Ranking men’s college basketball’s top 25 coaches of the 2000s: Bill Self, Roy Williams top list

Editor’s note: All week, The Athletic is looking back at the best of the first 25 years of the 2000s in men’s college basketball. Also read the top 25 players and submit your own picks.

In college basketball, most coaches are judged by their success in March and April.

It’s a slightly flawed way to judge because of the one-and-done tournament setup. Consider if the NBA had a similar system, then we would have a different world champion in 2025. (The Indiana Pacers won Game 1.)

This is a long way of saying that regular-season success should matter when judging college basketball coaches. So when I put together this list of the 25 best men’s basketball coaches of the last 25 years, I did not limit the criteria to postseason success.

I considered six categories: national titles, Final Fours, conference regular-season championships, conference tournament championships, NCAA Tournament appearances, and total wins, with a dash of subjectivity thrown in. Longevity mattered as well, but there were a few coaches with shorter stints this century who were so overwhelmingly successful that they had to be included.

25. Bob Huggins

Teams: Cincinnati (2000-05), Kansas State (2006-07), West Virginia (2007-23)
National titles: 0
Final Fours: 1
Conference regular-season championships: 3
Conference tournament championships: 3
NCAA Tournament appearances: 16
Wins: 466 (20.9 per season)

Huggins’ teams played with max effort, and his players adored him. He was in his prime in the late 1990s and early 2000s at Cincinnati before he was forced to resign. There’s a “what could have been” element to his career had he remained at Cincinnati. But Huggins proved he could win anywhere. After one year away, he reemerged for one season at Kansas State — leading to a revival of that program — and then he returned home to West Virginia, where he spent his final 16 years, making it to his second Final Four in 2011 and changing the way the game was played in the Big 12 with “Press Virginia.” His career ended with another forced resignation after a DUI arrest in the summer of 2023, but he earned a place here with the work he did on the sidelines.

24. Sean Miller

Teams: Xavier (2004-09), Arizona (2009-21), Xavier (2022-25), Texas (2025-present)
National titles: 0
Final Fours: 0
Conference regular-season championships: 8
Conference tournament titles: 4
NCAA Tournament appearances: 13
Wins: 487 (24.4 per season)

Miller might be at the top of the sport’s ultimate backhanded compliment: Best coach to never make a Final Four. Miller has been to four Elite Eights and had a stretch at Arizona where his program was consistently one of the best in the country, winning 30-plus games four times in a seven-year stretch that included four Pac-12 titles. The run at Arizona ended because of the program’s involvement in the federal investigation into corruption in college basketball, which resulted in five Level I violations at Arizona. Miller rehabbed his career back at Xavier, where he spent the first five years of his head-coaching career, and now he’s headed to Texas. He’s the only coach on this list without a Final Four, but only five of the coaches have won more regular-season conference championships, and it’s not like he hasn’t won in the NCAA Tournament — he has a respectable 62.8 winning percentage in the tourney.

23. Gary Williams

Teams: Maryland (2000-11)
National titles: 1
Final Fours: 2
Conference regular-season championships: 2
Conference tournament titles: 1
NCAA Tournament appearances: 7
Wins: 244 (22.2 per season)

Williams was at the tail end of his prime in the early 2000s when he made back-to-back Final Fours and won his lone national title in 2002. The Terps started to fall off a few years later, but that start earned him a spot on this list. The 2002 champs probably do not get enough love, likely because their stars (Juan Dixon, Lonny Baxter and Steve Blake) were just OK pros, but Williams built an awesome college starting five. Those Terps won the ACC over a Duke team that had Jay Williams and Carlos Boozer, then knocked off one of the greatest Kansas teams of all time in the Final Four.

