NCAA Tournament 2013: Tourney coaches who also coached high school teams

Sometimes you have to start small.

The NCAA Tournament features packed arenas, bright lights and an amount of media attention not seen in any regular-season matchup. The high school game? Not so much.

It's hardly a prerequisite for a college coach to have high school coaching experience, but some spent significant time in the high school ranks, preparing themselves for the ascent to NCAA Division I competition. And it has nothing to do with small college vs. big college status. Some of the tournament's biggest coaching names from the biggest programs spent time coaching high school teams.

In addition to some info on the coaches that we found with high school coaching experience, we also have a list of where every coach went to high school. See that below.



But for now, here's some background on the prep coaching careers of some of the NCAA Tournament coaches.

Tom Izzo, Michigan State
Izzo coached the 1977-78 season at Ishpeming (Mich.) and turned around a losing team. The Hematites went 16-7 that year and took a league title under the 22-year-old Izzo, who rankled some parents by instituting two-a-day practices. See more in this article from the Escanaba Daily Press.

Roy Williams, North Carolina
Williams knows more than basketball. While at Owen (Black Mountain, N.C.) from 1973-78, Williams coached boys basketball, golf and even freshman football. He was even the athletic director for two years, according to USA Today. Williams is in the Owen High Hall of Fame.

Keith Dambrot, Akron
Dambrot coached LeBron James at St. Vincent-St. Mary (Akron, Ohio) from 1998-2001, winning two state titles and going 69-10 after leaving the college ranks. He left after James' sophomore season and is back in the big-time.

Tubby Smith, Minnesota
Smith kickstarted his coaching career at Great Mills (Md.), his alma mater. According to his University of Minnesota bio, he was the head coach there for four years and went 46-36. Then he moved on to Hoke County (Raeford, N.C.), where he went 28-18 in two seasons.

Bo Ryan, Wisconsin
Ryan began his high school coaching career in 1972 at Brookhaven High in Delaware County, Pa. The school is no longer there. He taught history and coached for one year before going into the college ranks, but came back to preps in 1974, working at Sun Valley (Aston, Pa.). His Wisconsin bio states that he was named Delaware County Coach of the Year in his first season after finishing in second place in the Philadelphia Suburban League. In the 1975-76 season, Ryan led the team to its first state tournament berth in school history.



Mark Few, Gonzaga
Few took Creswell (Ore.). to the state title game as a senior and then ended up working there as an assistant starting in 1983. He also spent time assisting at Sheldon (Eugene, Ore.) in 1988 while attending the University of Oregon.

Steve Fisher, San Diego State
Before he coached the "Fab 5" at Michigan, Fisher was a very successful head coach from 1971-78 at Rich East (Park Forest, Ill.). He went 141-70 over an eight-year career there, according to to his San Diego State bio. He was an assistant before getting the head job, and was quoted as being quite content teaching math and coaching at the high school level.

Bruce Weber, Kansas State
Weber was a volunteer assistant at Madison University (Milwaukee) and then was a varsity assistant at Marquette University (Milwaukee). Went to Marshall (Milwaukee), according to his Kansas State bio. His bio from Southern Illinois states that he was a head coach from 1975-79.

John Beilein, Michigan
Beilein coached three years at Newfane (N.Y.), two as the head coach. He was also a history teacher before moving on to the junior college ranks.

Bob Thomason, Pacific
Thomason, who is retiring after this season (his 25th), went 150-71 in eight years of coaching high school hoops in the San Joaquin Valley, according to his bio. He went 66-17 at Escalon (Calif.) and 85-54 at Turlock (Calif.), including a league title in 1979-80, its first in 25 years. At Escalon, he won two league titles and in 1976 captured a state title with a 27-0 record. He was also an assistant at Stagg (Stockton, Calif.) for two seasons before he went to Escalon, helping the program go 53-0.

