1977      1978      1979

Champion Second Place Third place Fourth place
Kentucky Duke Arkansas Notre Dame
Joe B. Hall Bill Foster Eddie Sutton Digger Phelps

Active coaches (10+ games)

Rank Coach, Current school Yrs W-L Pct. Latest Final
All Trn 1978 All 4 2 1
1 Joe B. Hall, Kentucky 12 4 5-0 12-3 .800 1978 2 2 1
2 Bob Knight, Indiana 13 4 1-1 11-3 .786 1978 2 1 1
3 Don Haskins, UTEP 17 6   9-5 .643 1975 1 1 1
T4 Frank McGuire, South Carolina 28 8   14-8 .636 1974 2 2 1
T4 Jerry Tarkanian, UNLV 10 7   14-8 .636 1977 1 0 0
T4 Johnny Orr, Michigan 13 4   7-4 .636 1977 1 1 0
7 Dean Smith, North Carolina 17 8 0-1 16-10 .615 1978 5 2 0
8 Butch van Breda Kolff, New Orleans 17 4   7-5 .583 1967 1 0 0
9 Jack Kraft, Rhode Island 17 7 0-1 11-8 .579 1978 1 1 0
10 Lefty Driesell, Maryland 18 5   8-6 .571 1975 0 0 0
11 Digger Phelps, Notre Dame 8 6 3-2 10-8 .556 1978 1 0 0
T12 Guy Lewis, Houston 22 10 0-1 14-14 .500 1978 2 0 0
T12 Don Donoher, Dayton 14 6   8-8 .500 1974 1 1 0
T12 Lou Henson, Illinois 16 6   7-7 .500 1975 1 0 0
T12 Lou Rossini, St. Francis (NY) 24 4   6-6 .500 1963 1 0 0
T12 Denny Crum, Louisville 7 5 1-1 7-7 .500 1978 2 0 0
T17 Abe Lemons, Texas 23 7   7-8 .467 1973 0 0 0
T17 Ned Wulk, Arizona State 27 7   7-8 .467 1975 0 0 0
19 Fred Schaus, Purdue 12 7   6-7 .462 1977 1 1 0
20 Dave Gavitt, Providence 11 5 0-1 5-6 .455 1978 1 0 0
21 Ray Meyer, DePaul 36 8 2-1 9-11 .450 1978 1 0 0
22 Tex Winter, Northwestern 25 6   7-9 .438 1968 2 0 0
23 Ted Owens, Kansas 14 6 0-1 6-8 .429 1978 2 0 0
24 Joe Williams, Furman 14 6 0-1 5-7 .417 1978 1 1 0
25 Lou Carnesecca, St. John's 10 6 0-1 2-8 .200 1978 0 0 0


Highlights:

Just three months after Adolph Rupp passed away, Joe B. Hall leads Kentucky to the national championship for the first time since the Rupp era, improving Hall's record to .800.  Hall leaps into first place past Bobby Knight, whose Indiana team only manages to win one game this year.
Digger Phelps makes his (and Notre Dame's) first trip to the Final Four, improving his record a bit to .556, good enough for eleventh place.
Dean Smith and North Carolina suffers a first round loss, dropping Smith's record to .615.  He maintains his seventh place position only because two coaches ahead of him retire (Ed Jucker and Al McGuire) and one is forced out of a job for not being John Wooden (Gene Bartow).
Louisville wins one and loses one, keeping Denny Crum at .500, despite having two Final Four appearances to his credit.
Butch van Breda Kolff returns to the college coaching ranks at New Orleans and has managed to move up from fifteenth to eighth during his time off even though his team was not invited this year.  In 1965, he took a Bill Bradley led Princeton team to the Final Four.
Joe Williams (Furman), Guy Lewis (Houston), Ted Owens (Kansas), Dave Gavitt (Providence) and Jack Kraft (Rhode Island) all suffer first round losses this year.
St. John's bows out in the first round as well, but it gives Lou Carnesecca enough games to debut on the list at .200, comfortably in last place.
DePaul wins two games to improve Ray Meyer's record to .450, moving him out of the last place position he has occupied for the last three years.





















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