22. Rick Barnes

Teams: Texas (2000-15), Tennessee (2015-present)
National titles: 0
Final Fours: 1
Conference regular-season championships: 4
Conference tournament titles: 1
NCAA Tournament appearances: 21
Wins: 591 (23.6 per season)

Barnes trails only Bill Self, Mark Few and Tom Izzo for the most NCAA Tournament appearances in the 2000s. Not only does he consistently win, his teams are often comfortably in the field. He has had 12 teams that were top-four seeds this century. At Texas, Barnes’ teams were more known for their offense, built around stars like T.J. Ford and Kevin Durant. These days, he’s known as one of the top defensive coaches in the game. Tennessee has had a top-five defense each of the last five seasons.

21. Dana Altman

Teams: Creighton (2000-10), Oregon (2010-present)
National titles: 0
Final Fours: 1
Conference regular-season championships: 7
Conference tournament titles: 8
NCAA Tournament appearances: 14
Wins: 598 (23.9 per season)

Altman is one of the best tacticians in the game and while he’s never been a coach who receives a ton of media attention, he’s respected by his peers for his schemes and consistency. He got off to a great start this century at Creighton and has continued to build winners at Oregon. His matchup zone is always tricky to deal with come March, which helps his teams stick around. Of his nine Oregon teams that have made the NCAA Tournament, not one has lost in the opening round.

20. Bruce Pearl

Teams: Milwaukee (2001-05), Tennessee (2005-11), Auburn (2014-present)
National titles: 0
Final Fours: 2
Conference regular-season championships: 6
Conference tournament titles: 4
NCAA Tournament appearances: 14
Wins: 477 (22.7 per season)

Pearl is one of the best builders in the sport. He took Milwaukee to its only Sweet 16 in history, turned Tennessee into a winner again after the program had entered a period of hibernation and turned a perennially losing program at Auburn into one of the best in college basketball, one of the hardest things to do in this sport. His best work has been at Auburn, which took a shot on him after he’d been driven from the sport with a three-year NCAA show cause for recruiting violations at Tennessee. Auburn had been to eight NCAA Tournaments in its history before he arrived. Now the Tigers have been to six of the last seven with two Final Four appearances.

Pearl has put a modern spin on an old offense — the flex — and finds ways to win in the margins, such as his teams are always elite at defending inbound plays. Statistically, his most recent Auburn team was one of the best this century, and Pearl might be higher on this list had he been able to finish with a national championship. The fact he has the Tigers even competing for titles is quite the feat.

19. Bo Ryan

Teams: Milwaukee (2000-01), Wisconsin (2001-16)
National titles: 0
Final Fours: 2
Conference regular-season championships: 4
Conference tournament titles: 3
NCAA Tournament appearances: 14
Wins: 379 (23.7 per season)

Ryan is another coach who is slightly underappreciated because he just missed winning a national title. His 2015 Wisconsin team was one of the best not to win one this century and knocked off arguably the best team not to win it (38-1 Kentucky). The most impressive Ryan stat? The Badgers made the NCAA Tournament in each of his 14 seasons.

The analytical movement helped us appreciate his teams more than we may have in another era. While his Badgers played slow and often lived in the 60s, they were usually efficient on both ends. His 2015 Badgers were the most efficient offense in the KenPom era (dating back to 1997) until this year’s Duke topped them.

18. Scott Drew

Teams: Valparaiso (2002-03), Baylor (2003-present)
National titles: 1
Final Fours: 1
Conference regular-season championships: 3
Conference tournament titles: 0
NCAA Tournament appearances: 13
Wins: 486 (21.1 per season)

Drew pulled off one of the greatest builds in college basketball history at Baylor. It was arguably the worst high-major job in the sport when he was hired in 2003, with the program on probation and coming off a gruesome scandal in which one of its players murdered a teammate. Drew said he wanted to win a national championship when he was hired. No one believed that was possible. In 2021, he pulled it off.

Baylor is one of the best programs in the sport, consistently landing NBA players (eight players drafted in the last five drafts) and consistently making the NCAA Tournament (six straight appearances). Drew has built something so special that a year ago, when Kentucky tried to hire him to be its next coach, he said no.

