Best up and coming college basketball coaches include Drew Valentine, Natasha Adair, Greg Kampe, and others. Jordan Mincy also makes it to the checklist.
Collegiate B-ball has been one of the trending sports lately. The first game played under the category was in 1937, organized by NAIA. To date, there are 700 NCAA clubs and 230 NAIA.
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has been organizing the national tournament regularly since 1939.
Coach plays a vital role in directing and strategizing the skills of the basketball athlete or the team itself. He helps them output the best of them.
Followings are some of the best mentors for the 2022-23 season.
10 Best Up and Coming College Basketball Coaches
| Name | College Basketball Team |
| 1. Drew Valentine | Loyola |
| 2. Natasha Adair | Arizona State |
| 3. Greg Kampe | Oakland University |
| 4. John Calipari | Kentucky |
| 5. Jordan mincy | Jacksonville Dolphins |
| 6. Jim Boeheim | Syracuse Orange |
| 7. Ben Howland | Mississippi State |
| 8. Jeff Linder | Wyoming |
| 9. Grant McCasland | Texas Tech |
| 10. Shantay Legans | Portland |
Drew Valentine
Youngest NCAA basketball coach is Drew Valentine. Valentine is currently the head mentor at Loyola University Chicago.
The Michigan native began his professional career as a basketball player in 2009. He used to play forward for Oakland University and retired in 2013.
Right after, he joined the Michigan State staff as a graduate manager. After serving for two seasons, he then shifted to the Oakland Golden Grizzlies as an assistant mentor.
He was then the youthful assistant. In 2017, Valentine shook hands with his current team. At first, he served as a program coordinator and held the post for around four years.
The 32-year-old was promoted to head mentor in 2021 after Porter Andrew Moser left the club. Not to forget, the coach was just 29 when the team assigned him, making him the greenest head mentor in NCAA Division I men's basketball.
Natasha Adair
Female college basketball coaches checklist is incomplete without mentioning Natasha Denean Adair. Adair is the mentor at Arizona State.
The 50-year-old was hired to tutor the woman basketball athlete on the Arizona State University team in 2022. She filled the vacant post after the former mentor, Charli Turner Thorne, retired.
Natasha played sports during her high school year. At the time, she was honored as a USA All-American. Later, she played for Pensola Junior and South Florida for two seasons each.
In 1998, the South Florida graduate became an assistant mentor at Georgetown and served until 2004. After a few years of working with different institutions, she finally became the head mentor at the university in 2014.
Before joining the current club, Natasha mentored the women's team at the University of Delaware from 2017 to 2022. Her overall head coaching record is 167-143 (.539).
Greg Kampe
The oldest coaches in college basketball include Greg Kampe at the top. Kampe is currently 67 years old.
The Oakland University head trainer was born on December 9, 1955, in Defiance, Ohio. During his teenage, he played football, basketball, and track and field at the local high school.
Once he was 17, Kampe played basketball for Bowling Green. He stayed with the club for four years. In 1978, he began assisting the trainer of Toledo Rockets.
After assisting for four years, Oakland University hired him as the head trainer in 1984. He has been with the club ever since, being the longest-experienced Men's College Basketball coach on March 23, 2023.
It is his 39th season with the club. Moreover, Kampe celebrated his 500th career game ten years back in January 2013. His 600th career game victory was on February 16, 2018.
John Calipari
Highest paid college basketball coaches consist of American head mentor John Vincent Calipari. The University of Kentucky pays him $9.27 million annually.
The Pennsylvania native has been with the team since 2009. He penned a $34.65 million worth agreement with the club on March 31, 2009.
Moreover, in April 2019, the trainer signed a "lifetime" deal with the club, including a 10-year extension and a lifetime paid ambassadorship after he retires.
Calipari trained the team for four Finals Fours (2011,2012, 2014, and 2015). In 2012, the team won the NCAA Championship.
Regarding some of his notable achievements, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015. Likewise, Atlanta Tipoff Club honored him with Naismith College Coach of the Year thrice: in 1996, 2008, and 2015.
On the personal front, Calipari has been married to his love of life, Ellen Calipari, since 1986. They are parents to three children, two daughters and a son. His child Brad played with the team for two seasons.
Jordan Mincy
Best young college basketball coaches comprise Jacksonville Dolphins instructor Jordan Mincy. Mincy will celebrate his 37th birthday coming October.