Bob McKillop, Davidson
McKillop began teaching history and coaching basketball at Holy Trinity (Hicksville, N.Y.) in 1972, according to his bio, and went 86-25. He went to Davidson as an assistant for a year and then came back to Long Island Lutheran (Brookville, N.Y.), where he went 182-51 and even spent two years as the school's headmaster. In all, he won five state titles and coached five All-Americans during his high school coaching days.
 
Tom Crean, Indiana
Crean coached at Mt. Pleasant (Mich.) as an assistant for five seasons, his alma mater. According to USA Today, he wasn't a great player by any means. But he spent countless hours working to become a coach, right after his high school graduation.



Fran Dunphy, Temple
Dunphy was the head coach at Malvern Prep (Malvern, Pa.) from 1975-79, his alma mater. This is according to his Temple University bio.

Tad Boyle, Colorado
Boyle was the JV coach at his alma mater's rival Greeley West (Colo.), then was head coach at Longmont (Colo.) for three years. His final prep gig was as an assistant at Loveland (Colo.) for two years, according to his Colorado bio.

Roman Banks, Southern
Banks coached at Green Oaks (Shreveport, La.) in his home town.

Tim Cluess, Iona
Cluess coached at St. Mary's (Manhasset, N.Y.) from 1991-2005, becoming a local legend. His record was 264-78 (.772 winning percentage) and St. Mary’s won a record eight consecutive Nassau-Suffolk Catholic High School Athletic Association titles from 1998-2005. His final season saw the Gaels go 25-1 and spend considerable time ranked No. 1in the country, according to his Iona bio.

Mike McConathy, Northwestern State
McConathy coached the girls at Airline (Bossier City, La.), his alma mater.

Marvin Menzies, New Mexico State
Menzies graduated from and coached at Hamilton (Los Angeles), according to his NMSU bio. He was an assistant for eight years.



Leon Rice, Boise State
Rice was an assistant coach at Pasco (Wash.), the 1987-88 season.

Dave Rice, UNLV
Rice was an assistant at Claremont (Calif.) for one season, his alma mater. The team went 21-7 and reached CIF Southern Section quarterfinals and won a Baseline League title.

Mike Brey, Notre Dame
Brey played and coached at DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.). He started as a history teacher and JV coach. He spent five season there starting in 1982.

Mick Cronin, Cincinnati
Cronin was the JV coach at Woodward (Cincinnati) from 1991-96.

