1976      1977      1978

Champion Second Place Third place Fourth place
Marquette North Carolina UNLV UNC-Charlotte
Al McGuire Dean Smith Jerry Tarkanian Lee Rose

Active coaches (10+ games)

Rank Coach, Current school
(*=non-Div I)
Yrs W-L Pct. Latest Final
All Trn 1977 All 4 2 1
1 Ed Jucker, Rollins* 17 3   11-1 .917 1963 3 3 2
2 Bob Knight, Indiana 12 3   10-2 .833 1976 2 1 1
3 Gene Bartow, UCLA 16 3 1-1 8-3 .727 1977 2 1 0
4 Joe B. Hall, Kentucky 11 3 2-1 7-3 .700 1977 1 1 0
5 Al McGuire, Marquette 20 9 5-0 20-9 .690 1977 2 2 1
6 Don Haskins, UTEP 16 6   9-5 .643 1975 1 1 1
7 Dean Smith, North Carolina 16 7 4-1 16-9 .640 1977 5 2 0
T8 Frank McGuire, South Carolina 27 8   14-8 .636 1974 2 2 1
T8 Jerry Tarkanian, UNLV 9 7 4-1 14-8 .636 1977 1 0 0
T8 Johnny Orr, Michigan 12 4 2-1 7-4 .636 1977 1 1 0
11 Jack Kraft, Rhode Island 16 6   11-7 .611 1972 1 1 0
12 Lefty Driesell, Maryland 17 5   8-6 .571 1975 0 0 0
13 Digger Phelps, Notre Dame 7 5 1-1 7-6 .538 1977 0 0 0
14 Guy Lewis, Houston 21 9   14-13 .519 1973 2 0 0
T15 Don Donoher, Dayton 13 6   8-8 .500 1974 1 1 0
T15 Lou Henson, Illinois 15 6   7-7 .500 1975 1 0 0
T15 Dave Gavitt, Providence 10 4 0-1 5-5 .500 1977 1 0 0
T15 Lou Rossini, St. Francis (NY) 23 4   6-6 .500 1963 1 0 0
T15 Denny Crum, Louisville 6 4 0-1 6-6 .500 1977 2 0 0
T20 Abe Lemons, Texas 22 7   7-8 .467 1973 0 0 0
T20 Ned Wulk, Arizona State 26 7   7-8 .467 1975 0 0 0
T22 Ted Owens, Kansas 13 5   6-7 .462 1975 2 0 0
T22 Fred Schaus, Purdue 11 7 0-1 6-7 .462 1977 1 1 0
24 Joe Williams, Furman 13 5   5-6 .455 1975 1 1 0
25 Tex Winter, Northwestern 24 6   7-9 .438 1968 2 0 0
26 Ray Meyer, DePaul 35 7   7-10 .412 1976 1 0 0


Highlights:

In his final season as a coach, Al McGuire takes Marquette all the way, beating Dean Smith and North Carolina for the national championship.  This is the second championship game loss for Smith who lost to John Wooden's UCLA team led by Lew Alcindor in 1968.
Gene Bartow and UCLA are upset in the second round, but the two games are enough to put Bartow on the list at .727 in third place.  Bartow led UCLA to the Final Four last year and took Memphis State to the final game against UCLA and Bill Walton in 1973.
Joe B. Hall and Kentucky lose to North Carolina in the East Regional Finals, giving Hall enough games to debut on the list at .700 in fourth place.  In 1975, Hall led Kentucky to the finals, losing to UCLA in John Wooden's final game.
UNLV wins national third place and Jerry Tarkanian joins the .600 club at .632 moving him up into a tie for eighth place with Frank McGuire who wasn't invited this year and Johnny Orr who debuts on the list after Michigan wins two and loses one this year.  Orr's Michigan team finished second to Bobby Knight's Indiana team in last year's tournament.
Dave Gavitt debuts on the list at .500 after Providence's first round loss.  Gavitt made the Final Four with Providence in 1973.
With the addition of Gene Bartow (1973) and Joe B. Hall (1975), the "I lost the national championship to John Wooden" club on the active list grows to seven, including Don Donoher (1967), Dean Smith (1968), Joe Williams (1970 with Jacksonville), Jack Kraft (1971 with Villanova) and Al McGuire (1974).
      In addition, Bobby Knight (1973), Denny Crum (1972 and 1975), Guy Lewis (1968), Lou Henson (1970 with New Mexico State) and Ted Owens (1971) all lost to Wooden in the national semi-finals.
      Also, Ted Owens lost the national third place game to Wooden in 1974, Jerry Tarkanian lost to Wooden in the West Regionals in 1970, 1971 and 1972 while coaching Long Beach State, Ned Wulk lost to Wooden in the West Regionals in 1973 and 1975 and Johnny Orr lost to Wooden in the first round in 1975.
      It's hard to imagine how anyone could ever again dominate the tournament as John Wooden did in the last twelve years of his career.





















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