Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Jay Wright, and Jim Boeheim have all retired from college basketball in recent years, leaving a hole at the top of the sport and atop record books for most Division-I wins by active coaches.
Active College Basketball Coaches With Most Career Wins
| Head Coach | Number of Wins |
|---|---|
| Bob Huggins | 863 |
| John Calipari | 831 |
| Bill Self | 785 |
| Rick Barnes | 777 |
| Dana Altman | 729 |
The active coaches sitting top five in most wins is a list of some of the top names in basketball.
Jim Boeheim has coached at Syracuse for nearly 50 years and continues adding double-digit wins each season. The time for him to walk away is undoubtedly approaching, and Syracuse is not winning at a rate that would allow him to threaten Coach K’s record. The Orange are the eighth seed in the ACC Tournament and begin play with a matchup against Wake Forest on Wednesday.
The same could be said for West Virginia.
Bob Huggins is 69 years old, and while he has enjoyed success with the Mountaineers, WVU does not appear poised to start rattling off 30+ win seasons. Huggins will probably reach 1,000 victories, but it would be a shock if he got to 1,202. The Mountaineers had a great week; notching wins over Iowa State and Kansas State and all but assuring an NCAA Tournament bid. West Virginia is the eighth seed in the Big 12 Tournament, and they’ll begin play on Wednesday night with a clash against Texas Tech.
The others are more than a stone’s throw behind that number but are all winning at a high rate. John Calipari is still third in wins for active coaches, and the Wildcats had an interesting week. They were stunned at home against Vanderbilt on March 1 but bounced back with a great victory at Arkansas to close the regular season. They are the three seed in the SEC Tournament and will play on Friday evening against Vanderbilt, Georgia, or LSU.
Kansas’s Bill Self is the man with the most straightforward path to catching 1,202 wins. He is only 59 years old and winning at a good clip at one of the nation’s strongest basketball schools. Self would need to coach for another 14 seasons while winning 30 games per year to become the all-time winningest coach. That would put him in his mid-70s. It’s unlikely but not impossible. Kansas secured another Big 12 title with a win over Texas Tech but went to Austin and got hammered by the Texas Longhorns to close the regular season. They are the number one seed in the Big 12 Tournament and will play on Thursday against either West Virginia or Texas Tech.
Rick Barnes is now eight wins behind Self, and 15 behind Calipari, as the Volunteers finish the regular season in a slump without its starting point guard. They got a win over Arkansas but fell at Auburn on Saturday. Tennessee heads to the SEC Tournament as the number five seed, and they’ll play on Thursday afternoon against either South Carolina or Ole Miss.
This article will be updated weekly as coaches like Dana Altman, Kelvin Sampson, Tom Izzo, and the five on this list rack up wins and prepare their teams for March.
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