5 best NCAA basketball coaches that never won a national championship

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Best NCAA basketball coaches never won a national championship

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4. Best NCAA basketball coaches without a ring: Lou Henson (New Mexico State 1966-1975, 1997-2005; Illinois 1975-1996)

Another legendary coach who was just missing a national championship on his resume was Lou Henson. The College Basketball Hall-of-Famer spent a remarkable 39 years on the sidelines in Division I, which is not easy to do.

Henson first started his career at New Mexico State, guiding the program to five NCAA Tournament appearances in nine years. The Aggies actually reached the Final Four in 1970, where they lost to the reigning national champion UCLA Bruins.

Henson’s success at New Mexico State caught the attention of Illinois, which hired him to be their new head coach in 1975 to succeed Gene Bartow. The Illini made a dozen NCAA Tournament Appearances under Henson, with their best year coming in 1989.

That team featured a slew of future NBA players, including Nick Anderson and Kendall Gill, and went 27-4 during the regular season. Illinois made it all the way to the Final Four, losing by a bucket to conference rival Michigan.

That would be the closest Henson, who won 779 career games, came to winning a national championship. It takes nothing away from how good a coach Henson was.