The Sporting News Men's College Basketball Coach of the Year Award

The Sporting News College Basketball Coach of the Year

Awarded for	the most outstanding NCAA Division I men's basketball head coach
Country	United States
Presented by	The Sporting News
History
First award	1964
Most recent	Kelvin Sampson, Houston

The Sporting News Men's College Basketball Coach of the Year Award, often informally called The Sporting News Coach of the Year Award, is an annual basketball award given to the best men's college basketball head coach in NCAA Division I competition. The award was first given in 1964 following the 1963–64 season and is presented by The Sporting News , a United States–based sports magazine that was established in 1886. ^[1]

Seven coaches have been honored multiple times. John Wooden is the only one to receive the award four times. Bill Self has the second-most with three awards. The two-time awardees include John Calipari, Denny Crum, Rick Pitino, Adolph Rupp, and Tubby Smith.

Two people won the award as interim head coaches: Jim Crews of Saint Louis (2013), who took over for then-head coach Rick Majerus before the 2012–13 season due to Majerus stepping down for health-related reasons, ^[2] and Rodney Terry of Texas (2023), who took over for then-head coach Chris Beard after eight games of the 2022–23 season due to an indefinite suspension and later firing. ^[3]

Key

Coach (X)	Denotes the number of times the coach has been awarded The Sporting News Coach of the Year Award at that point
†	Co-Coaches of the Year
W, L, W %	Total wins, total losses, win percentage
Finish	Postseason tournament result
*	Denotes national championship season

