Up-and-Coming College Basketball Coaches to Watch in 2016-17
After three successful seasons at Chattanooga and VCU, 33-year-old Will Wade is near the top of our list of up-and-coming head coaches who might make a name for themselves in 2016-17.
Candidates for this list only had to meet two criteria for consideration: no older than 42 with fewer than 100 career wins.
Even in an industry where most of the great coaches are going well into their 60s, it's hard to be considered an up-and-comer once someone is in their mid-40s. But we also had to include a wins threshold in order to avoid young stars like Shaka Smart who have already arrived as names and faces most common fans recognize.
That whittled the field down from 351 to around 60 possible candidates. From there, our ranking is based on 2016-17 rosters/projections, as a coach has to actually win games to get noticed.
In addition to the likes of Gregg Marshall and Archie Miller who seem to always get mentioned during the annual coaching carousel, these are the young coaches most likely to score a major payday at some point in the next year or two.
Honorable Mentions
1 of 10
Niko Medved, Furman (42)
Furman hasn't been to the NCAA tournament since Medved was in kindergarten, but he has the Paladins moving in the right direction. They went 7-24 before he became their head coach in 2013, and they won 19 games this past season. However, there's another, younger coach from the Southern Conference more likely to become this April's minor-conference coach major-conference programs are dying to sign.
Pat Kelsey, Winthrop (41)
Winthrop was a tournament regular under Gregg Marshall in the 2000s, but Kelsey is looking to get the Eagles to the Big Dance for the first time since 2010. A former assistant at Wake Forest and Xavier, Kelsey led Winthrop to 23 wins and a Big South regular-season title this past season and gets back most of the key players from that roster.
Mark Byington, Georgia Southern (40)
Led in scoring by three freshmen and three sophomores, Byington's Eagles went 14-17 last year with the country's second-least experienced roster. Following early losses to the likes of The Citadel and Savannah State, Georgia Southern improved throughout the season and enters 2016-17 as a breakout candidate.
Dan Muller, Illinois State (40)
Muller has won at least 18 games in each of his first four seasons with the Redbirds, including a pair of wins over Wichita State. But it's going to take more than that for him to get noticed by casual fans. The Missouri Valley Conference is as up for grabs as it has been in at least a decade, and Illinois State might be a candidate with three returning players who averaged at least 10 points per game last year.
Matt Lottich, Vanderbilt (34)
With just three years as an assistant to Bryce Drew under his belt, Lottich is one of the country's youngest head coaches. If the Crusaders have a solid season, though, star senior forward Alec Peters will get the bulk of the credit. If Lottich is going to make a name for himself, he may have to wait until at least 2017-18.
9. Richard Pitino, Minnesota
2 of 10
Age: 34
Record: 69-65
2016-17 Outlook: Cloudy with a chance to surprise
It's hard to believe Richard Pitino is only 34. Between his last name, his long list of assistant jobs and the litany of issues Minnesota has been dealing with away from the court over the past year, it feels like he has been around for a long time.
Yet, this is only his fifth season as a head coach and the fourth with the Golden Gophers, and it may be the one that determines whether he even has a job in 2017-18.
Three years ago, Pitino led Minnesota to the NIT championship, but it has been all downhill from there. The Golden Gophers went from seventh in the Big Ten to a tie for 10th to last year's 8-23 (2-16) disaster. If Pitino doesn't turn things around this season, he may be left to hope he can go inherit a rebuilding situation elsewhere.
But at least he's going out swinging.
Despite losing four of last year's seven leading scorers, transfers Reggie Lynch, Akeem Springs and Davonte Fitzgerald will give Minnesota more veteran talent than it has had in recent years. If Jordan Murphy and Dupree McBrayer continue to blossom as sophomores, there just might be enough for Pitino's squad to spend some time in the bubble conversation.
8. Chris Collins, Northwestern
3 of 10
Age: 42
Record: 49-48
2016-17 Outlook: Better than Minnesota's, but postseason might be a long shot
One of these years, Northwestern is finally going to make the NCAA tournament, and that head coach will forever be a legend in Evanston.
After going 20-12 under Chris Collins this past season—the program's best winning percentage since 1958-59—hopes that the drought might finally be over are higher than ever.
But the Wildcats have some serious holes to fill before making that dream a reality.
Leading scorer Tre Demps and top big man Alex Olah both graduated, and let's just say Northwestern doesn't reel in top-notch freshmen like Kentucky and Duke do. Getting Vic Law back from an injury that cost him the entire 2015-16 season will help, as does Bryant McIntosh's return. Still, it's going to take some serious coaching for this roster to be better than last year's.
If Collins is unable to get it done this year, there's already good reason to buy stock in this team for 2018. All five of this year's projected starters are sophomores and juniors, meaning they should be able to keep the whole gang together for a second run the following season.
Maybe the Wildcats don't break their NCAA tournament drought this year, but there's a chance they'll finally snap their 12-year streak with a sub-.500 Big Ten record. Even that baby step would be enough for Collins to get recognized for a job well done.
