The Coach of the Year race is wide open as February looms with a plethora of candidates making great cases for consideration. While Bruce Pearl of No. 1 Auburn and Jon Scheyer of No. 2 Duke are obvious names, the list goes much deeper.
Last season, UConn’s Dan Hurley earned the Coach of the Year designation from CBS Sports in the midst of guiding the Huskies to consecutive national titles. In 2023, it went to Dust May, who was then in the process of guiding FAU to the Final Four.
A good Coach of the Year candidate can come from a blue blood program, or it can be the architect of a mid-major’s special season. Often, those who garner consideration led teams that far exceed modest expectations.
This season, you’ll also hear a handful of first-year coaches thrown into the mix. Newbies such as May (Michigan) Darian DeVries (West Virginia), Mark Byington (Vanderbilt), Pat Kelsey (Louisville) and Mark Pope (Kentucky) are each enjoying success that could lead to COTY consideration.
While over a month remains until we’ll officially name a college basketball Coach of the Year, our writers are weighing in for this week’s Dribble Handoff on who they’d vote for if the season ended today.
Mark Pope
As I’ve said and written many times over the past few weeks, the Coach of the Year race remains wide open, with a long list of viable candidates. It can change weekly — if not daily. However, right now, I believe the leader should be Kentucky coach Mark Pope, especially after his Wildcats secured a seventh Quadrant 1 win Tuesday night with a 78-73 victory at Tennessee.
It’s an amazing story.
Pope was not Kentucky’s first choice to replace John Calipari and inherited zero players from him. He built a team through the transfer portal in months that started the season ranked 43rd at KenPom.com. The Wildcats are now No. 8 in my Top 25 and 1. Only Auburn and Oregon have more Q1 wins than Kentucky.
Whether you prefer your Coach of the Year candidates come from Final Four contenders or teams that overachieve relative to preseason expectations, Pope checks both boxes. He has excelled at his alma mater and already shown that even though he wasn’t Kentucky’s first choice, he might have been a perfect one. — Gary Parrish
Jon Scheyer
If we had to vote today, the third-year coach responsible for the nation’s longest winning streak (14) would get my vote. He recruited the No. 1 class in the country (which should be a factor, in my opinion, when it comes to voting for this type of award) and has managed to mesh elite freshman talent with a couple of key returning players and some specific portal additions to put Duke in a position to maybe run the table in the ACC.
The 18-2 Blue Devils have a win over Bruce Pearl’s Auburn Tigers, keep in mind. They’ve exceeded preseason expectations to this point, and just because it’s Duke and the average fan expects the Blue Devils to be good, that still shouldn’t be applied at a discount for Scheyer’s candidacy. Duke is 10-0 in ACC play for first time since 2007-08, when Scheyer was in uniform as a sophomore. I think his case is as strong or better than anyone’s heading into February. But we’ve got nine weeks to go before our staff here has to vote on the real thing. — Matt Norlander
Bruce Pearl
Let me first echo what my colleague Gary Parrish stated up top: the Coach of the Year race is far from over. It’s not even February yet. Plus there are myriad ways to evaluate this award. Realistically, I think there are nearly a half-dozen viable candidates — maybe more. But for my money, Pearl is leader in the clubhouse at this juncture.
Here’s why: Pearl’s Auburn Tigers are 18-1 on the season, No. 1 in net rating according to KenPom and a perfect 6-0 in the laughably loaded SEC. And that 18-1 record includes a No. 4 scoring margin despite one of the toughest nonconference schedules among all teams with wins over Houston, Iowa State, Memphis and Purdue under its belt.
Auburn has done this while overcoming bouts of adversity both self-inflicted (like the plane-fight incident and the latest tweeting incident) and injury-related (star Johni Broome missed two games with an ankle injury). If the Tigers continue at this pace, they will finish as the best team in the best conference with perhaps the best player in the sport powering what currently ranks as the best offense in college hoops from an efficiency standpoint. That’s hard to argue against. — Kyle Boone
Tom Izzo
After Michigan State lost to North Carolina in the second round of last season’s NCAA Tournament, Izzo vowed that he would get the Spartans deep in the NCAA Tournament again or “die trying.” It was a brash statement that illustrated Izzo’s continued fire, even as his 70th birthday approaches. This season’s results reflect that tenacity and are mark of the best work of his career.
Michigan State is somewhat quietly putting together a special season with Final Four potential. The Spartans have won 13 straight to take a two-game lad in the Big Ten standings. Izzo’s club has just one double-figure scorer (Jaden Akins), relies extensively on its bench and ranks 351st in made 3-pointers per game at 5.5.
But it’s a physical team that rebounds like crazy, attacks the basket and lives at the free-throw line. The Spartans have been between a No. 7 and No. 11 seed for each of the past four NCAA Tournaments, but this group is a No. 2 seed in Jerry Palm’s Bracketology. The last time Michigan State was a No. 2 seed, it reached the Final Four. As things stand entering February, the 2024-25 Spartans look like they could do the same, and that would clearly make Izzo COTY material. — David Cobb
Pat Kelsey, Louisville
To make the case for Kelsey, you must go back to how bad Louisville basketball was the last two seasons under former coach Kenny Payne. A once-proud program and NCAA Tournament fell on hard times, winning just 12 total games in the last two seasons.
Then Kelsey saved the day.
Louisville is 16-5 overall and 9-1 in ACC play. The lone league loss came against No. 2 Duke last month. Since losing to Kentucky in mid-December, Louisville has won 10 consecutive games. Barring a historic late-season collapse, Louisville will be going back to the tournament. I was high on Louisville coming into the season and tabbed the Cardinals as “underrated” when the ACC Media Poll came out. Kelsey’s program was picked to finish ninth and currently sits in a second-place tie with Clemson behind Duke in the standings. Louisville being “back” has been one of the best storylines of the season. It’s why Kelsey deserves COTY consideration. — Cameron Salerno
Bruce Pearl
No offense in kenpom.com’s history has ever eclipsed an adjusted 130 offensive rating. Auburn is sitting at 129.3 with February looming right around the corner. Pearl, offensive coordinator Mike Burgomaster and this Auburn staff are on the verge of some historic stuff.
Pearl’s willingness to change and evolve is at the epicenter of it.
Auburn tweaked Broome’s rotation pattern to let the big fella stay on the floor for north of 30 minutes on the regular. The opportunity cost of having him on the bench was too great. Broome has rewarded the boosted minutes with a National Player of the Year-caliber campaign. Auburn is one of the elite cutting teams in college basketball, and the roster is teeming with snipers like Denver Jones, Tahaad Pettiford, Chad Baker-Mazara and Miles Kelly — all of which can heat up at a moment’s notice.
If Auburn can with this SEC and keep the offense humming at all-time levels, Pearl is the Coach of the Year. — Isaac Trotter
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