Humble Backgrounds: Many Small-College Grads Coach DI Tourney Teams
In a caste-like era separating the haves from the have-nots, imperial universities are seeking mega-conferences and, perhaps in the near future, a restrictive upper division. But the socially elite won't ever be able to exclude small schools from making a big impact on the NCAA playoffs.
Smaller colleges, many of them in the hinterlands, have supplied a striking number of the biggest names in coaching. From 1995 through 2000, five of the six NCAA Tournament championship coaches (Jim Calhoun, Jim Harrick, Tom Izzo, Lute Olson and Tubby Smith) graduated from obscure colleges with smaller enrollments. In fact, it is a rarity for a Final Four not to feature at least one coach who graduated from a non-Division I school.
John Calipari, a graduate of Clarion (Pa.) State, guided Kentucky to the 2012 national championship before Michigan's John Beilein (Wheeling Jesuit NY) and Wichita State's Gregg Marshall (Randolph-Macon VA) directed teams to the Final Four seven years ago. Following is an alphabetical list of 2023 NCAA Tournament mentors who worked their way up the ladder after graduating from a small college:
2023 NCAA Playoff Coach School Small-College Alma Mater Tobin Anderson Fairleigh Dickinson Wesleyan (Conn.) '95 Rick Barnes Tennessee Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.) '77 John Becker Vermont Catholic (D.C.) '90 Randy Bennett Saint Mary's UC San Diego '96 John Calipari Kentucky Clarion State (Pa.) '82 Ed Cooley Providence Stonehill (Mass.) '94 Andy Enfield Southern California Johns Hopkins (Md.) '91 Tom Izzo Michigan State Northern Michigan '77 Chris Jans Mississippi State Loras (Iowa) '91 Kevin Keatts North Carolina State Ferrum (Va.) '95 Tommy Lloyd Arizona Whitman (Wash.) '98 Steve Lutz Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Texas Lutheran '95 Mike Morrell UNC Asheville Milligan (Tenn.) '05 Nate Oats Alabama Maranatha Baptist (Wis.) '97 T.J. Otzelberger Iowa State Wisconsin-Whitewater '01 Mike Rhoades Virginia Commonwealth Lebanon Valley (Pa.) '94 Bob Richey Furman North Greenville (S.C.) '06 Kelvin Sampson Houston Pembroke (N.C.) State '78 Rob Senderoff Kent State Albany (N.Y.) '95 Micah Shrewsberry Penn State Hanover (Ind.) '99 Shaka Smart Marquette Kenyon (Ohio) '99 Jerome Tang Kansas State North Central Bible College (Minn.) Rodney Terry Texas St. Edward's (Tex.) '90
NOTE: Albany was subsequently classified as an NCAA Division I university.