Active College Basketball Coaches With a National Championship

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Rick Pitino, now at Iona, won his first national championship at Kentucky and a second at Louisville. The latter has been vacated.
(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Chase Kiddy @chaseakiddy Apr 08, 2024, 5:36 PM

There are only seven active Division I men’s college basketball head coaches who have guided their team to a national championship: Bill Self, Scott Drew, Tony Bennett, Rick Pitino, John Calipari, Tom Izzo, and Dan Hurley.

Officially, Self is the only coach on the list who has won multiple championships. He won with Kansas in 2008 and 2022.

Rick Pitino, who is currently at St. John’s, won championships with Kentucky in 1996 and rival Louisville in 2013. However, Louisville’s participation in the 2013 NCAA Tournament was eventually vacated by the NCAA.

Hurley is the newest member of the club after winning the national championship with UConn in 2023. 

The dearth of championship-winning head coaches comes on the heels of a great wave of retirements from legendary coaches who have dominated the NCAA basketball odds market over the last 25 years. 

Jay Wright, Roy Williams, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, and Jim Calhoun account for 12 of the 24 college championships awarded since the 1998-99 season. All five retired from their most recent coaching positions in the last three years.

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About the Author

Chase Kiddy

Read More @chaseakiddy

Chase Kiddy is a writer for BetMGM and co-host of The Lion's Edge, an NFL and college football podcast available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere else. He has also written for a number of print and online outlets, including the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Washington Post, Daily News-Record, and HERO Sports. His first novel, Cave Paintings, is in development.

Chase Kiddy is a writer for BetMGM and co-host of The Lion's Edge, an NFL and college football podcast available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and everywhere else. He has also written for a number of print and online outlets, including the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Washington Post, Daily News-Record, and HERO Sports. His first novel, Cave Paintings, is in development.