sweet 16s)

This year was another good coaching job from Greg Gard. Unfortunately, the Badgers went one-and-done in the NCAA Tournament. In an odd statistic, Wisconsin under Gard is 0-3 in the first round as a No. 5 seed, but 5-0 in the first round as any other seed. This year, the Badgers were below average to bad prior to early January. Ater a 16-point loss at home to Purdue on Jan. 3, Wisconsin was just 9-5 with blowout losses to Nebraska, BYU and Purdue and disheartening losses to TCU and Villanova. But Gard’s bunch turned it around and the Badgers went 3-1 against Big Ten teams that made the Final Four, including road wins at both Michigan and Illinois. However, the biggest downfall of the Gard tenure so far is his lack of success in the NCAAs, as his teams haven’t made the second weekend since 2017. Is this just who Gard is as a coach, or has it just been bad luck so far? They will have to replace Nick Boyd, John Blackwell, Andrew Rohde and Braeden Carrington and have to fight to keep Nolan Winter, but Gard has struck gold in the portal with A.J. Storr, John Tonje and Boyd in the last three years. It will be interesting to see how Wisconsin looks next season.

 

4. Eric Musselman, USC (256-125, six NCAA Tournament appearances, two Sweet 16s, two Elite 8s)

USC likely would have made the NCAA Tournament if not for Chad Baker-Mazara quitting the team. The Trojans started out 18-6 overall and 7-6 in Big Ten play before losing eight in a row to finish the year, including a loss in the first round of the conference tournament to Washington. But he has helped bring in a talented transfer class, led by K.J. Lewis and Isaac Bruns. But Musselman makes too much to be barely over .500 through two seasons and 14-26 in league play. He came to Southern Cal after a successful stint with Arkansas, as he led the Razorbacks to three straight seasons in the second weekend post-COVID, including two Elite 8 appearances. Even at 22-14, he led his No. 9 seed Razorbacks to the Sweet 16. Before landing in Fayetteville, he turned around a Nevada program that posted just nine wins in the season prior to his arrival. In his first season there, he led Nevada to a 15-win increase in 2015-16 and a CBI championship. In his next three seasons, he led them to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and a berth in the Sweet 16 in 2018.

 

3. Chris Mack, South Florida (323-153, eight NCAA Tournament appearances, three Sweet 16s, one Elite 8)

Chris Mack took the South Florida job after a few seasons re-building his stock with the College of Charleston, where he led his teams to 45 wins in two seasons and a pair of top-three finishes in the Coastal Athletic Association. His two best years at Xavier, in 2015-16 and 2017-18, were spoiled before the second weekend by Wisconsin and Florida State, respectively. He hasn’t made the second weekend since 2017 and has a chance to do that at South Florida in the American Conference. He had a down tenure at Louisville with his best season by far coming in the 2019-20 season where there was no NCAA Tournament. However, with the Musketeers, he had 215 wins with one Elite 8 and three Sweet 16 appearances. I don’t know if he will be able to make it to the Final Four at USF, but it could be a step up to another job where he does.

 

2. T.J. Otzelberger, Iowa State (223-115, seven NCAA Tournament appearances, three Sweet 16s)

It was another really good season for Otzelberger, as he lead the Cyclones to a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and Sweet 16 appearance. Honestly, if Joshua Jefferson didn’t get hurt in the first round victory over Tennessee State, ISU could have made the Elite 8 and maybe made it a game against eventual national champion Michigan. Regardless, it was a 29-win season for T.J., after a so-so tenure at UNLV. He has won 124 games in his first three seasons in Ames, including 29 this past year. Otzelberger has led ISU to the NCAA Tournament in all five years with three appearances in the Sweet 16. The Sweet 16 curse for the Cyclones is real, as ISU is now 1-7 all-time in that round. If the Cyclones were healthy all year, they could have made it to the Final Four this past season, but I think T.J. will make it eventually.

 

1. Sean Miller, Texas (508-211, 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, six Sweet 16s, four Elite 8s)

All Sean Miller does is win—until it gets deep in the NCAA Tournament, at least. Despite sneaking in as an 11 seed and having to start in Dayton, Miller’s Longhorns upset both projected top NBA pick  AJ Dybantsa and BYU as well as Gonzaga on their way to a Sweet 16 berth, where they gave No. 2 seed Purdue all it could handle in a two-point defeat. I know I’ve said it before, but at some point he’ll break through. That was his first year at Texas and nearly led the Horns to the Elite 8. The school will give him all the resources possible to make it to the Final Four, something he was so close to doing when he was at Arizona. Before being fired by the Wildcats, he led them to a 302-109 record in 12 seasons, winning at least 30 games four times. He led the Wildcats to the Elite 8 on four occasions. Arguably his two best teams ran into Frank Kaminsky in 2014 and 2015. He has been so close before, leading his teams to 10 trips to the second weekend and four to the Elite, but cannot make that final step. Sean Miller is too good of a coach to finish his career without a berth in the Final Four. Next season could be his year.