Winners

Adolph Rupp, Kentucky, 1966

Jack Hartman, Southern Illinois, 1967

Guy Lewis, Houston, 1968

John Wooden, UCLA, 4× winner

Lou Carnesecca, St. John's, 1985

P. J. Carlesimo, Seton Hall, 1989

Norm Stewart, Missouri, 1994

Bill Guthridge, North Carolina, 1998

Ben Howland, Pittsburgh, 2002

Mike Montgomery, Stanford, 2004

Bruce Weber, Illinois, 2005

Jim Boeheim, Syracuse, 2010

Juwan Howard, Michigan, 2021

Kelvin Sampson, Houston, 2025

Season	Coach	School	W	L	W %	Finish	Reference
1963–64	John Wooden	UCLA	30	0	1.000	NCAA champion *	[1]
1964–65	No award [1]
1965–66	Adolph Rupp	Kentucky	27	2	.931	NCAA runner-up	[4]
1966–67	Jack Hartman	Southern Illinois	24	2	.923	NIT champion	[5]
1967–68	Guy Lewis	Houston	31	2	.939	NCAA Final Four	[6]
1968–69	John Wooden (2)	UCLA	29	1	.967	NCAA champion *	[7]
1969–70	Adolph Rupp (2)	Kentucky	26	2	.929	NCAA Elite Eight	[8]
1970–71	Al McGuire	Marquette	28	1	.966	NCAA Regional Third Place	[9]
1971–72	John Wooden (3)	UCLA	30	0	1.000	NCAA champion *	[10]
1972–73	John Wooden (4)	UCLA	30	0	1.000	NCAA champion *	[1]
1973–74	Digger Phelps	Notre Dame	26	3	.897	NCAA Regional Third Place	[11]
1974–75	Bob Knight	Indiana	31	1	.969	NCAA Elite Eight	[12]
1975–76	Tom Young	Rutgers	31	2	.939	NCAA Final Four	[13]
1976–77	Lee Rose	Charlotte	28	5	.848	NCAA Final Four	[14]
1977–78	Bill Foster	Duke	27	7	.794	NCAA runner-up	[15]
1978–79	Bill Hodges	Indiana State	33	1	.971	NCAA runner-up	[16]
1979–80	Lute Olson	Iowa	23	10	.697	NCAA Final Four	[17]
1980–81	Dale Brown	LSU	31	5	.861	NCAA Final Four	[18]
1981–82	Ralph Miller	Oregon State	25	5	.833	NCAA Elite Eight	[19]
1982–83	Denny Crum	Louisville	32	4	.889	NCAA Final Four	[20]
1983–84	John Thompson Jr.	Georgetown	34	3	.919	NCAA champion *	[21]
1984–85	Lou Carnesecca	St. John's	31	4	.886	NCAA Final Four	[22]
1985–86	Denny Crum (2)	Louisville	32	7	.821	NCAA champion *	[23]
1986–87	Rick Pitino	Providence	25	9	.735	NCAA Final Four	[24]
1987–88	John Chaney	Temple	32	2	.941	NCAA Elite Eight	[25]
1988–89	P. J. Carlesimo	Seton Hall	31	7	.816	NCAA runner-up	[26]
1989–90	Jim Calhoun	UConn	31	6	.838	NCAA Elite Eight	[27]
1990–91	Rick Pitino (2)	Kentucky	22	6	.786	Ineligible for postseason [a]	[28]
1991–92	Mike Krzyzewski	Duke	34	2	.944	NCAA champion *	[29]
1992–93	Eddie Fogler	Vanderbilt	28	6	.824	NCAA Sweet Sixteen	[30]
1993–94	Norm Stewart	Missouri	28	4	.875	NCAA Elite Eight	[31]
1994–95	Jud Heathcote	Michigan State	22	6	.786	NCAA First Round	[32]
1995–96	John Calipari	UMass	35 [b]	2 [b]	.946 [b]	NCAA Final Four [b]	[33]
1996–97	Roy Williams	Kansas	34	2	.944	NCAA Sweet Sixteen	[34]
1997–98	Bill Guthridge	North Carolina	34	4	.895	NCAA Final Four	[35]
1998–99	Cliff Ellis	Auburn	29	4	.879	NCAA Sweet Sixteen	[36]
1999–00 †	Bob Huggins	Cincinnati	29	4	.879	NCAA Second Round	[37]
Bill Self	Tulsa	32	5	.865	NCAA Elite Eight	[37]
2000–01	Al Skinner	Boston College	27	5	.844	NCAA Second Round	[38]
2001–02	Ben Howland	Pittsburgh	29	6	.829	NCAA Sweet Sixteen	[39]
2002–03	Tubby Smith	Kentucky	32	4	.889	NCAA Elite Eight	[40]
2003–04	Mike Montgomery	Stanford	30	2	.938	NCAA Second Round	[41]
2004–05	Bruce Weber	Illinois	37	2	.949	NCAA runner-up	[42]
2005–06	Bruce Pearl	Tennessee	22	8	.733	NCAA Second Round	[43]
2006–07	Tony Bennett	Washington State	26	8	.765	NCAA Second Round	[44]
2007–08	Keno Davis	Drake	28	5	.848	NCAA First Round	[45]
2008–09	Bill Self (2)	Kansas	27	8	.771	NCAA Sweet Sixteen	[46]
2009–10	Jim Boeheim	Syracuse	30	5	.857	NCAA Sweet Sixteen	[47]
2010–11	Jamie Dixon	Pittsburgh	28	6	.824	NCAA Round of 32 [c]	[48]
2011–12	Bill Self (3)	Kansas	32	7	.821	NCAA runner-up	[49]
2012–13	Jim Crews	Saint Louis	28	7	.800	NCAA Round of 32	[2]
2013–14	Gregg Marshall	Wichita State	35	1	.972	NCAA Round of 32	[50]
2014–15	John Calipari (2)	Kentucky	38	1	.974	NCAA Final Four	[51]
2015–16	Tubby Smith (2)	Texas Tech	19	13	.594	NCAA First Round	[52]
2016–17	Mark Few	Gonzaga	37	2	.949	NCAA runner-up	[53]
2017–18	Mick Cronin	Cincinnati	31	5	.861	NCAA Round of 32	[54]
2018–19	Mike Young	Wofford	30	5	.857	NCAA Round of 32	[55]
2019–20	Anthony Grant	Dayton	29	2	.935	N/A [d]	[56]
2020–21	Juwan Howard	Michigan	23	5	.821	NCAA Elite Eight	[57]
2021–22	Ed Cooley	Providence	27	6	.818	NCAA Sweet Sixteen	[58]
2022–23	Rodney Terry	Texas	29	9	.763	NCAA Elite Eight	[3]
2023–24	Dan Hurley	UConn	37	3	.925	NCAA champion *	[1]
2024–25	Kelvin Sampson	Houston	35	5	.875	NCAA runner-up	[1]

• ^a Kentucky was ineligible to receive the Southeastern Conference (SEC) regular season title, nor participate in the SEC or NCAA tournament because they were in the final year of a multi-year postseason ban. ^[59]
• ^b On May 8, 1997, the NCAA Executive Committee voted to negate the Minutemen's 1996 NCAA tournament record, for Marcus Camby's acceptance of agents' improper gifts. ^[60] The 35–2 record was reduced to 31–1, and the UMass slot in the Final Four is officially denoted as vacated. ^[60]
• ^c The NCAA men's tournament expanded to 68 teams starting in 2011, with the last four teams earning bids into the tournament set in competition with one another via "First Four" play-in games. ^[61] The 'Second Round' then became more commonly referred to as 'Round of 32' for specificity.
• ^d The COVID-19 pandemic caused the 2019–20 men's season to be canceled prior to any national postseason tournaments occurring. ^[62]

References

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58. Dudek, Greg (March 15, 2022). "From 'Mayor of Stonehill' to coaching star at Providence". The Patriot Ledger . Quincy, Massachusetts. p. B3. Retrieved December 31, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
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