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.
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 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, 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.
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 National postseason tournament result * Denotes national championship season
Winners
Season Coach School W L W % Finish Reference 1963–64 UCLA 30 0 * 1964–65No award 1965–66 Kentucky 27 2 1966–67 24 2 1967–68 Houston 31 2 1968–69 (2) UCLA 29 1 * 1969–70 (2) Kentucky 26 2 1970–71 Marquette 28 1 1971–72 (3) UCLA 30 0 * 1972–73 (4) UCLA 30 0 * 1973–74 Notre Dame 26 3 1974–75 Indiana 31 1 1975–76 Rutgers 31 2 1976–77 Charlotte 28 5 1977–78 Duke 27 7 1978–79 Indiana State 33 1 1979–80 Iowa 23 10 1980–81 LSU 31 5 1981–82 Oregon State 25 5 1982–83 Louisville 32 4 1983–84 Georgetown 34 3 * 1984–85 St. John's 31 4 1985–86 (2) Louisville 32 7 * 1986–87 Providence 25 9 1987–88 Temple 32 2 1988–89 Seton Hall 31 7 1989–90 UConn 31 6 1990–91 (2) Kentucky 22 6 Ineligible for postseason 1991–92 Duke 34 2 * 1992–93 Vanderbilt 28 6 1993–94 Missouri 28 4 1994–95 Michigan State 22 6 1995–96 UMass 35 2 1996–97 Kansas 34 2 1997–98 North Carolina 34 4 1998–99 Auburn 29 4 1999–00† Cincinnati 29 4 Tulsa 32 5 2000–01 Boston College 27 5 2001–02 Pittsburgh 29 6 2002–03 Kentucky 32 4 2003–04 Stanford 30 2 2004–05 Illinois 37 2 2005–06 Tennessee 22 8 2006–07 Washington State 26 8 2007–08 Drake 28 5 2008–09 (2) Kansas 27 8 2009–10 Syracuse 30 5 2010–11 Pittsburgh 28 6 2011–12 (3) Kansas 32 7 2012–13 Saint Louis 28 7 2013–14 Wichita State 35 1 2014–15 (2) Kentucky 38 1 2015–16 (2) Texas Tech 19 13 2016–17 Gonzaga 37 2 2017–18 Cincinnati 31 5 2018–19 Wofford 30 5 2019–20 Dayton 29 2 2020–21 Michigan 23 5 2021–22 Providence 27 6 2022–23 Texas 29 9 2023–24 UConn 37 3 * 2024–25 Houston 35 5 2025–26 Arizona 36 3 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. 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. The 35–2 record was reduced to 31–1, and the UMass slot in the Final Four is officially denoted as vacated. 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. The 'Second Round' then became more commonly referred to as 'Round of 32' for specificity. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the 2019–20 men's season to be canceled prior to any national postseason tournaments occurring.
References