| 1976 | 1977 | 1978 |
Active and Former (20+ games)
| Rank | Coach, Schools (*=not active) | Yrs. | W-L | Pct. | Final | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 2 | 1 | |||||
| 1 | John Wooden*, UCLA | 29 | 47-10 | .825 | 12 | 10 | 10 |
| 2 | Al McGuire, Marquette | 20 | 20-9 | .690 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 3 | Hank Iba*, Oklahoma State | 41 | 15-7 | .682 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| 4 | Dean Smith, North Carolina | 16 | 16-9 | .640 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| T5 | Frank McGuire, South Carolina | 27 | 14-8 | .636 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| T5 | Jerry Tarkanian, UNLV | 9 | 14-8 | .636 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Adolph Rupp*, Kentucky | 42 | 30-18 | .625 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| 8 | Guy Lewis, Houston | 21 | 14-13 | .519 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Jack Gardner*, (Kansas State, Utah) | 28 | 12-12 | .500 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| National Champs: | Marquette | Al McGuire |
| Second place: | North Carolina | Dean Smith |
| Third place: | UNLV | Jerry Tarkanian |
| Fourth place: | North Carolina-Charlotte | Lee Rose |
|
|
In his final season as a coach, Al McGuire takes Marquette all the way, beating Dean Smith and North Carolina for the national championship. McGuire goes out in style, improving his record to .690 and jumping into second place. Smith also jumps two places into fourth at .640. |
|
|
UNLV wins national third place and Jerry Tarkanian joins the .600 club at .636 with enough games to debut on the 20 game list tied for fifth place with Frank McGuire. |
