NCAA Tournament 2017: Tourney coaches who also coached high school teams

Video: March Madness - high school basketball footage
See some of the biggest names in this year's tournament back when they played in high school.

Tournament time has arrived. While the players almost all took the route of American high school basketball to make it to March Madness, coaches take many different paths.

Some got their start on the hardwood floors of high schools in places large and small, and we've tracked down info on the 19 coaches who have verifiable prep coaching experience. Below the info on those distinguished leaders, check out the high school alma mater of each head coach in the tournament.

Mark Few, Gonzaga (1 seed)
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.

Roy Williams, North Carolina (1 seed)
Williams knows more than basketball. While at Charles D. 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.

Richard Pitino, Minnesota (5 seed)
The son of legend Rick Pitino wasn't good enough to make the roster at Providence College in Rhode Island. So he worked as the team manager and also assisted with the high school program at St. Andrew's (Barrington, R.I.) for two years. According to the Syracuse Post-Standard, he had met the St. Andrew's coach at a camp the year before, and once he settled in at Providence, he picked up the unpaid assistant position.

Mike Brey, Notre Dame (5 seed)
Brey stayed at his alma mater and learned under the legendary Morgan Wootten before he moved on to Duke. He spent five seasons at DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) starting in 1982, working as the JV head coach and varsity assistant. In his five years helping on the bench, DeMatha went 139-22.

Mick Cronin, Cincinnati (6 seed)
Cronin was the JV coach at Woodward (Cincinnati) from 1991-96. He began working with the program when he was a freshman at Cincinnati, as a knee injury derailed his playing career in high school. His father Hep Cronin was a high school coach in the Cincinnati area who won more than 400 games.

Frank Martin, South Carolina (7 seed)
Martin had an established high school coaching career in the Miami area, and according to an ESPN story, he worked as a nighttime bouncer at clubs, took classes during the day and coached in the afternoon. His stops included JV head coach at Miami (Fla.), then head coaching stops at North Miami (Fla.) (1993-95), back at Miami (1995-98) and then Booker T. Washington (Miami) (1999-2000). His time at Miami High included three state titles (last in 1998), though one was stripped for violations.

John Beilein, Michigan (7 seed)
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. His tenure there lasted from 1975 to 1978.

Greg Gard, Wisconsin (8 seed)
Gard's story of how he got into coaching basketball is one of right place, right time. He had been cut from his college baseball team and was looking for jobs in the local weekly newspaper when he found an ad looking for a JV basketball coach at Southwestern (Hazel Green, Wis.), according to this ESPN article. Gard got the job in 1990 and stayed at Southwestern for three years before adding on one more year of high school experience as an assistant at Platteville (Wis.) for the 1993-94 season.

Tom Izzo, Michigan State (9 seed)
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.

Dan Hurley, Rhode Island (11 seed)
The son of the Hall of Fame legend Bob Hurley spent a season as an assistant with his father at his alma mater, St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.). Then he set off on his own path and started a dynasty at St. Benedict's Prep (Newark, N.J.), losing just 21 games in nine seasons.

Bruce Weber, Kansas State (11 seed)
Weber was a volunteer assistant at Madison University (Milwaukee) and then was a varsity assistant at Marquette University (Milwaukee) according to his Kansas State bio. His bio from Southern Illinois states that he was a head coach from 1975-79 at Marquette University High.

Chris Mack, Xavier (11 seed)
Mack was a very successful coach in Cincinnati in the girls' ranks. He was the JV coach at McAuley (Cincinnati) for two years, leading the squad at the all-girls school beginning in 1993. In 1995 he moved on to become the head coach at Mount Notre Dame (Cincinnati), and a year later he was named the Cincinnati Post's Coach of the Year. According to CBS Sports, Mount Notre Dame was 7-14 when he showed up and immediately moved to 19-4 in his first season.

