Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Final Four features four coaches, each with distinct paths and ambitions for the upcoming championship weekend.
- Dan Hurley stands out with two titles and a chance to join an elite group by winning a third this year.
- The other three coaches each aim to secure their first championship and elevate their program's legacy.
This year's Final Four promises to be a weekend of excellent basketball with tremendous matchups in both national semifinals. Each program has a lot to gain by winning a title, but the same can be said for the men leading each Final Four team.
UConns Dan Hurley is eyeing feats that only John Wooden has accomplished while Arizona's Tommy Lloyd, Michigan's Dusty May and Illinois' Brad Underwood are each seeking their first championships. How do the coaches in this year's Final Four stack up with each other?
Final Four Head Coach Power Rankings
1. Dan Hurley, UConn Huskies
The obvious choice for the top spot is Hurley, who already has two national championships and can become just the seventh man ever to win three titles if the Huskies can seal the deal this weekend. That kind of pedigree gives Hurley a clear edge over his three compatriots, and the fact this UConn team has managed to get here speaks to how good of a coaching job he has done in 2026.
UConn ooked dominant in the non-conference season but appeared to coast through Big East play, stumbling against Creighton and Marquette while St. John's bullied them in two of three meetings. Getting his team to re-focus ahead of the NCAA Tournament was an important development for Hurley, who has helped extend the program's remarkable winning streak to 18 consecutive games in the Sweet 16 or later.
That run dates back to 2009 and spans three head coaches, but Hurley is the one on the precipice of winning a third national championship in a four year span. Only John Wooden has accomplished that with his UCLA dynasty so if Hurley can pull this off he will have a strong case to be on the Mount Rushmore of men's college basketball coaches.
2. Dusty May, Michigan Wolverines
The choice between May and Lloyd was a difficult one but May's prior run to the Final Four with Florida Atlantic gives him the edge in these rankings. No one will ever mistake FAU as a basketball powerhouse but May gave that team a national moment with their Final Four run in 2023, coming up just shy of the national title game after Lamont Butler beat them at the buzzer for San Diego State.
The move to Michigan has gone well for May, who has shown tremendous acumen at navigating the transfer portal to land the types of impact players who will thrive in today's game. The current Wolverines' roster features several transfers in leading roles, headlined by big men Yaxel Lendeborg and Aday Mara alongside point guard Elliot Cadeau.
Few coaches have gotten more out of their talent in the past few years than May, who could be someone that draws interest from the vacant North Carolina job as well as Kansas if Bill Self retires. The only thing missing from May's resume is a national championship and he has a great chance to fix that if Michigan can win its heavyweight fight against Arizona on Saturday night.
3. Tommy Lloyd, Arizona Wildcats
This moment has been a long time coming for Lloyd, who spent years as Mark Few's top assistant at Gonzaga before moving on to lead his own program in Arizona. Fans began to get frustrated with Lloyd, who seemed to hit a wall around the Sweet 16 like his predecessor Sean Miller did, but the Wildcats shattered that ceiling and are back in the Final Four for the first time since they lost to Duke in the national title game in 2001.
Lloyd deserves a ton of credit for how he quickly rebuilt an Arizona program reeling from the aftermath of Miller's firing as a result of the late 2010's FBI probe. There has been plenty of winning from Lloyd, whose .835 winning percentage since landing the Wildcats' job is tremendous, and he can add a carrot to his resume with a title by helping bring the national championship west of the Mississippi River for the first time in 29 years.
Like May, Lloyd has also been prominently linked to the vacant North Carolina job and hasn't ruled it out publicly yet. Securing a championship would give Lloyd a ton of leverage to dictate his next career move, either by taking on the challenge of reviving the Tar Heels or getting a significant pay increase to stay in the desert for the long haul.
4. Brad Underwood, Illinois Fighting Illini
Finishing fourth on this list is not at all a slight to Underwood, who is a tremendous basketball coach in his own right. Underwood is not nearly as accomplished as the three men he is coaching against this weekend, but he has plenty of time to carve his own legacy by helping the Fighting Illini win their first national championship.
An 89-14 run at Stephen F. Austin with two NCAA Tournament wins helped Underwood move to the power conference level with Oklahoma State. Illinois came calling a year later and after a slow start in Champaign Underwood has appeared in six consecutive NCAA Tournaments, helping the Fighting Illini back to the Final Four for the first time since the elite 2004-05 team led by the three-headed monster of Dee Brown, Luther Head and Deron Williams at guard.
Underwood deserves credit for his improvisation as a recruiter, notably taking advantage of the underserved international market to land talented players to help him compete against some of the more traditional Big Ten powerhouses. It appears unlikely anyone will come looking to hire Underwood away from Illinois at this stage so he has a big opportunity to become one of the greatest coaches in program history if he finishes this year's surprising Final Four run with a title.