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7. Bashir Mason, Wagner
4 of 10
Age: 32
Record: 71-55
2016-17 Outlook: Not great, but there's always hope in the Northeast Conference
Four years ago, Wagner made Bashir Mason the youngest head coach in the country. He was barely 28 years old when Dan Hurley left to become the head coach at Rhode Island, but the Seahawks stuck with the guy who helped lead them to a school-record 25 wins in 2011-12.
Save for one rebuilding year in 2014-15, they have not been disappointed. Mason has won at least 19 games in three of his four seasons, including a 23-11 record last year that resulted in the school's first regular-season conference title since 2003.
Mike Krzyzewski also became a head coach at the age of 28, and he had just 64 wins through his first four seasons—though he did have a better winning percentage, as Army only played around 26 games per year back then. Mason has an awful lot to prove before drawing any other similarities to Krzyzewski, but it's worth noting his potential to rack up a ton of career wins by starting at such a young age.
Mason loses five of last year's eight leading scorers, but the three he gets back each ranked in the top four. Though Wagner's cupboard has been ransacked by graduations and transfers, it isn't exactly barren. And in one of the country's worst conferences, that might be enough for another conference championship.
Winning the NEC tournament is far more important, though. Case in point, Andrew Toole had a few great regular seasons at Robert Morris, but it wasn't until his team made it to the 2015 NCAA tournament that people started speculating about which big-name programs would be calling him. If Mason can get Wagner to the Big Dance one month after his 33rd birthday, some intriguing job offers would undoubtedly follow.
6. David Richman, North Dakota State
5 of 10
Age: 38
Record: 43-23
2016-17 Outlook: Likely Summit League champs
While the rest of the world recycles jokes about how much Jaron Blossomgame's game has blossomed at Clemson, be sure to take note that this could be the year North Dakota State's David Richman becomes a rich man.
Richman graduated from NDSU before becoming an assistant for the Bison for more than a decade, serving under Tim Miles (now with Nebraska) and Saul Phillips (now with Ohio) before they moved on to bigger and better things.
Now, it's Richman's time to shine, and he has done so in his first two seasons.
And let's not forget, NDSU was supposed to crash and burn after shocking Oklahoma in the 2014 NCAA tournament. The Bison lost their top three scorers, five of the top seven, pretty much their entire frontcourt and their head coach. But they barely missed a beat, slipping from 26-7 to 23-10 en route to yet another sweep of the Summit League regular-season and conference-tournament titles.
Instead of losing five of them, this year Richman gets back six of his seven leading scorers from another 20-win team. Meanwhile, just about every other team in the conference lost multiple leading scorers. IUPUI is the one exception to that rule, but the Jaguars went 13-19 last year and haven't finished .500 in a season since 2011.
That makes the 2017 Summit League title North Dakota State's to lose. Provided it gets the job done and at least puts up a fight in the NCAA tournament, Richman could be moving on to greener pastures.
5. Jerod Haase, Stanford
6 of 10
Age: 42
Record: 80-53
2016-17 Outlook: A capable roster, if healthy for a change
UAB got a little bit better in each of its four seasons under Jerod Haase, culminating in last year's 26-7 record and Conference USA regular-season title. Haase inherited a team from Mike Davis that couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, but he gradually turned the Blazers into an elite passing and shot-blocking team that could make buckets with regularity.
How long will it take him to now turn around a Stanford team that couldn't shoot or stay healthy last year?
The Cardinal lost point guard Robert Cartwright to a gruesome arm injury before the season began and only got eight games out of Reid Travis, meaning they basically played without the top two pieces of their 2014 recruiting class. Getting those two guys back while adding top-100 recruits Trevor Stanback and Kodye Pugh could be one heck of a jump start for the next stage of Haase's career.
And thanks to Johnny Dawkins, the bar at Stanford isn't set particularly high. In his eight seasons, the Cardinals had more NIT titles (two) than NCAA tournament appearances (one) and had a combined Pac-12 winning percentage of just 45.8.
With Oregon, Arizona and perhaps UCLA all vying for a national championship, no one is expecting Haase to come in and immediately lead this team to a Pac-12 title. But if he can orchestrate a little bit of noise early in the season against the likes of Kansas, Saint Mary's and Miami in advance of a top-six finish in conference play, it'll be enough to turn some heads.
4. Steve Wojciechowski, Marquette
7 of 10
Age: 40
Record: 33-32
2016-17 Outlook: Better than most seem to realize
After four years of playing at Duke and another 15 as an assistant to Mike Krzyzewski, Steve Wojciechowski is about as much of an up-and-coming coach as Jaden Smith is an up-and-coming actor and rapper. We saw so much of both at such a young age, it feels like they've been around forever.
But "Wojo" just turned 40 a couple of months ago and only has 33 career wins to his name, so he meets the two primary criteria with room to spare.
