5 College Basketball Coaches in Search of Their First Conference Title

One of the signs of achievement among college basketball coaches is to win a regular-season conference championship.

In doing so, your team has to have sustained success against the teams that know you best: those that make up your league.

Here are five coaches who are still looking to raise the conference title banner for the very first time:  

5. Buzz Williams: Marquette

Okay, before we get serious and talk hoops...isn't it ironic that a coach whose nickname is "Buzz" and his two assistants pictured here are all...shall we say, "follicly challenged?"

Buzz Williams has had good success as a coach early in his career. In four years (one at New Orleans and three at Marquette), Williams has posted an 83-53 record.

In his three years at Marquette, the Golden Eagles have gone 69-36, qualifying for the Dance in each of those three seasons.

However, with playing in the torturous Big East conference, Williams' teams could be annually ranked in the Top 25 but be nowhere near the league title. So far, the best Williams' teams have finished in conference play has been a tie for fifth place.

This last year is a good example of the great challenge of winning a Big East Championship. Marquette was tied for ninth in the conference, but made it to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament. 

It could be several seasons before Williams is able to stand on top of the Big East.

4. Frank Martin: Kansas State

Frank Martin may be the most intense person I have ever seen in my life.

Martin coaches his Kansas State Wildcats hard and expects excellent execution from start to finish. And he gets results.

In four years, Martin's record is 95-43 and he has taken KSU to the postseason each time. But he has never won a Big 12 conference title.

Sure, he's going up against Kansas and Texas year in and year out. On Martin's watch, Kansas State has never finished lower than fourth place in the conference.

But, I'm not sure that 2011-12 is going to be Martin's year to win his first conference title. 

While he has a very talented six-member recruiting class coming in, he also is having to replace KSU's all-time leading scorer, Jacob Pullen, and PF Curtis Kelly.

3. Shaka Smart: Virginia Commonwealth

Shaka Smart and the VCU Rams went on a magical run in last year's NCAA tournament.

With most of the college basketball world rejecting their admission into the Dance, Smart's squad played with a definite chip on their shoulder.

As they did, Virginia Commonwealth knocked off one "big program" after another—USC, Georgetown, Purdue, Florida State and finally top-seeded Kansas—in order to advance to the school's first Final Four appearance.

Smart's two-year head coaching record at VCU is 55-21. Before being a Final Four participant in 2011, the Rams won the 2010 CBI Championship.

The strange fact is that in those two years of monstrous postseason success, VCU finished in fifth and fourth place in the last two Colonial Athletic Association regular seasons.

While you would think that last year's accomplishments would catapult the program into being a perennial conference champion, think again. There's a lot of good basketball that is played in the CAA, and it is possible that VCU will be picked behind George Mason to start the 2011-12 season.

2. Josh Pastner: Memphis

While Josh Pastner is only getting ready to enter his third season as head coach of the Memphis Tigers, it is a little surprising that he has not been able to come out on top in the Conference USA standings.

Last year, a very young Tigers team went 25-10 overall and nearly took out Elite Eight qualifier Arizona in the opening round of last year's NCAA tournament.

Astonishingly, Memphis lost six games last season in league play, five of which came on the road (at SMU, at Marshall, Tulsa, at Rice at UTEP and at East Carolina). 

2011-12 could be the Tigers' breakthrough year.

With three excellent recruiting classes under his belt, Pastner has the horses to move from being a collection of talent to a dominant team.

1. Frank Haith: Missouri

After serving 15 years as an assistant coach at a variety of locations, Frank Haith took on the job of head coach at "The U" (University of Miami).

In seven years as the Hurricanes head coach, Haith went a respectable 129-101 with three of the last four seasons winning at least 20 games.

But in those same seven years, the Hurricanes never finished better than tied for fifth place in the ACC.

This past summer, Haith left South Beach and took his talents to Columbia (Missouri, that is) to lead the Mizzou basketball program.

The Tigers have played well over the last three seasons, going 77-29 under Mike Anderson.

Missouri has a very talented and experienced team returning for 2011-12. Kansas and Texas are both rebuilding. 

Who knows? This could be Frank Haith's year to win his first conference championship.