Top 5 women's basketball coaches with most national championships ft. Dawn Staley

When the NCAA women's basketball championship final buzzer sounded, South Carolina's head coach, Dawn Staley, officially won her third career national title. After beginning her collegiate head coaching career in 2000, her legacy has already been cemented among the top coaches in the history of the sport.

But where does Staley rank among all-time national championship wins? This article lists the top five women's basketball coaches that have won the most national titles.

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Top five women's basketball coaches with the most national championships

#1. Geno Auriemma, 11 championships

Notre Dame v Connecticut

UConn head coach Geno Auriemma owns not only the record for most NCAA women's national championships but also the most NCAA basketball titles. Auriemma's record 11 national titles narrowly beats out former UCLA men's basketball coach John Wooden's 10 titles for most of all time.

Auriemma has been the head coach at UConn since 1985 and has a career record of 1,213-162. He's had incredible success in postseason play, leading the Huskies to the Final Four 23 times.

The Huskies had a stretch of three straight titles from 2002 to 2004 and then put together another dominant run of four straight titles from 2013 to 2016. Auriemma's unmatched success has earned him the Naismith Coach of the Year award eight times in his career.

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#2. Pat Summitt, 8 championships

Tennessee v Stanford

The late, great Pat Summitt is one of the most iconic head coaches in all of women's basketball. Summit coached all 31 of her seasons at Tennessee, where she led the Lady Vols to eight national championships.

Summitt finished her career with a record of 923-160 and made the NCAA Tournament in every season she was at the helm. She led Tennessee to 18 Final Four appearances, accomplished a national championship three-peat from 1996 to 1998, and won back-to-back titles in 2007 and 2008.

Summitt is a five-time Naismith Coach of the Year Award winner and an eight-time SEC Coach of the Year.

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#3. Kim Mulkey, 4 championships

Miami v LSU

Current LSU Tigers head coach Kim Mulkey found success at Baylor before bringing her championship energy to Louisiana. Mulkey has coached women's basketball for 24 years and owns a career record of 723-118.

Mulkey coached at Baylor for 21 years, where she won three national titles in 2005, 2012, and 2019. She led the Bears to the NCAA Tournament of 19 teams during her tenure there.

Mulkey took the head coaching job at LSU in 2021 and has made the NCAA Tournament in all three of the seasons she has been there so far. She won her fourth national title at LSU in 2023 when the Tigers defeated Iowa in the national championship game.

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#4. Tara VanDerveer, 3 championships

Oregon v Stanford

Former Ohio State and Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer just recently announced her retirement from women's basketball with three national titles in 42 years of coaching at the college level.

VanDerveer is college basketball's all-time winningest coach in history, owning a career record of 1,158-242. She spent her first four seasons head coaching at Ohio State before moving to Stanford in 1985.

VanDerveer won her first national title in 1990, followed by her second in 1992. The three-time Naismith Coach of the Year won her third and final title with Stanford in 2021.

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#5. Dawn Staley, 3 championships

NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament - National Championship

South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley is the most recent addition to this list after the Gamecocks defeated Iowa in the 2024 national championship. Staley began coaching at Temple in 2000 before taking the job at South Carolina in 2008.

Since taking over, Staley has completely transformed the South Carolina women's basketball program and has brought them to the Final Four six times in 16 years, including three straight national championship appearances.

Staley now owns three total national titles, all with South Carolina, and has shown no signs of slowing down any time soon.

Who do you think is the greatest women's basketball coach of all-time? Let us know in the comments below.

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