17. John Beilein

Teams: Richmond (2000-02), West Virginia (2002-07), Michigan (2007-19)
National titles: 0
Final Fours: 2
Conference regular-season championships: 3
Conference tournament titles: 2
NCAA Tournament appearances: 11
Wins: 426 (22.4 per season)

The coolest thing about Beilein: In a sport of copycats, Beilein created his own offense. His two-guard offense was beautiful to watch and ahead of its time. Beilein worked his way up, from high school coach to junior college to NCAA Division III, DII, DI mid-major and then finally the high-major level at West Virginia and Michigan. He made two national title games at Michigan and had one of the best eyes for not-blatantly obvious talent in the sport. When I did a study of programs that were the best at turning non-five-star players into NBA players in a 15-year period, Michigan was tied atop the list with Kansas.

16. Matt Painter

Teams: Southern Illinois (2003-04), Purdue (2005-present)
National titles: 0
Final Fours: 1
Conference regular-season championships: 6
Conference tournament titles: 2
NCAA Tournament appearances: 17
Wins: 496 (23.6 per season)

Similar to Beilein, Painter is a coach who trusts his eye in recruiting and finds gems like Zach Edey, the 436th-ranked player in his recruiting class. Painter has adjusted his style to his personnel, but he’s also willing to build differently than everyone else. In the recent era, he has built Purdue through big men when everyone else has tried to shoot a bunch of 3-pointers. (His teams usually are good at that too.) He’s also bet on high school recruiting rather than living in the transfer portal. Painter is in the middle of his prime right now, reaching 10 straight NCAA Tournaments and three of the last four Sweet 16s. In 25 years, don’t be surprised if he’s even higher, especially if he’s able to break through and win a national title. His next team is No. 1 in my preseason rankings.

15. Jim Boeheim

Teams: Syracuse (2000-23)
National titles: 1
Final Fours: 3
Conference regular-season championships: 3
Conference tournament titles: 2
NCAA Tournament appearances: 15
Wins: 541 (23.5 per season)

Boeheim is famous for his 2-3 zone, which always made Syracuse an extremely difficult out in the NCAA Tournament. Boeheim had an eye for how to shape his defense and the simplicity of his philosophy — most teams practice a lot more against man than zone — won him a lot of games. He was also excellent at recruiting to his system and allowing his best players freedom to be stars on the offensive end. With the game changing, Boeheim admitted two years ago following retirement that if he were starting a program today, he would run man-to-man. Of course, he’d probably figure out a way to make his man-to-man different than everyone else.

14. Dan Hurley

Teams: Wagner (2010-12), Rhode Island (2012-18), UConn (2018-present)
National titles: 2
Final Fours: 2
Conference regular-season championships: 2
Conference tournament titles: 2
NCAA Tournament appearances: 7
Wins: 316 (21.1 per season)

This could be a slightly controversial take, having Hurley outside the top 10 when he is one of only seven coaches this century to win two titles. Hurley and Billy Donovan are the only two in that group to do so back-to-back. Hurley is shooting up the historical ladder year by year, but this is a collective look at the first 25 years of this century. And while he gets a ton of credit for winning two titles, he is behind in every other category. His teams have failed to make the NCAA Tournament eight times. Granted, it took him until year seven to make it, and that time was spent at Wagner and Rhode Island. But regular-season success matters, and he has only won two regular-season titles in 15 years. UConn appears set up to remain among the elite of the sport. Hurley, like Painter, could rise if he’s able to maintain what he’s built.

