5 men’s college basketball coaches with record-breaking career wins ft. Mike Krzyzewski
Unlike its big league counterparts, college basketball is more about the program and its coaches. They not only spearhead their staff, recruitment, rosters and schedule, but also play an instrumental role in filling up arenas.
As Bill Self, Dan Hurley, John Calipari and others continue to do that for their respective universities, let’s look at the all-time winningest coaches the Division I circuit has witnessed.
5 men’s college basketball coaches with the most wins
#5 Dean Smith (879-254)
Dean Smith coached the North Carolina Tar Heels from 1961 to 1997 after being an assistant coach for the program for three years. He helped develop Michael Jordan for the NBA and led the program to two NCAA championships (1982 and 1993) and 11 Final Four appearances.
Smith also led UNC to 17 regular-season titles, winning eight ACC Coach of the Year awards.
#4 Bob Knight (899-374)
Bob Knight spent 45 years in the coaching world, leading teams such as Indiana, Army and Texas Tech. His best tenure came with the Hoosiers, where he led the program to three NCAA titles in an 11-year frame (1976, 1981,1987).
He is one of the only three coaches with a triple crown: NCAA title, NIT title (1979) and Olympic gold (1979 and 1984). The four-time Big Ten Coach of the Year retired as the winningest coach in the college circuit.
#3 Roy Williams (903-264)
Roy Williams' 33 years in the coaching world were divided among Kansas (15 years) and UNC (18 years). He left Jayhawks in 2003 with an 80.5% winning record and the second-winningest coach in program history.
At Chapel Hill, Williams led the program to three ACC tournament titles, five Final Four appearances and three NCAA championships (2005, 2009 and 2017).
#2 Jim Boeheim (1116-441)
Jim Boeheim is only one of two coaches to touch the 1000-win mark. He spent 47 years with the Syracuse Orange, developing players such as Greg Monroe, Carmelo Anthony, Sherman Douglas, Gerry McNamara and others.
He led the Orangemen to five Final Four appearances, three NCAA finals and a national title, earning the conference Coach of the Year four times. Boeheim would have become the all-time winningest coach in college basketball history had the NCAA not vacated his 101 wins from the 2015 season.
#1 Mike Krzyzewski (1202-368)
Mike Krzyzewski’s coaching acumen not only made waves in the college circuit but also left an imprint on NBA players such as LeBron James.
He coached Army from 1975-1980 before leading Duke for 41 years, leading them to five NCAA championships (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010 and 2015). He also coached Team USA. earning six gold medals.