The American Conference Men's Basketball Coach of the Year is a basketball award given to the American Conference's most outstanding head coach. The conference formed in 2013–14 after many schools departed from the original Big East Conference to form their own conference. The conference was called the American Athletic Conference from its inception up until July 21, 2025, at which time it was formally rebranded. Mick Cronin of Cincinnati was the first-ever winner.
Key Awarded one of the following National Coach of the Year awards that year: Associated Press Coach of the Year (AP) Adolph Rupp Cup (ARC) Basketball Times Coach of the Year (BT) CBS/Chevrolet Coach of the Year (CBS) Naismith Coach of the Year (N) NABC Coach of the Year (NABC) Sporting News Coach of the Year (SN) U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA)Denotes the number of times the coach had been awarded the Coach of the Year award at that pointElected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach but is no longer activeActive coach who has been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame (as a coach)Conference win–loss record for that seasonConference standing at year's end (Tdenotes a tie)Overall win–loss record for that seasonSeason‡Team won the NCAA Division I National Championship
Winners SeasonCoachSchool National Coach of the Year AwardsConf. W–LConf. St.Overall W–L Ref. 2013–14 Cincinnati —15–31stT27–7 2014–15 Temple —13–53rdT26–11 2015–16 (2) Temple — 14–41st21–12 2016–17 SMU — 17–11st 30–5 2017–18 Houston — 14–4 2ndT 27–8 2018–19 (2) Houston — 16–2 1st 33–4 2019–20 Tulsa — 13–5 1stT 21–10 2020–21 Wichita State — 11–2 1st 16–6 2021–22 (3) Houston — 15–3 1st 32–6 2022–23 (4) Houston — 17–1 1st 33–4 2023–24 South Florida — 16–2 1st 25–8 2024–25 Memphis — 16–2 1st 29–6 2025–26 South Florida — 15–3 1st 23-8
Winners by school In this table, the "year joined" reflects the calendar year when each school joined the conference. The "Years" column reflects the calendar year in which each award was presented. School (year joined) Winners Years Houston (2013) 4 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 South Florida (2013) 2 2024, 2026 Temple (2013) 2 2015, 2016 Cincinnati (2013) 1 2014 SMU (2013) 1 2017 Tulsa (2014) 1 2020 Wichita State (2017) 1 2021 Memphis (2013) 1 2025 East Carolina (2014) 0 — Louisville (2013) 0 — Rutgers (2013) 0 — Tulane (2014) 0 — UCF (2013) 0 — UConn (2013) 0 —
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