Self #16 All Time Winningest D-1 Men's Basketball Coach

LTCUSARet · Saturday at 1:49 PM

As I'm sure has been noted earlier, with his 800th career win last Tuesday against UNC-WIlmington, Bill Self has become just the 16th D-1 HC to reach the 800 Win club. Here's the list 1-16 of who's in that elite group.

WINNINGEST D1 MEN’S BASKETBALL HEAD COACHES thru Friday 2024-11-22

Code:

    ALL CAPS NAMES are active HCs AY2024-25                   
                       
RNK PERSON          SEASONS WINS   LOSSES TIES   WL%
1  Mike Krzyzewski    47    1202    368    0    0.766
2  Jim Boeheim        47    1015    441    0    0.697
3  Bob Huggins        41     935    414    0    0.693
4  Jim Calhoun        44     920    397    0    0.699
5  Roy Williams       33     903    264    0    0.774
6  Bob Knight         42     902    371    0    0.709
7  Dean Smith         36     879    254    0    0.776
8  Adolph Rupp        41     876    190    0    0.822
9  Cliff Ellis*       46     831    565    0    0.595
10 Jim Phelan*        49     830    524    0    0.613
11 JOHN CALIPARI      33     817    262    0    0.757
12 Rollie Massimino   41     816    462    0    0.638
13 RICK BARNES        38     812    415    0    0.662
14 Eddie Sutton       37     806    326    0    0.712
15 Rick Byrd*         38     805    403    0    0.666
16 BILL SELF          32     800    248    0    0.763

Code:

*D-1 programs for less well known HCs in the list -
Cliff Ellis
1975-76 - 1983-84 @South Alabama
1984-85 - 1993-94 @Clemson
1994-95 - 2003-04 @Auburn
2007-08 - 2023-24 @Coastal Carolina

Jim Phelan
1954-55 - 2002-03 @Mount St. Mary's

Rick Byrd
1978-79 - 1979-80 @Maryville (TN)
1983-84 - 1985-86 @Lincoln Memorial
1986-87 - 2018-19 @Belmont

Side note 1 - the next Active HCs on this list are
#20 Kelvin Sampson (3-1 this AY and 767 career to date) and
#21 Dana Altman (5-0 this AY and 760 career to date)

Side note #2 - #2 Boeheim (Syracuse), #7 The Traitor Smith (UNC), #8 Rupp (UK) and
#10 Phelan (Mount St. Mary's) are the only members of the Men's D-1 800 Wins club
to have spent their entire HC careers at one university.

Side note 3 - I highly doubt anyone in the 800 Wins club will ever pass Rupp's .822 W percentage.

Source: NCAA Stats: Head Coaches, filtered for Men's Basketball and D-1, as of 2024-11-22.

You will note that the only active HCs ahead of Self (who turns 62 next month) are Arkansas' squid (#11 with 817, turns 66 in February) and Tennessee's Rick Barnes (#13 with 812, tums 71 in July).

Barring major collapses of their programs, I do not see Self catching either of them this AY.

I expect Calipari will end the AY in 9th place behind Adolph Rupp (876). Squid is 4-1 to date this AY for 817 total Ws and needs 15 more Ws to pass current #9 Cliff Ellis' 831.

I expect Barnes (6-0 so far, 812 total Ws, needs 20 more Ws to pass 831) to end up in 10th place.
(Personal note - I'd love to see Gentleman Rick pass squid this AY. I would not bet on it, but I will keep my fingers crossed!)

It will take a 37 win season for Self (5-0 Ws so far + 32 more) to pass Ellis (831) and finish in 11th place.

As we know 37 wins is highly unlikely in any given season.

I think Bill will most likely finish the AY in 13th place ahead of Rollie Massimino (816) (only another 17 wins, 22 total for the AY, to pass Rollie), but behind Ellis (831) and Phelan (830).

But until the W-L record math says it can't happen this AY, there is always hope! :Bill Self: