Jon Scheyer, Fred Hoiberg Headline 2026 Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year Finalists
Amid a two-loss season, Duke's Jon Scheyer was among the four to be named finalists for the 2026 Naismith Men's College Basketball Coach of the Year Award on Friday.
Scheyer is joined by Arizona's Tommy Lloyd, Michigan's Dusty May and Nebraska's Fred Hoiberg as finalists for the highest honor in college basketball coaching.
Over the past four seasons, Scheyer has masterfully replaced legendary Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, as he has yet to lose more than nine games in a single campaign.
After leading the Blue Devils to a 35-4 record and a Final Four appearance last season, Scheyer's Duke team has arguably been even better this season with a 34-2 mark entering the Sweet 16.
Despite losing lottery picks Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach to the NBA, Scheyer has kept Duke at the top of the college basketball world thanks largely to his ability to bring in a National College Player of the Year candidate in freshman Cameron Boozer.
While Duke has been the top team in the nation for much of the 2025-26 season, Arizona and Michigan have been nipping at the Blue Devils' heels.
In his fifth season as the head coach at Arizona, Lloyd has taken the Wildcats from something of a downtrodden program to perennial contenders.
After missing back-to-back NCAA tournaments at the end of Sean Miller's tenure, Lloyd has taken the Wildcats to five consecutive NCAA tournaments, and they have made it to at least the Sweet 16 in four of them.
The former longtime Gonzaga assistant has guided Arizona to a 35-2 mark this season, making it a legitimate contender to win its first national championship since 1997.
On Thursday, the Wildcats beat Arkansas 109-88 to reach their first Elite Eight since 2015.
May has been similarly impressive during his short stint at Michigan, taking the Wolverines from an eight-win team during Juwan Howard's final season at the helm in 2023-24 to a legitimate national title contender.
In his first season, May led Michigan to a 27-10 record and a Sweet 16 berth, but the Wolverines have taken a huge leap forward in Year 2.
Michigan is 33-3 and into the Sweet 16 for a second consecutive year, and a strong argument can be made that the Wolverines are the most complete team in college basketball.
Ranked No. 15 in the nation, Nebraska enjoyed the greatest season in program history under Hoiberg.
Before Hoiberg's arrival in 2019, the Cornhuskers had reached the NCAA tournament only once in the previous 21 seasons, and they had never won an NCAA tournament game.
Nebraska has now reached the NCAA tournament in two of the past three campaigns, and it made history this season by not only winning its first-ever NCAA tourney game, but winning two games to reach the Sweet 16.
The Huskers fell 77-71 to Iowa in the Sweet 16 on Thursday night, but they finished 28-7 and are now a contending program under Hoiberg's leadership.
