Ranking Dan Hurley, Hubert Davis and Other Men’s College Basketball Coach of the Year Candidates

Coach of the Year awards are notoriously difficult to hand out, especially in today’s college sports. There are so many different interpretations of the award.

Is it the coach whose team overachieved preseason expectations the most? The coach who built the best roster (after all, recruiting is a big part of the job)? The coach of the best team? Wherever you come down on the issue, these 10 coaches deserve commendation for the phenomenal jobs they’ve done with their respective teams.

From overachievers who’ve turned preseason bottom-feeders into contenders to coaches maintaining elite teams despite key offseason losses, here’s a look at Sports Illustrated’s top picks for men’s college basketball’s Coach of the Year.

1. Lamont Paris, South Carolina Gamecocks

There may be no surprise in men’s college basketball bigger than 20–3 South Carolina, now ranked in the top-15 nationally just one year after going 11–21 and finishing outside the top 200 nationally on KenPom. The Gamecocks were picked last in the SEC in the preseason but have surged into contender status, buoyed by recent wins over the Kentucky Wildcats and Tennessee Volunteers. This roster didn’t stand out on paper, but Meechie Johnson has made a big leap in his second year in the program and Paris found all of the right pieces to put around him, with veterans like Ta’Lon Cooper (Minnesota Golden Gophers), Myles Stute (Vanderbilt Commodores) and B.J. Mack (Wofford Terriers) all playing essential roles. This team has far exceeded its on-paper talent level, and that’s a credit to Paris, a longtime Wisconsin Badgers assistant who built a winner with the Chattanooga Mocs before coming to South Carolina.

2. Dan Hurley, UConn Huskies

UConn lost arguably its three most important players from last season’s national championship run. For the Huskies to be back at No. 1 in the polls despite that says everything about the program Hurley has built in Storrs, Conn. Returners like Tristen Newton, Alex Karaban and even backup point guard Hassan Diarra have all made leaps from where they were last season, and newcomers Cam Spencer and Stephon Castle have been perfect fits in Hurley’s system. Plus, UConn has had to navigate key injuries to big man Donovan Clingan, thought to be the team’s best player in the preseason. With Clingan back, the Huskies are geared up to make a run at a repeat title, and Hurley should be in the Coach of the Year conversation whether or not they can cut down the nets again.

3. Nate Oats, Alabama Crimson Tide

It’s one thing to lose five of your top six scorers including two first-round NBA draft picks, like Alabama did. It’s another to deal with what Oats did, which was losing all three assistant coaches to head coaching jobs in the spring. Oats had to rebuild his roster and coaching staff in the span of a few months and somehow came out of it with a legitimate SEC title contender. The Tide sit atop the SEC race and are playing their best basketball after some early stumbles in nonconference play. The fact that Oats has the Tide in position to potentially win three SEC titles in the span of four years is one of the more impressive achievements by any coach in the country in recent memory. He should be a top candidate for this award if the Tide finish the job.

4. Hubert Davis, North Carolina Tar Heels

There’s no question that this was a critical season for the North Carolina program’s direction under Davis, with a bounce back necessary after missing the NCAA tournament in 2022–23. The Heels have responded in a big way, asserting themselves as a favorite in the ACC and a potential No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Davis pushed all the right buttons in the offseason, adding transfers Harrison Ingram and Cormac Ryan who fit in lower-usage roles and moving RJ Davis off the ball with the addition of freshman point guard Elliot Cadeau. Plus, Davis made a key strategic shift defensively midway through the season, going to a less switch-heavy system that has done wonders for the Heels.

5. Danny Sprinkle, Utah State Aggies

The Aggies have lost consecutive games, but are still in strong position to make the NCAA tournament in Sprinkle’s first season. That’s a remarkable feat considering Sprinkle inherited a program that lost every point scored from last season, including huge names like Steven Ashworth (Creighton Bluejays) and Max Shulga (VCU Rams). Forward Great Osobor followed Sprinkle from the Montana State Bobcats and immediately has become one of the Mountain West’s best players, but Sprinkle has done a phenomenal job

Five more names to consider:

• Kelvin Sampson, Houston Cougars: Houston moved up from the AAC to the Big 12 this season and hasn’t missed a beat. The Cougars are No. 1 on KenPom, mauling opponent after opponent despite losing Marcus Sasser and Jarace Walker to the pros in the offseason. Four straight top-five KenPom finishes for Sampson at Houston given how downtrodden the program was when he arrived is just absurd.
• Matt Painter, Purdue Boilermakers: The Boilermakers haven’t really overachieved given the lofty preseason hype, but Painter’s team has masterfully tamed an incredibly difficult nonconference schedule. The Boilermakers have five wins over top-10 KenPom teams and have by far the best overall résumé in college basketball.
• Kyle Smith, Washington State Cougars: Smith has the nation’s hardest high-major job at Washington State, one made even harder this offseason by all of the conference realignment uncertainty. Despite all of that, he has the Cougars at 7–4 in Pac-12 play and in contention for an NCAA tournament bid. It would be Washington State’s first trip to the Big Dance since 2008.
• Amir Abdur-Rahim, South Florida Bulls: Abdur-Rahim is building quite the reputation as a master rebuilder. He turned around the Kennesaw State Owls, taking the program from one win in his first season to 26 in his fourth, and now, he has quickly flipped South Florida. The Bulls are 16–5 and sit atop the AAC standings.
• Mark Pope, BYU Cougars: BYU has fallen off some in league play, but the Cougars are still well on track to make the NCAA tournament after being picked 13th out of 14 Big 12 teams in the preseason. Pope built one of the nation’s best offenses despite lacking top-end talent based on elite ball movement, cutting and shooting.