Where NCAA Tournament coaches went to high school

1. Louisville	Rick Pitino	St. Dominic (Oyster Bay, N.Y.)
1. Indiana	Tom Crean	Mt. Pleasant (Mich.)
1. Kansas	Bill Self	Edmond Memorial (Okla.)
1. Gonzaga	Mark Few	Creswell (Ore.)
2. Duke	Mike Krzyzewski	Archbishop Weber (Chicago)
2. Ohio State	Thad Matta	Hoopeston-East Lynn (Ill.), now Hoopeston
2. Georgetown	John Thompson III	Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.)
2. Miami (FL)	Jim Larranaga	Archbishop Molloy (Queens, N.Y.)
3. Michigan State	Tom izzo	Iron Mountain (Mich.)
3. New Mexico	Steve Alford	New Castle Chrysler (Ind.), now New Castle
3. Florida	Billy Donovan	St. Agnes (New York City)
3. Marquette	Buzz Williams	Van Alstyne (Texas)
4. Saint Louis	Jim Crews	University (Normal, Ill.).
4. Kansas State	Bruce Weber	Marshall (Milwaukee)
4. Michigan	John Beilein	DeSales Catholic (Lockport, N.Y.)
4. Syracuse	Jim Boeheim	Lyons (N.Y.)
5. Oklahoma State	Travis Ford	North Hopkins (Madisonville, Ky.)
5. Wisconsin	Bo Ryan	Chester (Pa.)
5. VCU	Shaka Smart	Oregon (Wis.)
5. UNLV	Dave Rice	Claremont (Calif.)
6. Memphis	Josh Pastner	Kingwood (Texas)
6. Arizona	Sean Miller	Blackhawk (Beaver Falls, Pa.)
6. UCLA	Ben Howland	Dos Pueblos (Goleta, Calif.) and  Cerritos (Calif.)
6. Butler	Brad Stevens	Zionsville (Ind.)
7. Creighton	Greg McDermott	Cascade (Iowa)
7. Notre Dame	Mike Brey	DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.)
7. San Diego State	Steve Fisher	Unknown
7. Illinois	John Groce	Danville (Ind.)
8. Colorado State	Larry Eustachy	Arcadia (Calif.)
8. Pittsburgh	Jamie Dixon	Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, Calif.)
8. North Carolina State	Mark Gottfried	Carterville (Ill.) and Carbondale (Ill.)
8. North Carolina	Roy Williams	Roberson (Asheville, N.C.)
9. Missouri	Frank Haith	Western Alamance (Elon, N.C.)
9. Wichita State	Gregg Marshall	Cave Spring (Roanoke, Va.)
9. Temple	Fran Dunphy	Malvern Prep (Pa.)
9. Villanova	Jay Wright	Council Rock (Newtown, Pa.), became Council Rock North
10. Cincinnati	Mick Cronin	La Salle (Cincinnati)
10. Iowa State	Fred Hoiberg	Ames (Iowa)
10. Colorado	Tad Boyle	Greeley Central (Colo.)
10. Oklahoma	Lon Kruger	Silver Lake (Kan.)
11. Belmont	Rick Byrd	Doyle (Knoxville, Tenn.), merged to become South-Doyle
11. St. Mary's	Randy Bennett	Westwood (Mesa, Ariz.)
11. Middle Tennessee	Kermit Davis	Starkville (Miss.)
11. Minnesota	Tubby Smith	Great Mills (Md.)
11. Bucknell	Dave Paulsen	Wausau East (Wis.)
12. Ole Miss	Andy Kennedy	Winston Academy (Louisville, Miss.) & Louisville (Miss.)
12. Akron	Keith Dambrot	Firestone (Akron, Ohio)
12. Oregon	Dana Altman	Wilber (Neb.), merged to become  Wilber-Clatonia
12. California	Mike Montgomery	Millikan (Long Beach, Calif.)
13. Boise State	Leon Rice	Richland (Wash.)
13. La Salle	John Giannini	Fenwick (Oak Park, Ill.)
13. South Dakota State	Scott Nagy	Centennial (Champaign, Ill.)
13. New Mexico State	Marvin Menzies	Hamilton (Los Angeles)
13. Montana	Wayne Tinkle	Ferris (Spokane, Wash.)
14. Valparaiso	Bryce Drew	Valparaiso (Ind.)
14. Harvard	Tommy Amaker	Woodson (Fairfax, Va.)
14. Davidson	Bob McKillop	Chaminade (Mineola, N.Y.)
14. Northwestern State	Mike McConathy	Airline (Bossier City, La.)
15. Albany	Will Brown	Miller Place (N.Y.)
15. Iona	Tim Cluess	St. Agnes (New York City)
15. Florida Gulf Coast	Andy Enfield	Shippensburg (Pa.)
15. Pacific	Bob Thomason	Clayton Valley (Concord, Calif.)
16. North Carolina A&T	Cy Alexander	Parkland (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
16. Liberty	Dale Layer	Buchholz (Gainesville, Fla.)
16. Southern	Roman Banks	Captain Shreve (Shreveport, La.)
16. Western Kentucky	Ray Harper	Bremen (Ky.), became part of  Muhlenberg County (Greenville, Ky.)
16. LIU-Brooklyn	Jack Perri	Manalapan (Englishtown, N.J.)
16. James Madison	Matt Brady	Paul VI (Haddonfield, N.J.)