Adam Hermann | NCAA.com | February 22, 2021 How much experience coaches have when they reach their first Final Four The many faces of Auburn Head Coach Bruce Pearl Share The 2019 NCAA Tournament saw three head coaches make their first Final Four: Virginia's Tony Bennett, Texas Tech's Chris Beard and Auburn's Bruce Pearl. March Madness doesn't just apply to the student-athletes — it also applies to head coaches as well. Some coaches, like Bennett and Pearl, endure more than a decade as a head coach, or even at one program, before reaching the Final Four. Others, like Shaka Smart, get there in Year Two. Are there patterns? What about oddities? There's plenty of both. Some figures before we look at the full data set of 152 head coaches: On average, it takes a head coach 10.4 years to reach their first Final Four. 18 coaches needed at least two decades to reach the Final Four. 81 coaches needed less than one decade to reach the Final Four. 48 coaches need five years or less to reach the Final Four. Eight coaches reached the Final Four in their first respective years at the helm: Ray Meyer, DePaul, 1943; Bill Hodges, Indiana State, 1979; Dick Harp, Kansas, 1957; Denny Crum, Louisville, 1972; Steve Fisher, Michigan, 1989; Bruce Drake, Oklahoma, 1939; Bully Gilstrap, Texas, 1943; Gary Thompson, Wichita State, 1965 Here's a look at the years of experience (as a head coach) it took each NCAA coach to reach the Final Four, dating all the way back to the first NCAA tournament in 1939, in descending order: Coach School First Final Four Experience Phog Allen Kansas 1940 34 John Beilein Michigan 2013 31 Bo Ryan Wisconsin 2014 31 Nat Holman CCNY 1947 28 Dana Altman Oregon 2017 28 Jim Calhoun Connecticut 1999 27 Harry Rabenhorst LSU 1953 25 Dick Bennett Wisconsin 2000 24 Gary Williams Maryland 2001 23 Nibs Price California 1946 22 Jim Larrañaga George Mason 2006 22 Norm Sloan NC State 1974 22 Howard Cann NYU 1945 22 Sam Barry USC 1940 22 Harold Olsen Ohio State 1939 21 Slats Gill Oregon State 1949 21 Everett Dean Stanford 1942 21 Mike Montgomery Stanford 1998 20 Ken Loeffler La Salle 1954 19 Kelvin Sampson Oklahoma 2002 19 Clifford Carlson Pittsburgh 1941 19 Bill Foster Duke 1978 18 Mark Few Gonzaga 2017 18 Al McGuire Marquette 1974 17 Lou Carnesecca St. John's 1985 17 Vadal Peterson Utah 1944 17 Ozzie Cowles Dartmouth 1942 16 Chick Davies Duquesne 1940 16 Elmer Ripley Georgetown 1943 16 Louis Menze Iowa State 1944 16 Henry Iba Oklahoma State 1945 16 Tom Young Rutgers 1976 16 Rick Barnes Texas 2003 16 Jim Harrick UCLA 1995 16 John Wooden UCLA 1962 16 Pete Newell California 1959 15 Bobby Cremins Georgia Tech 1990 15 Bill Self Kansas 2008 15 Peck Hickman Louisville 1959 15 John Brady LSU 2006 15 Jay Wright Villanova 2009 15 Gregg Marshall Wichita State 2013 15 Bruce Pearl Auburn 2019 15 Porter Moser Loyola-Chicago 2018 14 Nolan Richardson Arkansas 1994 14 Butch van Breda Kolff Princeton 1965 14 Rick Majerus Utah 1998 14 Rollie Massimino Villanova 1985 14 Jack Friel Washington State 1941 13 Tony Bennett Virginia 2019 13 Lon Kruger Florida 1994 12 Adolph Rupp Kentucky 1942 12 George Ireland Loyola 1963 12 Gene Bartow Memphis 1973 12 Jim Valvano NC State 1983 12 Billy Tubbs Oklahoma 1988 12 Ben Howland UCLA 2006 12 Terry Holland Virginia 1981 12 Bob Huggins Cincinnati 1992 11 Maury John Drake 1969 11 Mike Krzyzewski Duke 1986 11 Doggie Julian Holy Cross 1947 11 Guy Lewis Houston 1967 11 Johnny Orr Michigan 1976 11 Jim Boeheim Syracuse 1987 11 John Thompson Georgetown 1982 10 Branch McCracken Indiana 1940 10 Richard Williams Mississippi State 1996 10 Lou Rossini NYU 1960 10 Frank Martin South Carolina 2017 10 Forrest Twogood USC 1954 10 Eddie Sutton Arkansas 