Eight active head coaches have made multiple Final Four appearances

There are only eight active men’s college basketball coaches who have made multiple Final Four appearances. Two of those eight, Rick Pitino and John Calipari, have had two of their appearances vacated by the NCAA. It is not easy to win in the NCAA Tournament, and even with longevity, it is not easy to sustain success at the top of the sport.

Look at someone like Gonzaga’s Mark Few; he has been a head coach since the 1999-2000 season. Few took Gonzaga to the NCAA Tournament that year, and he has been to the NCAA Tournament every season since. In fact, there have only been three times that Few has not won at least one game in the tournament.

Let’s go through the eight coaches and their trips to the Final Four.

The coaches

8 – Tom Izzo, Michigan State

Tom Izzo made his first Final Four appearance in 1999, led by first-team All-American Mateen Cleaves. The Izzo, Cleaves, and the Spartans returned to the Final Four the following year and won the National Title. He has been back in 2001, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015, and 2019. Izzo has appeared in 25 consecutive NCAA Tournaments and carries a 686-278 (71.2%) career win percentage. The 1998 AP Coach of the Year has only been the head coach at Michigan State. 

5 – Rick Pitino, St. John’s 

Rick Pitino went to his first Final Four in 1987 when his Providence team was led by senior point guard Billy Donovan. Pitino then took Kentucky to a Final Four in 1993 and then to back-to-back National Title games in 1996 and 1997. He won his first National Championship in 1997. The 1987 John Wooden National Coach of the Year went back in 2005. 

** Pitino has actually coached his teams to seven Final Fours; however, the NCAA vacated the 2011-12 Final Four run and the 2012-13 National Championship he won with Louisville.

4- John Calipari, Kentucky

All four of John Calipari’s Final Four appearances, which are still in good standing with the NCAA, came during his time at Kentucky. The three-time Naismith College Coach of the Year first went in 2011. The following year his 38-2 team won the national title. Calipari’s Kentucky teams went back in 2014 and 2015. In Calipari’s 13 years at Kentucky, he has been to 11 NCAA Tournaments.

** Calipari has actually coached his teams to six Final Four appearances; however, the NCAA vacated his 1996 appearance with UMass and 2008 appearance with Memphis. 

4 – Bill Self, Kansas

Bill Self went to his first Final Four in 2008, when he won the National Championship. He went back in 2012, 2018, and 2022. The only game that Self has lost in the Final Four was in 2018 to eventual champion Villanova. Self, a two-time AP Coach of the Year, won his second championship in 2022. Dating back to his time at Tulsa and then Illinois, Self’s teams have played in 24 consecutive NCAA Tournaments. He carries a 580-132 (81.5%) record at Kansas.

2 – Kelvin Sampson, Houston

Kelvin Sampson, the Laurinburg, North Carolina native, made his first run to the Final Four in 2002. That Oklahoma team was led by All-American guard Hollis Price. Sampson went back to the Final Four in 2021 with Houston. The 1995 AP Coach of the Year has made 18 NCAA Tournament appearances since 1994. He is 232-74 (75.8%) as a head coach at Houston.

2 – Thad Matta, Butler

Thad Matta finished 337-123 during his 13-year run at Ohio State. Included in that run were two Final Four appearances. His first time to the Final Four was in 2007, behind Mike Conley and Greg Oden. That team dropped the national title game to Florida. Matta made it back to the Final Four in 2012, led by Aaron Craft and Jared Sullinger. Now in his second year at Butler, the three-time Big Ten Coach of the Year has made it to 13 NCAA Tournaments in his 18 years as a head coach.  

2 – Jim Larranaga, Miami

Jim Larranaga took an at-large CAA team in George Mason to the 2006 Final Four. He then led them to two of the next five NCAA Tournaments and took the job at Miami. Larragana is 255-149 as the head coach of the Hurricanes, making his second Final Four appearance last season. He has now been to back-to-back Elite Eight appearances, and the 2013 Naismith Coach of the Year has made it to five of the last seven NCAA Tournaments. 

2 – Mark Few, Gonzaga

Mark Few has been the head coach at one school, Gonzaga. He made his first run to the Final Four in 2017, where he lost to North Carolina in the finals. He made it back to the Final Four in 2021, where he lost to Baylor in the finals. While he lost both national title games, Few is 2-0 in his Final Four appearances. He made the 2000 NCAA Tournament, his first season as a head coach, and has been to all 23 NCAA Tournaments since. Few has won at least one game in the tournament in 20 of his 23 appearances. The 2017 AP Coach of the Year is 689-134 (83.6%) in his career as a head coach.