13. Jim Calhoun

Teams: UConn (2000-12)
National titles: 2
Final Fours: 3
Conference regular-season championships: 4
Conference tournament titles: 3
NCAA Tournament appearances: 9
Wins: 298 (24.8 per season)

The Huskies were irrelevant in the 1980s, and by the time this century started, Calhoun had pushed the program into an elite tier. Today, it has attained blue-blood status because of what he built. Taking out the 1990s hurts his case here, but it was an awesome start to the 2000s. After a down year to start the century in 2000-01 when UConn missed the NCAA Tournament, Calhoun won at least a share of the Big East in four of five seasons, won his second national title (in 2004) and made three Elite Eights. He won his third title in 2011 in what was looking like a down year until Kemba Walker went on a legendary heater.

Calhoun had a clear formula: Build a frontcourt that could block a lot of shots and build his offense through his perimeter players. When you have players like Caron Butler, Ben Gordon and Walker, it works.

12. Tony Bennett

Teams: Washington State (2006-09), Virginia (2009-24)
National titles: 1
Final Fours: 1
Conference regular-season championships: 6
Conference tournament titles: 2
NCAA Tournament appearances: 12
Wins: 433 (24.1 per season)

Bennett will forever be famous for coaching the first No. 1 seed to ever lose to a No. 16 and then taking that same core and winning a national championship the next season. It was straight out of a movie script. But equally impressive is that for a 10-year period from 2013 to 2023, the best program in the ACC was not Duke or North Carolina, it was Virginia. Bennett’s teams played at their pace, made it extremely difficult to get a good shot against his pack-line defense and were always disciplined. One regret I have is never witnessing one of his teams practice, because it was obvious he was a clinician in that setting. It was somewhat shocking to see Bennett retire last year, but it seemed like changes to the game (mainly the transfer portal) had taken away some of his joy.

11. Brad Stevens

Teams: Butler (2007-13)
National titles: 0
Final Fours: 2
Conference regular-season championships: 4
Conference tournament titles: 3
NCAA Tournament appearances: 5
Wins: 166 (27.7 per season)

Stevens was only a college head coach for six seasons, but it’s arguably the most amazing six-year run this century, considering the circumstances. Remember, Butler was not a Big East team during his tenure. Butler was in the Horizon League! Stevens took a Horizon League team to back-to-back national title games and was about an inch away from knocking off Duke to win the national title in that first appearance. It seemed like every move he made on the sideline was perfect. He had the chance to be one of college basketball’s all-time greats but decided to take his talents to the Boston Celtics, where he went from one of the NBA’s best coaches to one of its best executives.

10. Kelvin Sampson

Teams: Oklahoma (2000-06), Indiana (2006-08), Houston (2014-present)
National titles: 0
Final Fours: 3
Conference regular-season championships: 7
Conference tournament titles: 6
NCAA Tournament appearances: 13
Wins: 491 (25.8 per season)

Another coach who has worked wonders at a job where you’re not supposed to win. Houston’s program was a has-been with seemingly no hope of relevancy when he arrived in 2014. A few months ago, Sampson was this close to winning his first national title in his second Final Four appearance at Houston. Most thought the Coogs would fall off some when they joined the Big 12 two years ago; all they’ve done is win the league convincingly both seasons. Sampson also had Oklahoma rolling at the turn of the century, going to a Final Four in 2002. He reached two NCAA Tournaments in as many seasons at Indiana before he was pushed out amid an NCAA investigation over impermissible phone calls to recruits, a rule that has since gone away. Many IU fans are still bitter, but Sampson used his time away from college basketball to learn in the NBA and returned even better.

9. Tom Izzo

Teams: Michigan State (2000-present)
National titles: 0
Final Fours: 6
Conference regular-season championships: 8
Conference tournament titles: 4
NCAA Tournament appearances: 24
Wins: 617 (24.7 per season)

If we were including the 1999-2000 season, Izzo’s resume looks even better because we’d be including a national title. But even taking that out, he trails only Roy Williams for Final Fours this century. Izzo is also tied with Bill Self and Mark Few for most NCAA Tournament appearances; all three have yet to miss. Izzo’s personal run, dating back to 1998, is the longest. It looked like Izzo was starting to slip the last few years, but he just won the Big Ten and made an Elite Eight. In an era where players are transferring and some coaches are scared to coach their players too hard, Izzo hasn’t budged. He knows his way works.