Kevin Keatts, UNC Wilmington (12 seed)
Keatts didn't exactly work in a traditional high school setup, and his success was hardly traditional, either. In two stints from 1999-2001 and 2003-11 at Hargrave Military Academy (Chatham, Va.), he won two national prep championships and finished second three other times. Six different times his team finished with one or zero losses, and nine of his former players reached the NBA during a tenure that saw him go 262-17. He was an assistant at Hargrave for two years before taking over, and his break in between stints was while he was an assistant coach at Marshall. His success there earned him an assistant's job at Louisville with Rick Pitino.

Pat Kelsey, Winthrop (13 seed)
Kelsey began his coaching career at his prep alma mater, Elder (Cincinnati, Ohio), from 1998-2001 as an assistant coach under former Xavier guard Joe Schoenfeld.

Tim Cluess, Iona (14 seed)
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. 1 in the country.

Paul Weir, New Mexico State (14 seed)
Weir did his prep work north of the border. He coached Don Bosco Catholic High in Toronto to a 41-32 mark over from 1999 through 2003.

Brian Jones, North Dakota (15 seed)
Jones got his start in coaching at his alma mater's crosstown rival, Alleman (Rock Island, Ill.). He assisted there for two seasons after completing a career at Rock Island High in which he was a two-time All-State selection.

T.J. Otzelberger, South Dakota State (16 seed)
Otzelberger got his assistant coaching start at Catholic Central (Burlington, Wis.), reaching the head coach and athletic director positions in 2003. According to the Journal Times of Racine, he was selling telephone equipment and earning his Master's degree in business when his old high school coach called and asked him to come help at a practice. Otzelberger got hooked and led the JV team for two years before moving up to the varsity spot.

LeVelle Moton, North Carolina Central (16 seed)
Moton got his first coaching job in his home city, beginning his coaching career at Sanderson (Raleigh, N.C.) in 2004. He took a struggling program back to respectability, including a campaign that set the school record for wins. In three years he went 59-25, won back-to-back titles in the CAP 7 Tournament and reached the final four in the NCHSAA Eastern Region.

