It takes great talent and a heap of tenacity to advance into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament — and a touch of some coaching magic, too.
Alabama wouldn’t be here without Nate Oats’ run-and-fun style. Arkansas wouldn’t be in its position without John Calipari recruiting an athletic team and freeing them to play loose in the biggest moments. That goes ditto for Arizona (Tommy Lloyd) and Houston (Kelvin Sampson).
Which coaches, though — and let me cut right to the chase here — are the best? Not the most accomplished. Not the one whose team has the best résumé. Not the coach whose accrued the most Quad 1 wins. Just, subjectively, which is the best?
I set about to answer that question below accounting for expectations, consistency, character and of course, performance.
It should be noted that every coach on this list is among the best in the entire sport, and reaching the Sweet 16 is a monumental achievement that can’t be taken away. But just as one coach has to be No. 1, so too does one coach have to bring up the caboose.
Let’s get to the rankings.
1. Tom Izzo, Michigan State
Judging by the talent on this Michigan State team (zero players on the All-Big Ten First and Second Teams) and its many accomplishments — a Big Ten title, 29 wins and a top-five defense to boot — Izzo is No. 1 ranking isn’t just coasting on his career longetivty and previous accomplishments. Although, he’s probably No. 1 in those departments, too. The Spartans have punched above their weight all season behind a depth and development. Their effort is backed by defensive efficiency and relentlessness on the offensive glass.
2. Kelvin Sampson, Houston
Sampson led league-newcomer Houston to a hostile takeover of the Big 12, winning back-to-back conference titles — both by multiple games. A No. 1 seed for a third consecutive season, the Cougars enter the Sweet 16 with the nation’s longest active winning streak (15 games), winners of 28 of their last 29 games, the No. 1 defense in adjusted efficiency at KenPom and the No. 1 3-point offense by percentage. That’s not to mention top-15 marks in offensive efficiency, offensive rebounding rate and block rate. There are very few holes on this team Sampson and his staff assembled.
3. Nate Oats, Alabama
Under Oats, Alabama is the nation’s fastest team in adjusted tempo. He has continuously pushed norms by emphasizing the game’s most efficient shots: 3s and layups. Coming off a run to the program’s first-ever Final Four, his team is armed with the sport’s highest-scoring offense for a second-straight year and a defense capable enough to give the Tide juice for another deep run.
4. Matt Painter
How many coaches could lose two-time Player of the Year winner and lottery pick Zach Edey, and bounce back the following year with a remade roster back into the Sweet 16? Painter has done it. It’s his eighth trip to the Sweet 16 since taking over in 2005 — the program had just seven total appearances prior to his arrival. This team has its worts, but Painter built a contender behind two stars Trey Kaufman-Renn and Braden Smith.
5. Bruce Pearl, Auburn
Pearl at No. 5 on this list highlights just how loaded this Sweet 16 is with star coaching power. He has (so far) guided the Tigers to match a program-best 30 wins, a conference title in the historically deep SEC and the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed. It’s laughable how good Pearl’s been at Auburn overall. This year’s team features Player of the Year contender Johni Broome and dazzling potency on both ends of the floor.
6. Jon Scheyer, Duke
Poise, pizzazz and a healthy dose of swag are Scheyer’s best features. That’s not to say he’s not a great coach — because he is! But his best traits are relating to players, fostering growth and managing his team. His genial personality helped him build and develop the most talented team in this year’s tournament led by the its player in Cooper Flagg.
Predictive metrics and prognostications be damned, May can coach his you-know-what off. Michigan was picked No. 9 in the Big Ten preseason media poll before a runner-up regular-season finish and Big Ten tourney title. That’s despite leading a team that is ranked 13th at KenPom and 14th at BartTorvik among the 16 still standing. May and his staff have made more out of less all season and that’s continued into March Madness.
