6. Brian Gregory, Dayton—A member of the Tom Izzo coaching tree along with other notable names like Tom Crean and Stan Heath, Gregory has a great basketball education. He led Dayton to a top 15 ranking this season, and if his top player wasn’t hobbled by injuries late in the season, he would have had a good chance at making the tournament.
7. Chris Lowery, Southern Illinois—One of the youngest on this list at 35, his name is being thrown around at big time schools even though SIU had it’s worst record this season since Lowery has taken over at 18-15. But Lowery did take the Salukis to the NCAAs in his first three seasons, including a Sweet 16 birth in ’06-’07. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel listed Lowery as a potential candidate to take over for Tom Crean at Marquette, and now he seems to be on the radar at Oklahoma State as well.
8. Brad Brownell, Wright State—Another promising young name, he led UNC Wilmington to two NCAA appearances in four years, and led Wright State to a tourney appearance. Has a career record of 127-60. His name was mentioned for the Indiana job, but he was never in serious contention. Was the backup choice to Jim Christian for the TCU job.
9. Scott Sutton, Oral Roberts—Sutton, the youngest son of legendary Eddie Sutton, isn’t as well known as his brother Sean, who was recently fired at Oklahoma State, but he just might be the best. He has led Oral Roberts of the mighty Summit League to three straight NCAA tournament appearances. His name has been mentioned in the open positions at Missouri State and TCU, and last year even turned down the position at Wichita State. Give it one more year and one more tourney appearance, and he’ll be gone
10. Bill Grier, San Diego—Grier has learned from one of the best in Mark Few as an assistant at Gonzaga, and in one season at San Diego he beat his former mentor in the WCC tournament, and upset UCONN in the NCAAs. Actually turned down a Pac-10 position at Oregon State to stay at San Diego, but like most on the list, it’s only a matter of time before he moves on.
11. Randy Bennett, St. Mary’s—His name was mentioned for the Oregon State opening as well as the Cal job, but so far he has shown his plans are to stay at St. Mary’s to continue to teach rising stars like Patty Mills.
Other Notables: Some of these coaches are too fresh at their current positions and still have a little to prove before moving up to bigger jobs, some were left off the list because they currently hold jobs at high major schools, and some were omitted because they are too old to be considered “up-and-coming”. But nonetheless, they are all hot commodities in the coaching ranks.
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