In his short time as a head coach, Wojo has proved to be an excellent recruiter. He signed 5-star stud Henry Ellenson and three other 4-star recruits last year and adds another trio of 4-star guys this year.
Add in transfers Andrew Rowsey (UNC-Asheville) and Katin Reinhardt (USC) and Marquette looks nothing like the train wreck Wojo inherited two years ago—when Buzz Williams left, along with five of his six leading scorers and almost his entire 2014 recruiting class.
All of a sudden, Marquette has a roster that could vie for a Big East title and a legitimate run in the NCAA tournament. If Luke Fischer can stay healthy while big man Matt Heldt has a bit of a breakout sophomore year, the Golden Eagles have a chance to surprise a lot of people.
3. Matt McCall, Chattanooga
8 of 10
Age: 34
Record: 29-6
2016-17 Outlook: Another 29-win season is a real possibility
Though Matt McCall didn't have a hand in recruiting any of the veterans to Chattanooga—he was an assistant at Florida from 2011-15—he sure has reaped the benefits of one of the most experienced rosters in the country.
Of Chattanooga's 10 leading scorers from last year's 29-win team, five were seniors and the other five were juniors. And with 2015-16 preseason SoCon Player of the Year Casey Jones getting a medical redshirt for another senior year, five of the six leading scorers are back for another shot at NCAA tournament glory.
The Mocs haven't won a tournament game since reaching the 1997 Sweet 16, but McCall is hoping early challenges will help them end that two-decade drought. Chattanooga opens the season with back-to-back road games against Tennessee and North Carolina and will also travel to Vanderbilt in mid-December.
Outside of those major-conference tests, though, the Mocs ought to be a heavy favorite in every game they play. If that leads to another season with 29 (or more) wins and a strong showing in the NCAA tournament, major-conference programs will be lining up for a chance to talk to McCall.
Granted, the Southern Conference is nothing special, but neither is the Southland. Lack of competition for the final three months of the season didn't stop Stephen F. Austin's Brad Underwood from turning a few years of dominance into a Big 12 coaching gig. Given his years of experience at Billy Donovan's side, high majors would be crazy not to consider McCall during the next edition of the coaching carousel if Chattanooga has another big year.
2. Will Wade, VCU
9 of 10
Age: 33
Record: 65-36
2016-17 Outlook: Good chance of an 11th straight season with at least 24 wins
Matt McCall was put into the position to succeed at Chattanooga because of what Will Wade left behind to go back to VCU.
After four years as an assistant to Shaka Smart, Wade left the Rams to become the head coach of the Mocs for two years. He quickly cleaned up John Shulman's mess (55-74 in his final four years), leading the Mocs to consecutive second-place finishes in the SoCon standings with young players like Casey Jones and Greg Pryor—who are now the veterans hoping to propel Chattanooga to a Cinderella story.
And when the VCU job opened up, Wade went back and immediately did what Smart never could by winning a regular-season conference championship.
Though the Rams no longer had Briante Weber to lead the nation in steal percentage, they remained one of the best turnover-forcing defenses in the nation. Veterans like Doug Brooks, JeQuan Lewis and Melvin Johnson—whom Wade probably helped recruit to VCU once upon a time—turned into defensive machines en route to an A-10 title and a near-upset of Oklahoma in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Replacing Johnson will be a challenge, but freshman De'Riante Jenkins should give the Rams a boost on offense. They'll have stiff competition from Rhode Island, Dayton and Davidson, but Wade should be able to get them back to the Big Dance.
1. Mitch Henderson, Princeton
10 of 10
Age: 41
Record: 96-53
2016-17 Outlook: Sweet 16 potential
Though the NCAA tournament has eluded Mitch Henderson with Harvard and Yale peaking in the Ivy League over the past five years, he has won nearly two out of every three games in his career at Princeton and enters the 2016-17 season with arguably the nation's top Cinderella candidate.
The Tigers went 22-7 last season, barely missing out on dancing because of a pair of road losses to Harvard and Yale by a combined margin of six points. They nearly won road games against both Miami and Virginia Tech and would have had a more legitimate shot at an at-large bid if it hadn't scheduled so many cream puffs in nonconference play.
From that team, Henderson loses next to nothing and actually gains a star. Hans Brase missed the entire 2015-16 season due to a knee injury after averaging 11.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game as a junior. He'll be a welcome re-addition to what was a limited frontcourt. And all Princeton lost is one senior (Mike Washington) who scored a grand total of 15 points last season.
That's one heck of a trade-off that should make the Tigers even better than last season while Yale and Columbia presumably get worse after each losing several key players.
Considering he graduated from Princeton nearly 20 years ago, it might take one heck of a lucrative offer for another program to lure him away. Depending on how well this regular season and NCAA tournament go, though, that might be coming Henderson's way.
Stats are courtesy of KenPom.com and Sports-Reference.com. Recruiting information is courtesy of Scout.com.
Kerry Miller covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @kerrancejames.
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