NCAA basketball: Ranking the 25 best college basketball coaches ever

Ranking the 25 best college basketball coaches ever who have left a mark on the history of NCAA basketball, such as John Wooden, Bob Knight and Coach K.

College basketball has seen many great players and great teams over the last 100-plus years of NCAA basketball but without the coaches on the sidelines, the sport wouldn’t be the same.

Names like John Wooden, Mike Krzyzewski, Bob Knight and countless others have left us with many classics to illustrate just how special the game of college basketball is.

From the longevity of names like those to innovators like Adolph Rupp, Henry Iba and Dean Smith, college basketball is loaded with coaching talent that has risen even further, going on to become legends at the NBA level or overseas and Olympic head coaches who have risen to global stardom.

Whether they were great instructors, master recruiters, excellent tacticians and motivators, all great coaches share the same characteristic. They love to win and they hate to lose.

From the early innovators to the best of the modern era, this list of the best college basketball coaches is sure to spark debate.