Ranking March Madness Sweet 16 coaches, from Rick Pitino to Sean Miller

Ranking March Madness Sweet 16 coaches, from Rick Pitino to Sean Miller originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The rest of the NCAA Tournament could be a chess match.

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While plenty of stars remain alive in March Madness, from Darius Acuff and Cameron Boozer to Braden Smith and Yaxel Lendeborg, the Sweet 16 and beyond will be all about the head coaches.

10 have been to the Final Four. Six have been to a national championship game. Four have won a national championship. In the East Region, the four remaining coaches combine for 18 Final Fours and five national championships.

Ranking the remaining coaches is a near-impossible task, but a few of the leaders on the sideline stand out above the rest.

The Sporting News ranks the March Madness Sweet 16 head coaches from best to worst.

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1. Kelvin Sampson, Houston

Kelvin Sampson

Final Four appearances: 3

National championships: 0

Four remaining coaches in the NCAA Tournament have won a national championship, and Kelvin Sampson isn’t one of them.

It doesn’t matter.

The job Sampson has done to take Houston from complete irrelevance to a national powerhouse is indescribable. The Cougars had been to the NCAA Tournament once in the previous 25 seasons before making their first trip under Sampson in 2018. Now, it’s a mild disappointment when they aren’t a No. 1 seed.

Houston hasn’t lost more than eight games in a season in nine years, has played in the Final Four twice and appeared in the championship game a year ago under Sampson. A game the Cougars led most of the way slipped away, denying Sampson his first title, but even at 70, he still has a legitimate chance to finish the job.

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DECOURCY:Ranking the Sweet 16 teams’ chances to win national championship

2. Rick Pitino, St. John’s

Final Four appearances: 7

National championships: 2

For any concerns about his style of…

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Publish date : 2026-03-25 06:20:00

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