Zero career Final Fours and only one Elite Eight with Tennessee — which came last season — knocks Barnes down the ladder a bit. But the best defensive coach in the field has slowly found ways to addd in just-enough offense. The result has been 108 wins and counting across the last four seasons. Lacking a full-on breakout in March — at least not yet — shouldn’t discount his undeniable success and consistency.
Pope’s at No. 9 purely on the fact that we’ve not seen enough yet. But what we’ve seen has been overwhelmingly positive. He’s built a fast-paced offense that can score with any team in the sport despite navigating various injuries (Kerr Kriisa, Jaxson Robinson, Lamont Butler, Andrew Carr) all season. He’s had a full available roster for fewer than half UK’s games (even fewer if you count Kriisa’s absence) and consistently overcome that with a trip to the Sweet 16 in Year 1. Big Blue Nation has to be thrilled. It should be.
10. Tommy Lloyd, Arizona
Lloyd’s second round win over Oregon gave him 112 victories in his first four years in the desert, marking the second-most in the first four years of a coaching career — behind only to Brad Stevens’ 117 at Butler. That’s an average of 28 wins per season. The next step is a breakthrough into the Elite Eight — which he has yet to do, but feels inevitable.
11. Kevin Young, BYU
BYU’s found instant success plucking Young from the NBA ranks, evidenced by the many programs who have emulated that model since. BYU has won 11 of its last 12 games and rallied behind a top-10 offense that runs great actions and gets good looks — evidenced by a top-six 2-point shooting percentage. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that BYU evolves into monster in the coming years under Young.
12. Todd Golden, Florida
Florida is the hottest team (or second-hottest, depending on how you want to view Duke) still standing in this Sweet 16 field. But Golden’s bonafides are still TBD. He only once finished in the top half of the WCC at San Francisco, but done so in two of three seasons at Florida — finishing sixth last year and second this season. He seems to have captured lightning in a bottle with a talented roster, which he deserves credit for assembling. But from a tactical standpoint it’s hard to ignore just how close UConn and coach Dan Hurley’s pushed Florida in the second round despite far-inferior talent. Adding the off-court distractions and allegations that followed him earlier this season, I’m keeping him out of the top 10 while acknowledging that his team — with the second-shortest odds to win the title — is primed to make a real run in the coming weeks.
13. John Calipari, Arkansas
Chased out of Kentucky last spring, Calipari rallied his first team at Arkansas to narrowly make the NCAA Tournament. Now he has them in the Sweet 16 against the odds after downing No. 2 seed St. John’s and a fellow Hall of Fame coach in Rick Pitino in the process. Cal’s the second coach to lead four different programs to a Sweet 16, joining Lon Kruger.
14. Grant McCasland, Texas Tech
McCasland has already accumulated 50 wins in his first two seasons at Texas Tech, which was more than the first two seasons of Chris Beard’s historic run with the program. He’s shown himself an A-plus talent evaluator with hit after hit out of the portal. Led transfer-turned-Big 12 Player of the Year JT Toppin, McCasland has shown he’s adaptable. He has embraced the 3-point shot and built one of the countries most lethal offensive attacks in the process. For a coach with a pedigree built primarily on defense, his evolution has earned him the respect of his peers.
15. Chris Beard, Ole Miss
Beard brought Texas Tech to never-before-seen heights and worked his way into the Texas job before his 2023 dismissal on allegations of assault. The victim in the case, his fiancee, later recanted and he landed at Ole Miss the next season. On the court, Beard’s success has been steady, with NCAA Tournament appearances at Ole Miss, Texas, Texas Tech and Little Rock. He also has a national runner-up finish with the Red Raiders in 2019.
16. Kevin Willard, Maryland
Willard is quickly ascending the ranks after assembling his best at Maryland. Centered around a starting crew that calls itself the “Crab Fivem” the Terps have won 27 games and are in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2016. For his part, Willard has crafted a vaunted defense around an offense that has shown itself capable of immense “spurt-ability”.
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