- Gonzaga’s Mark Few the headliner on Mount Rushmore of top active college basketball coaches without a national championship.
- By consistently winning at multiple schools, Bruce Pearl and Rick Barnes are also on that Mount Rushmore, but each enjoys a chance to get off that list this March Madness.
- Kelvin Sampson becomes model of consistency coaching Houston Cougars.
Gonzaga basketball players cannot possibly remember a time when the Bulldogs did not make the NCAA Tournament. Mark Few made sure of that.
Few will make his 25th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance as Gonzaga’s coach this week. He twice finished as a national runner-up while coaching a mid-major that functions as a high-major and traded in its glass slipper long ago.
Few ranks as my best active college basketball coach to never win a national championship. He enjoys good company within that conversation.
Houston’s Kelvin Sampson, Auburn’s Bruce Pearl and Tennessee’s Rick Barnes join Few on my Mount Rushmore of top active coaches without a Division I championship ring. Together, they’re career winners and March Madness regulars with a combined six Final Four appearances. Pearl owns a Division II national title from his 1995 season coaching Southern Indiana.
All four are coaching in the NCAA Tournament once again, and there’s a real chance my Mount Rushmore will require modification within a month – because, one of these guys could cut down nets in April.
Bruce Pearl, Kelvin Sampson coming for that national title
Being on this particular Mount Rushmore rates as more of a compliment than a criticism. Only a coach who’s an NCAA Tournament regular could earn this distinction, but each of these coaches has stomached repeated stinging March Madness defeats. A championship ring elevates perception of a coach’s career.
Pearl secured a spot on this list in part because of his underdog coaching performances. He took Wisconsin-Milwaukee to the Sweet 16 as a No. 12 seed, Tennessee to the Elite Eight as a No. 6 seed and Auburn to the Final Four as a No. 5 seed, but he’s also suffered his share of March disappointments, including last year’s stunning first-round loss to Yale. Now, for the first time, he’s coaching a No. 1 seed.
I trust veterans in March Madness, and there’s no better veteran in college basketball than Auburn big man Johni Broome.
Thirst for basketball relevance? Hire Pearl. He’s won at a Division II school, plus a Division I commuter school and later two SEC football schools.
The knock on Pearl’s Auburn tenure? He’s frequently fizzled in March. He took Auburn to the 2019 Final Four, but four other NCAA appearances at Auburn ended in the first or second round.
If not Auburn for the title, how about Houston? Remember, I gravitate to March Madness teams with reliable veterans. Well, Houston boasts four juniors or seniors averaging in double figures scoring. I also trust teams that are reliable on both ends of the court. Houston joins fellow No. 1 seeds Duke and Florida as the only teams that rank in the top 10 nationally of KenPom’s advanced metrics for both offense and defense.
Sampson has become a model of consistency at Houston, enjoying five straight tournament appearances that finished in the Sweet 16 or beyond. The Cougars lost in November to Auburn and Alabama, but the margins were close, and the Big 12 schedule wasn’t as grueling as the SEC’s battle royale. That could work to Houston’s advantage. The Cougars lost only once since November.
Sampson and Barnes built careers on defense and consistency.
Tennessee’s NCAA history featuring no Final Fours lurks in the background. So does Barnes’ NCAA Tournament record that barely tops .500. His lone Final Four appearance came in 2003 at Texas, and he repeatedly failed to return to the Final Four with teams as talented as this one. But, this squad pairs defense with dead-eye 3-point marksman Chaz Lanier, while veteran point guard Zakai Zeigler conducts the orchestra. That’s proven a winning combination.
Among my Mount Rushmore, Few came closest to a Division I title. Gonzaga led North Carolina in the 2017 national championship game with less than 2½ minutes to play, but the Tar Heels prevailed in a slugfest. Few’s current Bulldogs won the West Coast Conference Tournament, but, as a No. 8 seed, this team doesn’t rate near his best, so he’s most likely to remain on this Mount Rushmore.
Old guard of coaches ready to rule this March Madness
My Mount Rushmore of top active winners without a title ranges in age from Few, 62, to Barnes, 70. Barnes enjoyed his best finish at Tennessee just last season, taking the Vols to their second-ever Elite Eight. Sampson, 69, wins as much as he ever has. Pearl celebrated his 65th birthday two weeks after winning the SEC’s regular-season title. This quartet’s continued success debunks the narrative that NIL and transfer freedom would trigger a wave of early retirement by veteran coaches.
So, who’s going to win their first NCAA title? Well, the list of contenders doesn’t end with this Mount Rushmore. Duke’s Jon Scheyer, Florida’s Todd Golden or Alabama’s Nate Oats could snag that first ring.
Or, a couple of ring-toting vampires might interfere. I’m referring to Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and St. John’s Rick Pitino, septuagenarians who fielded their best teams in ages. Wouldn’t it be something if Pitino, at age 72, won a national championship just five years after coaching in Greece while ostracized from the college game?
If Pitino pulls it off, he’d become the first coach to win a national championship at three different schools. Could happen, but I think it’s more likely I’ll soon need to update my Mount Rushmore of best coaches without a championship.
Blake Toppmeyer is a columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all of his columns.