5 college basketball coaches with highest winning percentage in NCAA Tournament ft. John Calipari
For top college basketball coaches, there's winning and winning in March. The unforgiving nature of the NCAA Tournament can make even the best coaches into early-round bystanders. Forget NCAA crowns, every NCAA Tournament win is a cause for celebration.
That makes the coaches who rack up NCAA Tournament wins the true maestros of the sport. So, which coaches are the best? When we stack up the active coaches by NCAA Tournament winning percentage, we found four wily old veterans and a young gun.
Among the coaches to have coached 10 or more NCAA Tournament games, here are the top five in winning percentage.
Top five college basketball coaches by NCAA Tournament winning percentage
#5 Chris Beard (11-5)
Beard is the young gun. The Ole Miss coach took Texas Tech to the 2019 NCAA finals and reached the Elite Eight the year before. That's eight of Beard's 11 NCAA Tournament wins, but his .688 winning percentage edged out Dan Hurley and Frank Martin for fifth on the list.
#4 Tom Izzo (55-24)
Izzo won the 2000 NCAA Tournament and is the gold standard of current coaches in reaching the Final Four.
His eight NCAA Final Four appearances lead the coaching field, even though Izzo is just 2-6 in national semifinals. State returned to the NCAA final in 2009. While his last Final Four is in 2019, Izzo remains one of the great coaches of the current era.
#3 Rick Pitino (54-21)
One of only two active coaches to win a pair of NCAA titles (even if Louisville's 2013 win was vacated by the NCAA), Pitino is a legend.
He took Providence, Kentucky and Louisville to the Final Four, and his seven Final Four appearances is second only to Izzo. The 71-year-old Pitino leads St. John's and could yet take another program to the Final Four. Would it be a surprise?
#2 Bill Self (55-21)
A single game separates Self from Pitino, but both coaches have won a pair of NCAA crowns.
The 61-year-old Self has been at Kansas since 2003. Before that, he took Tulsa and Illinois to Elite Eight berths. At Kansas, Self won the 2008 and 2022 NCAA titles and also reached another pair of additional Final Fours. Among the coaches in the top five, Self has the best chance to gain ground in 2024.
#1 John Calipari (57-21)
You might not hear about it much in Lexington these days, but Calipari is at the top of the NCAA Tournament heap with a .731 winning percentage.
His 57 NCAA Tournament wins also leads active coaches. Calipari took UMass, Memphis and Kentucky to Final Fours, but the first two have been vacated by the NCAA. While Coach Cal hasn't been to the Final Four since 2015, he could be back soon.
What do you think about these coaches? Will Self win a third title, or Pitino overtake Calipari in Tournament wins? Weigh in with our comment section below.