Jordan grew up in Memphis with his parents, Shelly and Willie Micy, and two siblings. His brother Jerome is a former basketball athlete, while his sister, Jada, played the sport for Ole Miss.
Once he was nineteen, he played with Kent State University. Boston Colleges mentor Jim Christian and Stony Brook Seawolves mentor Geno Ford guided him.
In 2009, he bid goodbye to his playing career and joined South Carolina as a graduate assistant. The following year, his alma mater hired him as an assistant instructor.
He has served to Charleston Cougars, Toledo Rockets, Louisiana Tech, and Florida Gators with the same designation. On March 25, 2021, the Jacksonville Dolphins acquired him as their 17th head instructor.
Jim Boeheim
Longest tenured coach of collegiate basketball, Jim Boeheim, retired in March 2023. Boeheim spent 47 seasons with Syracuse Orange.
The 78-year-old joined the Syracuse University basketball team as a graduate assistant in 1969. He guided the Orangemen in the 1975 NCAA Tournament as an assistant instructor. The team made its debut Final Four appearance.
Les Dye promoted him as the seventh head mentor of the team in 1976 after Roy Danforth left the spot for Tulane University. In his debut season as the head coach, Jim celebrated victory over Harvard by 20 points.
Overall, he guided the club to five Big East tournaments and 34 NCAA tournament appearances, including five Final Four and three national title game appearances.
Not to forget, Boeheim holds a bachelor's degree in social science from the institution. He joined Syracuse University as a student in 1962. After coaching retirement, Jim serves as a Special Assistant to the Athletic Director.
Ben Howland
Best available college basketball coaches Ben Howland recently served Mississippi State University. Mississippi State parted ways with Howland on March 17, 2022.
Howland is one of the few NCAA Division I mentors who took four clubs to the tournament. He participated in collegiate basketball for Santa Barbara City College after high school. Later he played professional basketball in Uruguay.
Getting back to his coaching career, he wanted to become one since his teen year. He began as a graduate assistant and later became an assistant instructor at the University of California in 1982.
Northern Arizona was his first college basketball team as the head mentor. He served on the team from 1994 to 1999 and ended up joining the University of Pittsburgh.
After instructing the UCLA Bruins for ten years, he was acquired by Mississippi State on March 24, 2015. He led the team to their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2009.
Jeff Linder
One of the top college basketball coaches is Jeff Linder. Jeff is the head instructor of Wyoming.
The institution hired him as their 22nd head mentor of their program history on March 17, 2020. He previously served as the one at Northern Colorado. Linder was named the Big Sky Conference mentor with the team in the 2018-2019 season.
The 46-year-old began coaching career as an assistant for Emporia State in 2001. Prior to that, he played point guard for three years with the Western Colorado Mountaineers.
On the personal front, Jeff belongs to Denver, Colorado. He lives with his wife, Kelli, and four children. Adison and Makalyn are his daughters, and Jordan and Devon are the sons of the Centaurus High School 1995 graduate.
Grant McCasland
Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland is 46 years old. McCasland was born on October 14, 1976.
It is his first season with the team. Grant previously instructed North Texas from 2017 to 2023. He guided the team to the 2023 National Invitation Tournament.
The head mentor used to play the orange ball during his student life. He played point guard for Baylor Bears starting in 1995 to 1999. The institution hired him as an assistant instructor in 2011 for the next five years.
After completing his studies, McCasland began working as a paid assistant trainer for Northeastern Junior College in 2001. In 2004, Midland College acquired him with the same designation.
Besides, he trained the athletes from Midwestern State Mustangs and Arkansas State Red for several years. He will showcase his charismatic coaching spirit with Texas Tech in the upcoming season.
Shantay Legans
Portland coach Shantay Legans joined the team on March 22, 2021. Legans previously mentored Eastern Washington for four years.
The Ventura native played basketball at the University of California and Fresno State. Moreover, he performed in a professional league in the Netherlands until 2007.
Right after he stopped playing, Legans joined Laguna Blanca School as an assistant mentor. He continued in the same position at Eastern Washington in 2009 until he was promoted to head trainer in 2017.
Little may know, his better half, Tatjana Sparavalo, is a former athlete of Eastern Washington. The duo walked down the aisle in 2014. They are parents to two kids.
