Top 3 underrated coaches heading into the 2024-25 season ft. Bryce Drew

In a sport structured purely around coaching and historic programs, there are several unappreciated and underrated coaches due to a lack of eyes on their teams. More than 350 teams participate in Division I basketball and just 68 make it to the annual March Madness festivities, so there will be some coaches that fall through the cracks.

With that, let's look at 3 underrated coaches as teams prepare for the 2024-25 college basketball season.

Top 3 underrated coaches in college basketball heading into the 2024-25 season

#3. Jim Larranaga - Miami Hurricanes

Larranaga has orchestrated the most successful decade in Miami’s history. He has taken them to six NCAA tournaments, two Sweet Sixteens (2013, 2016), one Elite Eight (2022) and one Final Four (2023) alongside 3 NITs (2011, 2012 and 2015).

Drake v Miami

Jim Larranaga is in the top 10 on the ACC’s and the NCAA’s list of winningest active coaches and has the second-best record amongst active coaches in the conference. Before he arrived, Miami’s deepest NCAA run was a Sweet Sixteen stint in 2000. His sustained success with that program earns him a place among the most underrated coaches.

#2. Bryce Drew - Grand Canyon Antelopes

Drew’s coaching journey is still a coming-of-age story. His Valparaiso stint promised a lot as he led them to two Horizon League Tournament championships and four regular season championships. However, a rough patch came when Bryce Drew joined Vanderbilt.

NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament First Round-Grand Canyon vs Saint Marys

Even though the Commodores embarked on an NCAA Tournament in his first year, he posted a 40-59 record with the program.

Nevertheless, Bryce Drew has gone 94-32 in four years with Grand Canyon and has entered the NCAA Tournament three times, including a faceoff against Alabama last year. The 2023-24 season was perhaps the best year of his career to date, as he led the Antelopes to a 30-5 record.

#1. Grant McCasland - Texas Tech Red Raiders

McCasland came to Texas Tech after guiding North Texas to two postseason runs from 2017 to 2023 and leading one of the best defensive rosters in the nation. He previously turned around Arkansas State’s program and recorded just the fourth 20-win season in school history.

Texas Tech v Houston

His impact on Texas Tech last season makes him one of the most underrated coaches. Behind nearly two decades of coaching experience, Grant McCasland led the Red Raiders to the NCAA Tournament behind a 23-11 overall record. They finished 22 in the national rankings as he was just the third coach to record a 20+ win season in his first season out of the 19 coaches in program history.