5 best NCAA basketball coaches that never won a national championship

The best NCAA basketball coaches that never won a national championship.

Winning means pretty much everything in sports in terms of legacy. The best NCAA basketball coaches of all-time have one thing in common: a legacy of taking home national championships.

Not everyone is so lucky, however, as plenty of great coaches simply never got that elusive championship to put their resume over the top. These are the five best NCAA basketball coaches that came close but never cut the nets down in March Madness as national champions. There’s time for some of them to work their way off the list, but for others, they’ll wear this tag.

5. Best NCAA basketball coaches without a ring: John Chaney – Temple (1982-2006)

A Basketball Hall of Famer, Chaney is one of the best coaches of his generation. Chaney did win a Division II National Championship at Cheyney State in 1978, his first college job before landing at Temple in 1982.

The Owls did plenty of winning under Chaney, winning the Atlantic 10’s regular-season title eight times and six conference tournament titles as well. All told, Chaney went 741-312 as a head coach, with 516 of those wins coming at Temple.

The school made 17 NCAA Tournament appearances under Chaney’s watch but couldn’t get past the Elite Eight. Temple made five Elite Eight appearances, with their best team coming in 1988, when the Owls went 29-1 in the regular season only to get upset by Duke just shy of the Final Four.