8. John Calipari

Teams: Memphis (2000-09), Kentucky (2009-24), Arkansas (2024-present)
National titles: 1
Final Fours: 5
Conference regular-season championships: 11
Conference tournament titles: 10
NCAA Tournament appearances: 19
Wins: 684 (27.4 per season)

Calipari has been the best recruiter in the game and had some of the best teams this century — both the 2012 and 2015 teams have an argument for the top spot. He probably should have more national titles considering the talent he has been coached, and while it’s a hit to his resume that he has fallen just short of closing with several of those title contenders, he does get credit for building those teams. Calipari is probably one of the worst in-game coaches on this list, but in his prime, no one could touch him on the recruiting trail, and he always did a good job of getting talented players to play hard, defend and sacrifice for the greater good.

7. Mark Few

Teams: Gonzaga (2000-present)
National titles: 0
Final Fours: 2
Conference regular-season championships: 22
Conference tournament titles: 19
NCAA Tournament appearances: 24
Wins: 716 (28.6 per season)

Few has the most wins of any coach this century and turned a small Jesuit school in the northwest into a college basketball powerhouse. That’s up there for most impressive feats with what Sampson and Drew have been able to pull off. Other mid-major programs have tried to mimic Gonzaga, but Gonzaga is one of one.

Few has pulled it off by being one of the best culture builders in the sport and always being ahead of the curve. International recruiting is becoming the rage right now in college basketball; Gonzaga has been recruiting internationally for years. Same with transfers. And the real magic happened when Few got the players on campus, leaning on development and patience. The result is Gonzaga has always had older cores who know how to win. The only knock on the resume is Gonzaga has yet to win a national title, but Few has played on Monday night twice and was a few kinder whistles away from winning in 2017. And for those who say Gonzaga isn’t prepared to win in March because it plays in a weaker league, consider this: Gonzaga made nine straight Sweet 16s until this past season.

6. Billy Donovan

Teams: Florida (2000-15)
National titles: 2
Final Fours: 3
Conference regular-season championships: 5
Conference tournament titles: 4
NCAA Tournament appearances: 12
Wins: 389 (25.9 per season)

Donovan is another elite program builder who may have been in contention for the top spot if he hadn’t left for the NBA in 2015. He was the total package as a college coach: recruiter, team builder and in-game tactician. He is one of only three coaches to win back-to-back titles since the NCAA Tournament expanded in 1985. His 2014 Florida team had a perfect record in the SEC and went on to win the SEC tournament, becoming the first SEC team to ever pull off that feat. (Kentucky would join the Gators on that list the next season.)

Florida was a solid program when Donovan inherited it from Lon Kruger, but he took it to another level, helping set the table for Florida’s most recent national title this past season.

5. Rick Pitino

Teams: Louisville (2001-17), Iona (2020-23), St. John’s (2023-present)
National titles: 1
Final Fours: 3
Conference regular-season championships: 7
Conference tournament titles: 9
NCAA Tournament appearances: 17
Wins: 531 (25.3 per season)

Pitino is in the conversation among the greatest college basketball coaches of all time. His this-century resume took a hit when he was fired at Louisville, because he might have won another national title or two there. But the fifth and sixth acts of his career have added to his legacy. At 72, he just won the Big East at a school that hadn’t won its league in 23 years. He also proved in his return to college hoops that he can win anywhere, taking Iona to two NCAA Tournaments in three seasons. Pitino is a master at player development and also can X and O as well as anyone. And while most coaches seem to lose some speed on their fastball as they age, Pitino is an exception.

