The Elite Eight is set and the road to the Final Four is almost over. As the eight teams still dancing try to plot a way to San Antonio, they will be guided by some of the best college basketball coaches in the country.
While players will ultimately decide these games on the court, having an elite coach can make a huge difference as their experience and schemes can place their players in the best position to succeed. Which Elite Eight coach offers his team the biggest advantage this weekend?
Elite Eight coaches power rankings
1. Tom Izzo
The only active Hall of Famer still dancing is Izzo, who recently admitted that winning early tournament games don't excite him as much as cutting down the nets at the Final Four. That sense of focus makes sense as March Madness is routine work for Izzo, whose Spartans have been to 27 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, and he has often gone deep with eight Final Four appearances.
Izzo is a noted March Madness wizard for his ability to get his teams playing their best basketball at the right time and his excellent record in the second game of an NCAA Tournament weekend, when teams have less than 48 hours to prepare for their next opponent. The drive for a title surely keeps Izzo going as a second championship would elevate him into another stratosphere in the pantheon of legendary college basketball coaches.
2. Kelvin Sampson
Perhaps the best active coach not to win a title is Sampson, who has been a winner everywhere he goes. After a lengthy run at Oklahoma, which included a trip to the Final Four in 2002, Sampson spent three years at Indiana before rules violations essentially barred him from the sport for six years.
Houston took a chance on Sampson in 2014 and has reaped the benefits as he has become a tournament fixture with the Cougars, who routinely dominated the American Athletic Conference before carrying their dominance over to the Big 12. The only thing missing from Sampson's resume is a title, which he has a strong chance to achieve with the backing of hometown fans in San Antonio if the Cougars can get past Tennessee to reach the Final Four.
3. Nate Oats
The fastest riser in the coaching ranks is Oats, who is poised to turn Alabama into a basketball blue blood, which is no small accomplishment at a football school. After taking Buffalo to the NCAA Tournament three times between 2016 and 2019, the former high school science teacher was hired by the Crimson Tide and has made impressive strides in the SEC thanks to his analytical approach to the game.
Alabama plays like an NBA team, eschewing mid-range jumpers in favor of layups and 3-pointers, and that approach has helped Oats reach five straight NCAA Tournaments. Four of those trips saw Oats get to the second weekend, including last year's Final Four run, and the future is bright for the 50 year-old who can cement his legacy with a championship.
4. Bruce Pearl
Pearl is a college basketball lifer who has been coaching in some form since 1982, serving as a head coach for all but three years at four different programs since 1992. After a strong run at Tennessee ended due to rules violations, Pearl jumped back into the SEC with Auburn in 2014, taking on the challenge of revitalizing a basketball program looking to get back to the glory days of the Charles Barkley era.
An early high water mark came in 2019, when Auburn reached its first Final Four before losing in controversial fashion to Virginia, and Pearl now has the Tigers as a routine threat to win the SEC with NBA-caliber talent. Having just one Final Four leaves Pearl lagging a bit behind the rest of the pack, however, and this year's team may be his best chance to finally break through and win it all.
5. Jon Scheyer
Taking over for a legend is never easy (see how much North Carolina and Villanova have floundered since their Hall of Fame coach retired) but Scheyer has done a great job keeping Duke humming after Mike Krzyzewski retired. Scheyer is fifth on the list because he only has three years of experience as a head coach but he has managed to maintain Krzyzewski's magic recruiting touch while posting a ton of wins on the court.
The Blue Devils got to the Elite Eight last season, Scheyer's second year on the job, before falling to NC State in the Elite Eight. The presence of Cooper Flagg has made Duke the favorites to cut down the nets this year but Scheyer's strong work in the ACC Tournament while Flagg was sidelined speak well about his future prospects as an elite college coach.
6. Rick Barnes
Another basketball lifer in the vein of Pearl, Barnes has been coaching since 1977 and a head coach in every season since 1987, when he got the job at George Mason. Barnes has guided four teams to the NCAA Tournament, reaching a Final Four with Texas in 2003, but has received plenty of criticism over the years for a seeming failure to maximize the talent he has in March Madness settings.
The worm may be turning for Barnes at Tennessee, which has reached the Elite Eight in consecutive seasons and is bidding for its first Final Four in men's basketball with a win over Houston. Getting to San Antonio would be a form of validation for Barnes — a great coach who hasn't done well in the NCAA Tournament. Winning a title would be a fitting capper for his career.
7. Todd Golden
The final two coaches on this list fall far below the others in terms of accomplishment, which is ironic since they will face each other in San Francisco for a spot in the Final Four. Golden took over as San Francisco's head coach in 2019 and helped the Dons reach the NCAA Tournament in 2022, earning their first at-large bid in almost 25 years, before parlaying his success into the Florida head coaching job.
At just 39 years old, Golden has plenty of time to build his legacy and has an elite team that is one of the biggest favorites to win the title this season. Florida has all the ingredients necessary to win it all, which speaks to Golden's ability to build a roster, but we will learn quickly if he has what it takes to make the right moves in the biggest spots.
8. Grant McCasland
A relative newcomer to the D-I scene, McCasland had done plenty of winning at the D-II level before making five postseason appearances with North Texas. Texas Tech hired McCasland after the 2023 season and he has done good work with the Red Raiders, getting them into the tournament last year before reaching the Elite Eight this summer.
McCasland has shown a strong ability to adapt to the modern world of college basketball, reaching into the transfer portal to find key contributors like J.T. Toppin, the Big 12 Player of the Year. Winning in the portal is one thing, but McCasland has a great opportunity to show how good of an X's and O's guy he is by taking down a more talented Florida team to reach his first Final Four.