Top 10 NCAA championship-winning coaches in men’s college basketball history ft. John Wooden, Bill Self, and more
With 10 NCAA championships, John Wooden's spot atop the food chain of national title-winning coaches in men's college basketball history is secure. How secure? Well, there's only one active coach who is credited with a pair of NCAA titles: Kansas's Bill Self.
Yes, Rick Pitino won a second title, but the NCAA doesn't recognize his 2013 win with Louisville, so it's Self and nine titles between any other active coach and the "Wizard of Westwood."
Who is between them on the title list? Here are the top 10 NCAA championship-winning coaches in men's college basketball history.
Top 10 NCAA basketball coaches by number of championships
#8, Rick Pitino, Kentucky, 1
Pitino should be in the group of nine coaches below with two titles. He's the only coach to win titles at two different schools, except that the NCAA does not recognize Louisville's 2013 championship. So, on the official books, Pitino has just one championship, which he won at Kentucky in 1996.
#7, tie between nine coaches, including Bill Self, Kansas, 2
So, yes, there are only six coaches in NCAA history with more than two title wins. This makes Self's work at Kansas even more impressive, as he is the only active coach who is another victory away from the big six ahead of him.
Of the other eight coaches with two NCAA titles, most are not only inactive, but they are dead.
On that list are San Francisco's Phil Woolpert, North Carolina's Dean Smith, Indiana's Branch McCracken, Cincinnati's Ed Jucker, Oklahoma State's Henry Iba and Louisville's Denny Crum, who died in May. All of those are dead.
Billy Donovan and Jay Wright could theoretically win another title, but Wright is retired and Donovan, who coaches the Chicago Bulls, hasn't coached in college in almost a decade.
#4, (tie) Roy Williams, North Carolina, 3
UNC boss Roy Williams is one of a trio of coaches who can claim three NCAA titles. Williams took Kansas to the Final Four on four occasions, losing two title games, before moving to North Carolina in 2003. He claimed NCAA crowns with the Tar Heels in 2005, 2009 and 2017. Williams retired in 2021.
#4, (tie) Jim Calhoun, UConn, 3
Calhoun lifted UConn basketball from a national also-ran to a national power. He also won three NCAA championships, pulling the feat in just four Final Four appearances. Calhoun won titles in 1999, 2004 and 2011. He retired in 2012, and the Huskies have continued on the high standard he set.
#4, (tie) Bobby Knight, Indiana, 3
Few coaches were more controversial than Knight, who died in November at the age of 83. But few coaches were more successful either, with only three topping Knight's trio of NCAA crowns.
Knight's teams reached five Final Fours, winning championships in 1976, 1981 and 1987. That 1976 team was the last unbeaten championship in NCAA history, a feat that may never be repeated. Knight reached only one Final Four after 1987 and retired in 2008.
#3, Adolph Rupp, Kentucky, 4
At the time of his retirement in 1972, Rupp had the most coaching wins in college basketball history, and was second in NCAA titles with four. Rupp's Kentucky teams won the NCAA Tournament in 1948, 1949, 1951 and 1958. He reached only one more FInal Four after that 1958 season, losing to Texas Western in 1966 in the game which helped integrate college basketball.
Rupp died in 1977 at the age of 76, and Kentucky still plays in Rupp Arena, which opened shortly before his death.
#2, Mike Krzyzewski, Duke, 5
Arguably the greatest coach in college basketball history, Duke's beloved Coach K claimed five NCAA titles and made the Blue Devils the standard for college basketball excellence in a rapidly changing world. Among Coach K's 1,202 wins were NCAA titles in 1991, 1992, 2001, 2010 and 2015. Krzyzewski retired from Duke in 2022, and Jon Scheyer is trying to fill his massive shoes.
#1, John Wooden, UCLA, 10
John Wooden lived 99 years before he died in 2010. his mark of 10 NCAA titles might never be bested.
Coaching star-heavy UCLA teams that retained players for four years (although most were only eligible for three, Wooden's best teams were literally unbeatable.
The man who coached Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won NCAA crowns in 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1975. It might be easier to just say that in a 12-year run from 1964 to 1975, the only years when Wooden didn't win the NCAA title were 1966 and 1974. Wooden retired after the 1975 game. What else did he have to prove?