Which coaches have the most Final Four appearances in NCAA men’s tournament history?

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10 coaches with the most Final Four appearances in NCAA Men’s Tournament history

T-8. Guy Lewis: 5

Lewis is the most successful coach in Houston history, boasting a program-record 592 wins over his 30 years at the helm. That span was headlined by 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, but, more specifically, cracking the Final Four five times, including in back-to-back years (1967 and 1968) and then in three consecutive seasons (1982-84). In the latter half of the 1960s, Houston boasted the likes of Elvin Hayes and Ken Spain, with it then featuring Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler in the early 1980s, among other future NBA players.

T-8. Bob Knight: 5

Knight took over the Indiana Hoosiers‘ men’s basketball program in 1971, and the rest is history. Winning a program-record 659 games over a 29-year stretch, Indiana made the Final Four five times, made the NCAA Tournament in all but five seasons and won three National Championships. Coaching the likes of Isiah Thomas, Scott May, Steve Alford and many others, Knight is the lasting image of Indiana basketball and made the Hoosiers one of the backbones of Big Ten men’s basketball.

T-8. Lute Olson: 5

Everywhere Olson went, his team was winning and in the national title mix. After a 24-2 season at Long Beach State in 1973-74, Olson became the head coach at Iowa and, after a bumpy first four years, helped the Hawkeyes make the NCAA Tournament in five consecutive seasons and the Final Four in the 1979-80 season. Olson then went to Arizona, which made the Final Four under him four times over his 24-year reign and won the 1997 National Championship, the only title in program history. That championship team featured multiple future NBA players, including Mike Bibby and Jason Terry.

T-8. Jim Boeheim: 5

The Syracuse men’s basketball program has 2,109 all-time wins, and head coach Jim Boeheim is responsible for 1,116 of those wins, which is far and away the program record. Taking over as head coach for the 1976-77 season, Boeheim sat on the throne at Syracuse for 43 years, with the school making the NCAA Tournament in 31-of-43 seasons, reaching the Final Four five times and winning the 2003 National Championship. Recently announced Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony helped lead the way for Syracuse in said year. After serving as an assistant coach for the Orange under Roy Danforth for eight years, Boeheim, who played four seasons at Syracuse, spent his entire head-coaching career with the Orange.

T-8. Rick Pitino: 5

In just his second season at Providence (1986-87), Pitino’s Friars reached the Final Four. Then, after a two-year stint coaching the New York Knicks, Pitino went to Kentucky, which reached the Final Four three times and won the 1996 National Championship under him. Then, following a four-year stint with the Boston Celtics, Pitino became the head coach at Louisville, which reached the Final Four three times and won the 2013 National Championship under him. However, two of those Final Four appearances and the 2013 title were vacated due to an NCAA investigation regarding an alleged sex scandal involving the Louisville men’s basketball program with recruits. In all, though, Pitino has coached Donovan Mitchell, Antoine Walker, Terry Rozier, Russ Smith and many other pros.

T-6. Adolph Rupp: 6

When you coach a team for 41 years, you get a lot of things. In Rupp’s case, Kentucky’s home arena, Rupp Arena, is named after him. A head-coaching career spent entirely in Lexington (1930-31 season to the 1971-72 season, minus 1952-53) saw the Wildcats win four national titles, make the Final Four six times, make the NCAA Tournament 20 times and win 13 SEC Tournament titles. Rupp finished with a program record 876 wins. Cliff Hagan, Louie Dampier, Frank Ramsey and Pat Riley were some of the countless players that Rupp coached.

T-6. Denny Crum: 6

In Crum’s first season at Louisville (1971-72), the Cardinals reached the Final Four, and it was a glimpse of what was to come, as they’d make the Final Four five more times under the head coach across his 30 years in the position. Furthermore, Louisville won two national titles over that span, doing so in the 1979-80 season and the 1985-86 season. Darrell Griffith and Derek Smith helped Crum claim the first title, and Billy Thompson and Pervis Ellison helped him win the second.

5. Tom Izzo: 8

Izzo was an assistant coach at Michigan State for 13 years, got the promotion to head coach in 1995 and has never looked back. Just wrapping up his 30th season on the job, Michigan State has made the NCAA Tournament in all but two complete seasons (the 2019-20 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic), made the Final Four eight times and won the 2000 National Championship under Izzo, who boasts a program-record 737 wins and became first in the Big Ten in all-time wins. Morris Peterson and Mateen Cleaves led the Spartans to triumph in 2000, with Izzo also coaching Jason Richardson, Jaren Jackson Jr., Zach Randolph and Draymond Green, among others, over his career.

4. Roy Williams: 9

Williams had iconic coaching stints at both Kansas (15 seasons) and North Carolina (18 seasons). At Kansas, Williams missed the NCAA Tournament just once (his first season), won a combined 418 games and made the Final Four in four seasons. Then, at North Carolina, Williams won 485 games, made the Big Dance in all but two seasons, reached the Final Four five times and won three National Championships. Paul Pierce, Kirk Hinrich, Harrison Barnes, Ty Lawson and Cameron Johnson are some of the players whom Williams coached. Williams is second among North Carolina coaches in wins and third among Kansas coaches.

3. Dean Smith: 11

Call him “The Dean” of North Carolina, as Smith helped UNC claim two National Championships, make the NCAA Tournament in 27-of-36 seasons and make the Final Four 11 times. Furthermore, the Tar Heels’ alumni under Smith rival any school with their respective coach, as Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Bob McAdoo, Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison and Jerry Stackhouse are just some of the high-profile players to suit up for North Carolina between 1962 and 1998. Smith is first in North Carolina history with 879 career wins.

2. John Wooden: 12

John Wooden is synonymous with UCLA basketball. Across his 27 seasons as the Bruins’ head coach (1948-49 season to the 1974-75 season), they won 80.8% of their games (program-record 620 wins for a head coach), had double-digit losses in just five seasons, made the NCAA Tournament 16 times, reached 12 Final Fours and won an absurd 10 national titles over a 12-season stretch. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Gail Goodrich, Jamaal Wilkes and Sidney Wicks are just some of the players to come out of the Wooden era at UCLA.

1. Mike Krzyzewski: 13

Mike Krzyzewski is Duke basketball. Heck, a profile view of the Blue Devils’ mascot is essentially a doppelgänger of Krzyzewski. Surely, that’s just a coincidence, though! The head coach at Duke for 42 seasons (1980-81 season to 2021-22 season), the Blue Devils won a combined 1,129 games — Krzyzewski’s 1,202 career wins (he coached at Army for five seasons before taking over at Duke) is the most for a head coach in men’s college basketball history — made the NCAA Tournament 36 times, reached the Final Four 13 times and won the National Championship five times under Krzyzewski. The list of future NBA stars that played at Duke under Krzyzewski is endless, but Grant Hill, Elton Brand, Kyrie Irving, Jayson Tatum and Zion Williamson are among those players.

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