Coach K Tied for Second-Most Wins: The College Hoops Coaches' 800-Win Club
With a Duke Blue Devil win over Elon, Mike Krzyzewski, in his 36th season as a head coach, is now tied with Dean Smith for second among NCAA Division I men's basketball coaches in total wins.
Krzyzewski tied and passed Kentucky's Adolph Rupp earlier this season with wins against Butler and Bradley.
Of his 800-plus career victories, all but the first 73 have come as head coach of the Duke Blue Devils.
Only eight D-I coaches have reached and surpassed the 800-win mark.
Along with Coach K, there are two other active coaches (Jim Calhoun and Jim Boeheim) in this elite cadre of legendary hardwood leaders.
The following is a quick look at the 800-Win Club.
Eddie Sutton: 804 Wins
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Unlike most of the other coaches on this list, who amassed their win totals primarily at one or two schools, Sutton was a coaching nomad.
Sutton is the first coach to take four schools to the NCAA Tournament, and he reached the Final Four with Arkansas in 1978 and Oklahoma State in 1995 and 2004.
Eddie Sutton's Division I Coaching Record
Creighton: 82-50 (five seasons)
Arkansas: 260-75 (11 seasons)
Kentucky: 88-39 (four seasons)
Oklahoma State—his alma mater: 362-149 (16 seasons)
University of San Francisco—interim replacement: 6-13 (partial year)
Total record: 804-327
Jim Phelan: 830 Wins
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Jim Phelan is easily the least recognizable coach on this list, having spent his entire 49-year coaching career at Mount St. Mary's (Emmitsburg, Maryland).
Phelan holds the record for games coached with 1,354 across all NCAA divisions. For that, Phelan should get some type of longevity award.
Jim Phelan’s Division I Coaching Record (1954-2003)
Mount St. Mary’s: 830-524 (49 years)
Total Record: 830-524
Jim Calhoun: 832* Wins
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Rising up from the ranks of Massachusetts high school hoops, Jim Calhoun built up Northeastern from a unknown Division II team to an NCAA Tournament program.
From there, Calhoun took a Big East nonentity in rural Connecticut and transformed the Huskies into a national power.
Jim Calhoun’s Division I Coaching Record (1972-Present)
Northeastern: 248-137 (14 seasons)
Connecticut: 584*-221 (25th season)
Total Record: 832*-358
*=active
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Jim Boeheim: 841* Wins
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To put Jim Boeheim's long-term tenure at Syracuse in perspective: He has been associated with Syracuse basketball since the last days of the Kennedy administration—as a player, assistant and then a head coach.
Boeheim's Syracuse teams have made 27 NCAA Tournament appearances, including three appearances in the national title game. In those games, the Orange lost to Indiana in 1987 and Kentucky in 1996 before defeating Kansas in 2003.
Jim Boeheim's Division I Head Coaching Record (1976-present)
Syracuse: 841*-293 (35th season)
Total Record: 841*-293
*=active
Adolph Rupp: 876 Wins
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Adolph Rupp learned the game from Dr. James Naismith himself at the University of Kansas (1919-1923) and then made Kentucky into one of the sport's most venerated programs.
Along with his 876 wins, he won four national titles with the Wildcats.
Rupp is also second among all coaches in all-time winning percentage (.822), trailing only Clair Bee.
Adolph Rupp’s Division I Coaching Record (1930-1972)
Kentucky: 876-190 (41 seasons)
Total Record: 876-190
Dean Smith: 879 Wins
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In the same vein as Phelan, Boeheim and Rupp, Dean Smith spent his entire college head coaching career coaching one team: the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Along with his 879 wins, Smith won two national championships.
He retired as the NCAA Division I men's basketball record-holder for victories; he was later surpassed by Bob Knight.
Off the court, Smith is also known for having run a clean program and having a high graduation rate for his players, with 96.6 percent of his athletes receiving their degrees.
Dean Smith’s Division I Coaching Record (1961-1997)
North Carolina: 879-254 (36 seasons)
Total Record: 879-254
Mike Krzyzewski: 879* Wins
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Coach K and Duke Basketball will forever be synonymous. He has led the Blue Devils to four NCAA championships and 12 Final Fours (tied for second most in history).
If the Blue Devils play as well as expected throughout the 2010-11 season and into the tournament, Krzyzewski could be in position to win record-breaking No. 903 during the 2011 NCAA Tournament.
Mike Krzyzewski’s Division I Coaching Record (1975-Present)
Army: 73-59 (five seasons)
Duke: 806*-220 (30th season)
Total Record: 879*-279
Bob Knight: 902 Wins
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Bob Knight is the winningest Division I head coach in college basketball history.
He collected 661 of his 902 wins and all three national titles in his 29 years coaching at Indiana.
In 1976, the Hoosiers were undefeated national champs with a perfect record of 32-0. No other Division I men's team has accomplished that since that amazing season.
He received the National Coach of the Year honor four times and the Big Ten Coach of the Year honor six times.
While he finished his coaching career with a seven-year stint at Texas Tech, he will always be connected with IU basketball.
Bob Knight's Division I Coaching Record (1965-2008)
Army: 102-50 (six seasons)
Indiana: 662-239 (29 seasons)
Texas Tech: 138-82 (seven seasons)
Total Record: 902-371
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