NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 362 D-I head coaches for 2023-24 season--Busting Brackets
341. David Ragland (Evansville) (Last year: 346)
- Overall record: 5-27
Although briefly a junior college head coach at Vincennes over a decade ago, Evansville gave Ragland the head coaching job last season and it was his first real experience running his own program. He spent the last decade plus bouncing around six different D1 institutions, including success at Utah State and Butler, but Evansville is a different animal. The last place finish in the MVC in year one wasn’t a shocker, but it’s on Ragland to make sure it’s not a regular occurrence like it has been in recent memory.
331. Roger Powell Jr. (Valparaiso) (Last year: N/A)
- Overall record: 0-0
Powell was a star forward on the Illinois team that advanced to the national championship game in 2005. After an international playing career, Powell returned to the college game as an assistant to Bryce Drew at Valparaiso in 2011. He’d spend nearly a decade with Drew, including time at Vanderbilt, before spending four seasons at Gonzaga, losing another title game in the process. Powell returns to Valparaiso as their new head coach, hoping to rejuvenate a program in much worse shape than when he left town seven years ago.
310. Ryan Pedon (Illinois State) (Last year: 316)
- Overall record: 11-21
Pedon bounced between MAAC schools and was a staffer at Illinois under John Groce before joining Chris Holtmann’s Butler staff back in 2015. He’d assist Holtmann for the next seven years, including a long stint at Ohio State, before getting his first shot to run his own program at Illinois State. The Redbirds won’t be satisfied with 9th place finishes in the MVC, though it was a decent start for a program in need of a restart; the jury is certainly still out on Pedon as a head coach.
277. Luke Yaklich (UIC) (Last year: 265)
- Overall record: 35-49
Yaklich was a high school coach in Illinois for more than a decade before returning to Illinois State, his alma mater, as an assistant to Dan Muller. He gained prominence as a defensive-minded assistant at Michigan and Texas in the coming years, helping lead the Wolverines to the Final Four in 2018. Yaklich began his collegiate head coaching career at UIC back in 2020. He’s produced three seasons under .500 and turned in an 11th place finish in the Flames’ first year in the MVC; is a revival coming?
214. Josh Schertz (Indiana State) (Last year: 305)
- Overall record: 34-33
Early on, Schertz was an assistant under Bart Lundy at Queens and High Point, but he’s certainly carved out his own legacy as a head coach. He spent 13 years leading Lincoln Memorial, taking the Railsplitters to a slew of D2 postseason success, including three Final Fours in his last six seasons. Schertz got his D1 chance just two seasons ago when Indiana State brought him aboard. After an underwhelming first season, Schertz led the Sycamores to a 23-13 mark with a 5th place finish in the MVC, a major step forward for this program.
199. Bryan Mullins (Southern Illinois) (Last year: 233)
- Overall record: 67-55
Mullins played at Southern Illinois in the late 2000’s and has already gotten his coaching career off to a solid start. After a few seasons playing professionally overseas, he joined Porter Moser’s staff at Loyola-Chicago back in 2013 and was on staff when the Ramblers made that run to the Final Four in 2018. His alma mater called him back home as the new head coach in 2019 and Mullins is coming off his best season leading the Salukis. Southern Illinois tied for 3rd in the new-look MVC, with their 23 wins the program’s most in sixteen years.
160. Dana Ford (Missouri State) (Last year: 156)
- Overall record: 146-131
Before getting his own shot as a head coach, Ford was a player at Illinois State and an assistant at a few other colleges, including a brief stint under Gregg Marshall at Wichita State. In 2014, his head coaching career got started at Tennessee State, with Ford making decent headway in the next four years. He was then brought back to the MVC, taking the top job at Missouri State in 2018. He’s had decent success with the Bears, including an NIT run two seasons ago, though he is coming off a 6th place finish in league play.
150. Brian Wardle (Bradley) (Last year: 168)
- Overall record: 230-191
Originally from the suburbs of Chicago, Wardle has had a successful playing and coaching career in the Midwest. He was a player and staffer at Marquette, mostly under Tom Crean, before heading to Green for his first full-time gig. Five years later he became Green Bay’s head coach, leading the Phoenix to 95 wins and a few NIT bids across the next half decade. Wardle was brought to Bradley in 2015 for a rebuild and has been successful, winning a pair of MVC Tournaments. Last season, he led the Braves to the MVC regular season title and a trip to the NIT.