4. Jay Wright

Teams: Hofstra (2000-01), Villanova (2001-22)
National titles: 2
Final Fours: 4
Conference regular-season championships: 9
Conference tournament titles: 6
NCAA Tournament appearances: 17
Wins: 546 (24.8 per season)

Wright was always respected as one of the best coaches in college hoops, but he reached the pantheon of all-timers with his finish. In his final nine years at Villanova, Wright won two national titles, made three Final Fours, had five 30-plus win seasons, won the Big East seven times and had nine players drafted in the NBA. Wright’s teams played beautiful basketball with elite floor spacing and optimal shot selection. His players were so well-schooled and disciplined that even watching Villanova pregame warmups was like witnessing a basketball clinic. Wright made the surprising decision to retire at 60 fresh off a Final Four run. At the time of his retirement, the answer for best coach in the game was either Wright or the coach who gave him his final loss and is No. 1 on this list.

3. Mike Krzyzewski

Teams: Duke (2000-22)
National titles: 3
Final Fours: 5
Conference titles: 5
Conference tourney titles: 10
NCAA Tournament appearances: 20
Wins: 631 (28.7 per season)

Coach K is on the Mount Rushmore of all-time greats, and he never lost the coolness factor with players, likely helping himself later in his career with the decision to coach Team USA. Krzyzewski was right there with Calipari as the best recruiter in the game. Sure, the Duke brand helped, but he created the brand.

You could make an argument for any of the top three on this list for best coach of the century. Coach K’s argument: Tied for most titles and tops for highest average win total. The other two are significantly ahead in regular-season conference titles, and that’s why he’s third. If we were including the previous decade, it’d be no debate.

2. Roy Williams

Teams: Kansas (2000-03), North Carolina (2003-21)
National titles: 3
Final Fours: 7
Conference regular-season championships: 11
Conference tournament titles: 3
NCAA Tournament appearances: 19
Wins: 574 (27.3 per season)

Williams built a juggernaut at Kansas, and while he was a beast in the regular season in the 1990s at KU, he was finally starting to be equally as dominant in March in the early 2000s. Williams made back-to-back Final Fours in his final two seasons in Lawrence, then took a core that missed the NCAA Tournament in 2003 and won the national title in his second season at North Carolina. Williams is tied for the most titles this century and is a Kris Jenkins buzzer-beater away from four. Williams had a great eye for recruiting to his system and there were few things in basketball more aesthetically pleasing than the Carolina break. He just edges Coach K because he reached two more Final Fours and more than doubled him on conference titles this century.

1. Bill Self

Teams: Illinois (2000-03), Kansas (2003-present)
National titles: 2
Final Fours: 4
Conference regular-season championships: 18
Conference tournament titles: 11
NCAA Tournament appearances: 24
Wins: 702 (28.1 per season)

Self is one of the game’s all-time bests with a clipboard and you can never count his team out. The Jayhawks have had some of the greatest comebacks ever under his watch, two of those coming in the national title game. Two years ago, I made the argument that Self is the best regular-season coach of all time. He had just won the Big 12 for the 17th time in 20 seasons. He has won 19 regular-season titles at the high-major level (two at Illinois and 17 at Kansas). Only eight high-major schools have won more than Self.

On this list, Roy Williams is second this century with 11 conference titles at the high-major level, and he’s seven behind Self. Williams and Coach K are one ahead of Self in national titles, but it is worth noting that he was coaching the national title favorite in 2020 when the NCAA Tournament was canceled. He’s second in wins this century and gets bonus points for his consistency. While the others in consideration have also been incredibly consistent, everyone else in the top six has missed at least one NCAA Tournament this century. Self hasn’t. There’s been some slippage the last two years, but even this past season, with his worst Kansas team ever, the Jayhawks were comfortably in the field as a No. 7 seed.

You could knock Self for not winning more in the NCAA Tournament — his teams have been a No. 1 seed 11 times — but he has won more games in the NCAA Tournament than any coach this century. Add his regular-season success on top of that, and he’s the choice.

(Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; Chris Steppig / NCAA Photos via Getty Images;  Andy Lyons / Getty Images; Adam Davis / Icon Sportswire)