Saturday, March 12, 2022

March Madness 2: Coaches with Deepest March Madness Runs

The second key factor in winning March Madness games is if a team's coach has one games and made runs in the past. 

Before picking that big upset, consider that 72% of Division I NCAA teams are coached by a team that has NEVER won a single NCAA tournament game. 

We clicked on the coaches for all 358 teams in www.kenpom.com and realized 257 of 358 never advanced past Round 1 (R1). To make it much easier for you, if you simply search this blog for a team you are considering picking, and nothing is found, then the teams coach has never won a tournament game while coaching that team or any previously teams. We set up a rating system for each coaches' deep runs, but before we explain that, we will start with the seven coaches who get a "10." These seven coaches are the only ones who have both won an NCAA title and taken a second team at least to the championship game. Some have won more than one, but once a coach has taken at least two teams to the title game and won it at least once, we give him a "10."

 
TeamConfCurrent coachDeep Run Rating
DukeACCMike Krzyzewski10
IonaMAACRick Pitino10
KansasB12Bill Self10
KentuckySECJohn Calipari10
Michigan St.B10Tom Izzo10
SyracuseACCJim Boeheim10
VillanovaBEJay Wright10

The next 67 coaches have won at least two tournament games at some point in their coaching career. To rate them in order, we give them credit for their two deepest tournament runs, starting with their best run: 7 points if the coach won the National Title. 6 pionts if the coach took a team to the title game but lost. 5 points if the coach took the team to the Final 4. 4 points if the coach took the team to the Elite 8. 3 points if the coach took the team to the Sweet 16. 2 points if the coach won a game to go to the second round. 

To give more credit to coaches who had more than one run, we then looked at each coaches second deepest run and added the following number of points: 3 points for making a second title game (whether they won or lost). 2 points for making it to the Elite 8 or Final 4. 1 point for winning at least one game in a second tournament. When you add these points together the seven listed on the table above are the only ones who get a "10" for the championship and at least one extra trip to the title game, but the following coaches all won at least two tournament games (if that is all then they get a "3" whether it was two wins in one tournament or a single win in two different touranments) all the way up to 9 points for a title run and another run to at least the Elite 8, etc.

 
TeamConfCurrent coachDeep Run Rating
BaylorB12Scott Drew9
GonzagaWCCMark Few9
High PointBSthTubby Smith9
VirginiaACCTony Bennett9
AuburnSECBruce Pearl7
Detroit MercyHorzMike Davis7
HoustonAmerKelvin Sampson7
Miami FLACCJim Larrañaga7
Mississippi St.SECBen Howland7
South CarolinaSECFrank Martin7
TennesseeSECRick Barnes7
GeorgiaSECTom Crean (left)6
MarquetteBEShaka Smart6
Notre DameACCMike Brey6
OklahomaB12Porter Moser6
OregonP12Dana Altman6
UCLAP12Mick Cronin6
West VirginiaB12Bob Huggins6
ArkansasSECEric Musselman5
Cal St. NorthridgeBWMark Gottfried5
Eastern MichiganMACStan Heath5
FloridaSECMichael White5
Florida St.ACCLeonard Hamilton5
LouisvilleACCChris Mack (left)5
PittsburghACCJeff Capel III5
PurdueB10Matt Painter5
St. John'sBEMike Anderson5
TCUB12Jamie Dixon5
TexasB12Chris Beard5
Texas A&MSECBuzz Williams5
USCP12Andy Enfield5
AkronMACJohn Groce4
AlabamaSECNate Oats4
Cal St. BakersfieldBWRod Barnes4
Coastal CarolinaSBCliff Ellis4
CreightonBEGreg McDermott4
DavidsonA10Bob McKillop4
EvansvilleMVCTodd Lickliter4
HarvardIvyTommy Amaker4
Kent St.MACRob Senderoff4
Long Beach St.BWDan Monson4
LSUSECWill Wade4
MichiganB10Juwan Howard4
NebraskaB10Fred Hoiberg4
NevadaMWCSteve Alford4
Northern IowaMVCBen Jacobson4
Ohio St.B10Chris Holtmann4
Oregon St.P12Wayne Tinkle4
PepperdineWCCLorenzo Romar4
Saint Mary'sWCCRandy Bennett4
Tarleton St.WACBilly Gillispie4
UCFAmerJohnny Dawkins4
WisconsinB10Greg Gard4
CaliforniaP12Mark Fox3
ClemsonACCBrad Brownell3
ColoradoP12Tad Boyle3
ConnecticutBEDan Hurley3
Georgia TechACCJosh Pastner3
IllinoisB10Brad Underwood3
IowaB10Fran McCaffery3
MissouriSECCuonzo Martin (left)3
Northern KentuckyHorzDarrin Horn3
Oral RobertsSumPaul Mills3
PennIvySteve Donahue3
RichmondA10Chris Mooney3
UC DavisBWJim Les3
Western KentuckyCUSARick Stansbury3

Do note that we put (left) by coaches from this season who have won more than one tournament game but have left their program listed. That includes Tom Crean from Georgia, Chris Mack at Louisville and Cuonzo Martin from Missouri. It also includes coaches who had runs at big problem years ago and are finishing at smaller programs such as Mike Davis (Indiana run but now at Detroit Mercy), Mark Gottfried (Alabama runs but now at Cal St. Northridge) and Cliff Ellis (National Coach of the Year at Auburn in 1999 and now at Coastal Carolina). Finding out where coaches had gone made this a fun though time consuming effort.

The following are the 30 coaches who have won one tournament game, but only one. the first win is the toughest, so a coach on this list is probably more likely to pull an upset than a coach who has never won a tournament game.
 
TeamConfCurrent coachDeep Run Rating
ButlerBELaVall Jordan2
DaytonA10Anthony Grant2
HawaiiBWEran Ganot2
LehighPatBrett Reed2
LibertyASunRitchie McKay2
MarshallCUSADan D'Antoni2
MississippiSECKermit Davis2
Murray St.OVCMatt McMahon2
New MexicoMWCRichard Pitino (son)2
North TexasCUSAGrant McCasland2
NorthwesternB10Chris Collins2
Northwestern St.SlndMike McConathy2
OhioMACJeff Boals2
Oklahoma St.B12Mike Boynton2
ProvidenceBEEd Cooley2
RutgersB10Steve Pikiell2
Saint LouisA10Travis Ford2
Seton HallBEKevin Willard2
South FloridaAmerBrian Gregory2
StanfordP12Jerod Haase2
Tennessee TechOVCJohn Pelphrey2
TulaneAmerRon Hunter2
TulsaAmerFrank Haith2
UABCUSAAndy Kennedy2
UC IrvineBWRussell Turner2
Utah St.MWCRyan Odom2
UTEPCUSAJoe Golding2
WashingtonP12Mike Hopkins2
Western IllinoisSumRob Jeter2
YaleIvyJames Jones2

The 257 teams with coaches who have never won an NCAA tournament game are not listed, but if you didn't find a team you are considering in a search, then their coach has never won a tournament game.

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