1978 9 Dale Brown LSU 1981 9 Doc Hayes SMU 1956 9 Larry Weise St. Bonaventure 1970 9 Jerry Tarkanian UNLV 1977 9 Glen Rose Arkansas 1941 8 Bebe Lee Colorado 1955 8 Bob Knight Indiana 1973 8 John Calipari Massachusetts 1996 8 Jud Heathcote Michigan State 1979 8 Lou Henson New Mexico State 1970 8 Digger Phelps Notre Dame 1978 8 Rick Pitino Providence 1987 8 P.J. Carlesimo Seton Hall 1989 8 Jack Gray Texas 1947 8 Tippy Dye Washington 1953 8 George Smith Cincinnati 1959 7 Frosty Cox Colorado 1942 7 John Thompson III Georgetown 2007 7 Paul Hewitt Georgia Tech 2004 7 Bruce Weber Illinois 2005 7 Lute Olson Iowa 1980 7 Ted Owens Kansas 1971 7 Tex Winter Kansas State 1958 7 Tubby Smith Kentucky 1998 7 Thad Matta Ohio State 2007 7 Howard Hobson Oregon 1939 7 Roy Danforth Syracuse 1975 7 Harold E. Foster Wisconsin 1941 7 Billy Donovan Florida 2000 6 Hugh Durham Florida State 1972 6 Dean Smith North Carolina 1967 6 Dave Gavitt Providence 1973 6 Eugene Lambert Arkansas 1945 5 Bill Henderson Baylor 1948 5 Bucky O'Connor Iowa 1955 5 Jack Gardner Kansas State 1948 5 Dave Strack Michigan 1964 5 Elmer Gross Penn State 1954 5 Phil Woolpert San Francisco 1955 5 Frank McGuire St. John's 1952 5 Don Haskins Texas Western 1966 5 Larry Brown UCLA 1986 5 Fred Schaus West Virginia 1959 5 Forddy Anderson Bradley 1950 4 Vic Bubas Duke 1963 4 Joe Williams Jacksonville 1970 4 Tom Crean Marquette 2003 4 Tom Izzo Michigan State 1999 4 Everett Case NC State 1950 4 Harry Litwack Temple 1956 4 Bones McKinney Wake Forest 1962 4 Everett Shelton Wyoming 1943 4 Chris Beard Texas Tech 2019 4 Brad Stevens Butler 2010 3 Ed Jucker Cincinnati 1961 3 Earl Brown Dartmouth 1944 3 Don Donoher Dayton 1967 3 Roy Williams Kansas 1991 3 Joe B. Hall Kentucky 1975 3 Bill Guthridge North Carolina 2000 3 George King Purdue 1969 3 John Castellani Seattle 1958 3 Alex Severance Villanova 1939 3 Lee Rose Charlotte 1977 2 Kevin Ollie Connecticut 2014 2 Harry Combes Illinois 1949 2 Mike Davis Indiana 2002 2 Ben Carnevale North Carolina 1946 2 Fred Taylor Ohio State 1960 2 Bob Weinhauer Penn 1979 2 Bob Feerick Santa Clara 1952 2 Shaka Smart VCU 2011 2 Ray Meyer DePaul 1943 1 Bill Hodges Indiana State 1979 1 Dick Harp Kansas 1957 1 Denny Crum Louisville 1972 1 Steve Fisher Michigan 1989 1 Bruce Drake Oklahoma 1939 1 Bully Gilstrap Texas 1943 1 Gary Thompson Wichita State 1965 1 That's a lot of coaches. A few more fun facts: 52 coaches have made their Final Four debuts since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The average experience for those coaches is 12.3 years. 33 coaches made their Final Four debuts in the first decade of the NCAA tournament (1939-1948). The average experience was 12.1 years. Three very good coaches — Phog Allen, Bo Ryan, John Beilein — took a combined 96 years to get to their first Final Fours. They are the only three coaches to require three decades of experience to reach the Final Four. Kansas is the only school with five different head coaches to reach the Final Four — Bill Self (15, 2008), Roy Williams (3, 1991), Ted Owens (7, 1971), Dick Harp (1, 1957), Phog Allen (34, 1940). VIRGINIA WINS 2019 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP Virginia beats Texas Tech in OT | 3 takeaways from UVA's first title 2019 final bracket | Print bracket | How'd you do? Highlights & features | Shop Final Four gear Full championship history College basketball rankings: Even unranked teams find success in the NCAA tournament Since the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985 — its modern format — only four of 35 national champions were unranked to start the season. That’s about one in every nine years. 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