Greatest high school basketball coach from each decade

But the list begins with a pair of professors teaching the game of basketball on opposite coasts in the early 1900s.
MaxPreps greatest basketball coach from each decade

1910s
Professor John Wilson, Whittier (Calif.)
His teams dominated high school basketball in Southern California throughout the 1910s, winning seven straight Southern Section championships between 1911 and 1917. Wilson was the architect of all of those championships, earning the nickname "Point a Minute" Wilson. Whittier also won the first CIF state championship in 1916.

1920s
Professor Ernest Blood, Passaic (N.J.)
As a coach at Pottsdam Normal School, Passaic and St. Benedict's, Blood reportedly won 1,268 games in his career, according to one biography. He had, perhaps, his best teams at Passaic where he went 200-1 between 1915 and 1925 with 159 straight wins. He left Passaic in 1924 after seven state championships and went on to St. Benedict's, where he won five more state titles in over 20 years with the Gray Bees.

1930s
Ben Neff, Lowell (San Francisco)
In the 1930s, San Francisco produced some of the greatest basketball players in the country. The Cal-Hi Sports Record Book has selected state players of the year dating back to 1905 and from 1929 to 1965, 24 of the honorees came from the Bay Area. Neff coached many of them as six of his players earned state player of the year honors. Neff's Lowell team was state team of the year three times during the 1930s while winning eight city championships during the decade. Neff also earned state coach of the year in 1937.

1940s
Arthur Trout, Centralia (Ill.)
Producing some of Illinois's greatest teams during the 1940s, Trout won 811 games in his 39 years as the head coach at Centralia. The Orphans were listed by the National Federation of High Schools record book with the sport's most all-time wins with 2,220 as of 2017. Trout's "Wonder Five" in 1941 became known as the best team to never win a state title after losing 30-29 in the semifinals. Trout won the state championship the following year, the third of his career. Trout coached one of the top players in Illinois history in Dwight Eddleman, who finished his high school career as the nation's all-time leading scorer with 2,702 points (since passed).



1950s
Paul Walker, Middletown (Ohio)
Walker spent 30 years with the Middies, but he had his greatest success during the 1950s. Behind the play of three-time All-American Jerry Lucas, Walker won state championships in 1956 and 1957 and also won back-to-back titles in 1952 and 1953. His teams also reached the state finals in 1958 and 1959 and put together a 76-game win streak. Walker won over 80 percent of his games with a record of 562-136.

1960s
Ralph Tasker, Hobbs (N.M.)
One of the most innovative coaches in high school basketball history, Tasker utilized the full-court press (dubbed the "Eagle Press") and fast break offense to pummel opponents and field some of the game's highest scoring teams. Eight of Tasker's squads averaged over 100 points a game, led by the 1970 team that concluded the 1960s by averaging 114.6 points. Tasker's team held the record for highest scoring average for 40 years. He won 12 state championships in his career including four in the 1960s (1966, 1968, 1969 and 1970).

1970s
Morgan Wootten, DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.)
One of several coaches on this list who could be selected for several different decades, Wootten posted a national championship in 1978 (along with 1962 and 1965) and had two other teams finish 30-1 during the decade. Wootten was nothing if not consistent. Consider that in the 1960s he won 283 games, the 1970s he won 282, the 1980s he won 280 and the 1990s he won 283. The national award for lifetime achievement as a high school basketball coach is named after Wootten.

1980s
Gary McKnight, Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.)
If there was ever any doubt that McKnight was the architect of one of the best basketball dynasties in high school history, considering the following numbers: Championships won under McKnight — 23 CIF Southern Section titles, 11 state championships, 1 national championship. Basketball championships won at Mater Dei prior to McKnight's coaching career — 0 section titles, 0 state titles, 0 national championships. He is the coach of the decade for the 1980s because that's when he built the foundation for the Monarch dynasty with six section crowns, two state championships, a 59-game win streak and national coach of the year honors by ESPN.

1990s
Steve Smith, Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.)
Smith began his tremendous run with the Warriors in the 1980s, but he earned his first national title in 1993 with Jerry Stackhouse and Jeff McInnis. He added another in 1994 and finished the decade with a national title and undefeated season (31-0) in 1999. He added three more in the 2000s and a seventh in the 2010s making him the only coach other than Bob Hurley to have a national championship in three different decades.

2000s
Bob Hurley, St. Anthony's (Jersey City, N.J.)
You can take your pick as to which decade Hurley should be honored. Consider that he is the only coach to have a 57-game win streak or longer in three different decades — 57 from 1988-90, 66 from 1994-96 and 83 from 2010-13. He's also the only coach to win a national championship in four different decades — 1989, 1996, 2008 and 2011.



2010s
Kevin Boyle, Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.)
Boyle has had a rapidly changing resume over the past decade, adding a national championship nearly every year. His team has earned national champion honors by at least one media outlet six times in the past nine seasons. Since taking over in 2011-12, Boyle has posted a record of 282-24 (.922).