Ranking UCLA's Wooden Among NCAA Tournament Coaches Pt.1

Let's put UCLA legendary coach John Wooden in his rightful place amongst the greats.

Oct 26, 2022; San Francisco, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Tyger Campbell (10) and forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. (24) pose with image of John Wooden during Pac-12 Media Day at Pac-12 Network Studios. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

A recent poll by Fox Sports listed UCLA's John Wooden as the second-best coach in NCAA Tournament history. So that got me to thinking, what is an appropriate top 10? Here are the first five rankings on my list of top 10 coaches in tournament history.

Who are the best coaches in NCAA Men's Tournament history? We ranked the top 10. pic.twitter.com/WdvhSlfFi3

— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) March 28, 2025

Rankings are based off tournament wins, final four appearances, and national championships won during each coach's career.

1. John Wooden, UCLA

There really isn't that much to say. The man has 10 national championships and was virtually unbeatable, especially in crunch time situations from 1963 to the end of the 1974 season.

Wooden is the foundation on which modern basketball was built. He was big time on the West Coast, and the West Coast hasn't had a force near half his power since.

2. Mike Krzyzewski, Duke

Five championships after taking over a program that had none. His 13 Final Four appearances are the most all time, and he would succeed in the old era, the one and done era, and the NIL era.

3. Bobby Knight, Indiana

Bobby Knight took Indiana to the Final Four in his second year in charge at Indiana. The Hoosiers were back and in year five, Indiana captured the national championship, going undefeated.

Knight's success instilled a militaristic style to coaching that emphasized minimizing mistakes and playing with structure. That would lead to three national championships, five Final Fours and qualification for the tourney from 1986 till he was fired in 2000.

4. Jim Calhoun, UConn

Jim Calhoun is the reason UConn has surpassed several blue-chip programs in National Championships and NCAA Tournament success. Before joining UConn, Calhoun helped Northeastern qualify for five tournaments, picking up two wins.

Before Calhoun took over UConn, the program had one Elite Eight appearance that happened in 1964. After he left, UConn won three national championships, made four Final Fours, and was one of the most dominant programs from the late nineties into the early 2000s.

5. Rick Pitino, St. John's

Pitino has led six programs to the NCAA Tournament, he's won two national championships (one vacated controversially), seven Final Fours, and he's led three different programs to those Final Fours.

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