107. Casey Alexander (Belmont) (Last year: 108)
- Overall record: 235-150
After playing under Rick Byrd at Belmont back in the early 90’s, Alexander joined the staff right away and was a critical part of the Bruins’ success for nearly two decades. His head coaching career began with a short stint at Stetson before returning to Nashville at Lipscomb. There he delivered an NCAA Tournament appearance and trip to the NIT title game before returning to Belmont in 2019. Taking over after Byrd’s retirement, Alexander has now led this program into the MVC, tying for 3rd in their first season in the new league.
70. Steve Prohm (Murray State) (Last year: 66)
- Overall record: 218-139
Prohm’s college career began as a volunteer assistant under Billy Kennedy at Centenary, though Prohm would later follow Kennedy to two other schools. He was an assistant at Murray State for five years before ascending to the top job himself, leading the Racers to an NCAA Tournament win in his first season. Prohm spent six years at Iowa State and did make a Sweet Sixteen but had a horrific final season with the Cyclones. In a twist of fate, Murray State brought him back for a second stint last season, with the Racers finishing 7th in their first season in the MVC.
64. Ben Jacobson (Northern Iowa) (Last year: 62)
- Overall record: 335-219
A former point guard and assistant at North Dakota, Jacobson has spent more than two decades involved with basketball at Northern Iowa. He was an assistant under Greg McDermott for five years before succeeding him in 2006. During that time, the Panthers have won four NCAA Tournament games, including unforgettable shots by Ali Farokhmanesh in 2010 and Paul Jesperson in 2016. The Panthers recently won the MVC title, but finished just 8th place in the league last season, winning just 14 games on the year.
59. Darian DeVries (Drake) (Last year: 74)
- Overall record: 122-48
Successful in the MVC for most of his career, DeVries played his college ball at Northern Iowa before joining the Creighton staff as a graduate manager. He was later promoted to full-time assistant and would spend 20 years with the Bluejays, including their first five seasons in the Big East. In 2018 he was hired by Drake, beginning his head coaching career back in the MVC with the Bulldogs. He’s won at least 20 games in all five seasons, leading the Bulldogs twice to the NCAA Tournament, including in last year’s 27-win campaign.
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6 DrakeDrake has reached two of the last three NCAA Tournaments, including an at-large bid and a First Four win in 2021. Three key players from that run — guards Roman Penn, DJ Wilkins and Garrett Sturtz — finished their eligibility last season, and nine new players populate this roster. That degree of turnover is usually deleterious, but we defer to Drake’s DeVries duo.
That would be head coach Darian DeVries, who has built a winning culture in Des Moines, and his son, Tucker. Last season, Tucker DeVries became just the fourth sophomore to win the Missouri Valley Player of the Year award after averaging 18.6 points and 5.7 rebounds per game while shooting 37 percent from 3 on seven attempts per game. The 6-7 wing may lack explosiveness, but he can bury contested jumpers and get into his pull-up game with a high release and flawless mechanics. Tucker accounted for 30 percent of the team’s shots a season ago and could take on an even heavier load after those veteran departures.
“His body has become more filled out,” Darian says of Tucker, who was listed at 210 pounds a year ago. “And you can tell he’s more experienced by the way he’s playing. He’s learning how to get open, how to stop and start and how to set up defenders. Those are all the things he’s going to have to get better at as defenses focus on him even more.”
Tucker DeVries is at his best operating outside the paint; luckily, the Bulldogs can leave the interior dirty work to their other returning veteran, sixth-year big Darnell Brodie. The 6-10 wrecking ball has slimmed down to 270 pounds this offseason after playing as high as 290. The hope is that Brodie, who has averaged 11.5 rebounds per 40 minutes at Drake, can stay on the floor even longer than his career-best 24.8 minutes per game last season. “I think he has a chance to be an all-league guy with the work he’s done and the shape he’s gotten himself in,” Darian DeVries says.
Four D1 transfers arrive, three of whom — guards Atin Wright (Cal State Northridge), Ethan Roberts (Army) and Kyron Gibson (UT Arlington) — were double-digit scorers at their previous stops. All three can stroke it from deep, as can Conor Enright, who made the Valley all-freshman team last season.
“We’ve got a lot of options on offense and can really spread it around and space people out,” Darian DeVries says.
Replicating last year’s top-40 defense could prove much tougher, especially without the ball-hawking skills of Penn and Wilkins. The challenge of integrating all those new players is another reason to doubt Drake can make it back to March Madness. But with one DeVries potentially vying for All-America honors and another becoming a hot name on the coaching carousel, we’ll bet on these Bulldogs.
Key Returners
Tucker DeVries WingDarnell Brodie BigConor Enright Guard
Key Newcomers
Atin Wright GuardEthan Roberts GuardKyron Gibson Guard
Big Noncon Games
Saint Louis Dec. 6Nevada (Henderson, NV) Dec. 9at UAB Dec. 22
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