1. Villanova - Jay Wright, Council Rock (Newtown, Pa.) - became Council Rock North (Newtown, Pa.)
1. Kansas - Bill Self, Edmond North (Okla.)
1. North Carolina - Roy Williams, T.C. Roberson (Asheville, N.C.)
1. Gonzaga - Mark Few, Creswell (Ore.)
2. Duke - Mike Krzyzewski, Archbishop Weber (Chicago) - closed
2. Kentucky - John Calipari, Moon Area (Moon Township, Pa.)
2. Louisville - Rick Pitino, St. Dominic (Oyster Bay, N.Y.)
2. Arizona - Sean Miller, Blackhawk (Beaver Falls, Pa.)
3. Baylor - Scott Drew, Valparaiso (Ind.)
3. Oregon - Dana Altman, Wilber (Neb.) - now Wilber-Clatonia (Wilber, Neb.)
3. Florida State - Leonard Hamilton, Highland (Gastonia, N.C.) - now Highland School of Technology (Gastonia, N.C.)
3. UCLA - Steve Alford, New Castle Chrysler (Ind.) - now New Castle (Ind.)
4. Florida - Mike White, Jesuit (New Orleans)
4. Butler - Chris Holtmann, Jessamine County - now West Jessamine (Nicholasville, Ky.)
4. Purdue - Matt Painter, Delta (Muncie, Ind.)
4. West Virginia - Bob Huggins, Indian Valley South - now Indian Valley (Gnadenhutten, Ohio)
5. Iowa State -  Steve Prohm, Northwest Whitfield (Tunnel Hill, Ga.)
5. Virginia - Tony Bennett, Preble (Green Bay, Wis.)
5. Minnesota - Richard Pitino, St. Sebastian's School (Needham, Mass.)
5. Notre Dame - Mike Brey, DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.)
6. SMU - Tim Jankovich, Manhattan (Kan.)
6. Creighton - Greg McDermott, Cascade (Iowa)
6. Cincinnati - Mick Cronin, La Salle (Cincinnati)
6. Maryland - Mark Turgeon, Hayden (Topeka, Kan.)
7. South Carolina - Frank Martin, Miami (Fla.)
7. Michigan - John Beilein, DeSales Catholic (Lockport, N.Y.) - now an elementary school
7. Dayton - Archie Miller, Blackhawk (Beaver Falls, Pa.)
7. Saint Mary's - Randy Bennett, Westwood (Mesa, Ariz.)
8. Wisconsin - Greg Gard, Iowa-Grant (Livingston, Wis.)
8. Miami (FL) - Jim Larranaga, Archbishop Molloy (Queens, N.Y.)
8. Arkansas - Mike Anderson, Jackson-Olin (Birmingham, Ala.)
8. Northwestern - Chris Collins, Glenbrook North (Northbrook, Ill.)
9. Vanderbilt - Bryce Drew, Valparaiso (Ind.)
9. Seton Hall - Kevin Willard, Bowling Green (Ky.)
9. Michigan State - Tom Izzo, Iron Mountain (Mich.)
9. Virginia Tech - Buzz Williams, Van Alstyne (Texas)
10. Marquette - Steve Wojciechowski, Cardinal Gibbons (Baltimore) - closed
10. Oklahoma State - Brad Underwood, McPherson (Kan.)
10. VCU - Will Wade, Franklin Road Academy (Nashville, Tenn.)
10. Wichita State - Gregg Marshall, Cave Spring (Roanoke, Va.)
11. Providence - Ed Cooley, Central (Providence, R.I.)
11. Kansas State - Marshall (Milwaukee) - now part of Milwaukee Marshall (Wis.)
11. Wake Forest - Danny Manning, Page (Greensboro, N.C.) and Lawrence (Kan.)
11. USC - Andy Enfield, Shippensburg (Pa.)
11. Xavier - Chris Mack, St. Xavier (Cincinnati)
11. Rhode Island - Dan Hurley, St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.)
12. Nevada - Eric Musselman, Brecksville-Broadview Heights (Broadview Heights, Ohio)
12. Princeton - Mitch Henderson, Culver Academies (Culver, Ind.)
12. Middle Tennessee State - Kermit Davis, Starkville (Miss.)
12. UNC Wilmington - Kevin Keatts, Heritage (Lynchburg, Va.)
13. Vermont - John Becker, Ludlowe (Fairfield, Conn.)
13. Bucknell - Nathan Davis, Walter Johnson (Bethesda, Md.)
13. East Tennessee State - Steve Forbes, Lone Tree (Iowa)
13. Winthrop - Pat Kelsey, Elder (Cincinnati)
14. New Mexico State - Paul Weir, Iona Catholic Secondary School (Toronto, Canada)
14. Kent State - Rob Senderoff, Spring Valley (N.Y.)
14. Florida Gulf Coast - Joe Dooley, St. Benedict's Prep (Newark, N.J.)
14. Iona - Tim Cluess, St. Agnes (New York City)
15. Troy - Phil Cunningham, Taylor County (Campbellsville, Ky.)
15. North Dakota - Brian Jones, Rock Island (Ill.)
15. Northern Kentucky - John Brannen, Newport Central Catholic (Ky.)
15. Jacksonville State - Ray Harper, Bremen (Ky.) - now part of Muhlenberg County (Greenville)
16. Mount St. Mary's - Jamion Christian, New Kent (Va.)
16. New Orleans - Mark Slessinger, Edgewood (Ellettsville, Ind.)
16. North Carolina Central - LeVelle Moton, Enloe (Raleigh, N.C.)
16. UC Davis - Jim Les, Niles Notre Dame (Ill.)
16. Texas Southern - Mike Davis, Fayette County (Fayette, Ala.)
16. South Dakota State - T.J. Otzelberger, More (Milwaukee)