Greatest High School Basketball Coach From Every State

These high school basketball coaches have defined the sport across all 50 states in the U.S.

Greatest High School Basketball Coach of All Time From Every State

What makes a great high school basketball coach?

Is it longevity? Overall wins? State championships?

All across the U.S., high school basketball coaches have taken their own, individual paths to greatness. It's usually up to historians — and the people — to decide who stands above the rest.

Here's a look at the greatest high school basketball coach of all time from all 50 states.

Alabama: Eugene Mason

High School: R.C. Hatch High School (Uniontown)

Overall Record: 919-306 (.750 winning percentage)

State Championships: 7 (1978, 1985, 1987, 1994, 1995, 2003, 2004)

Bottom line: Eugene Mason coached R.C. Hatch for 37 years, where he won over 900 games and seven state championships. Mason won at least one state title in four consecutive decades and closed out his career with back-to-back championships in 2003 and 2004.

(Overall records are for games coached in specific states and through the end of the 2022-23 season for active coaches.)

Alaska: Chuck White

High Schools: East Anchorage High School (Anchorage), West Anchorage High School (Anchorage)

Overall Record: 921-228 (.801)

State Championships: 18 (1975, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1983-85, 1989, 1992-95, 1999, 2000, 2004-06, 2010)

Bottom line: Perhaps the greatest high school coach in Alaska history across all sports, Chuck White won a staggering 18 state championships at East Anchorage (14) and West Anchorage (four) in his legendary career.

White coached in Alaska from 1966 to 2010 and won 80 percent of his games. He was also the coach of the first team in Alaskan history to become nationally ranked in 1993 with an East Anchorage team that featured future Duke star and NBA player Trajan Langdon and future NFL defensive end Mao Tosi. In 45 years as a head coach, White had just one losing season.

White, who starred at the University of Idaho and was also just a handful of people to have been drafted in the NFL, MLB and NBA, died in 2019 after battling Parkinson's Disease. He was 78 years old.

Arizona: Gary Ernst

High Schools: Mountain View High School (Mesa), Chandler High School (Chandler)

Overall Record: 943-396 (.704)

State Championships: 8 (1976, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2011)

Bottom line: Gary Ernst's career was a study in dedication and loyalty — consider that he won his first state title at Chandler High in 1976 then didn't win another title until 1995 at Mountain View. That championship kicked off a 16-year stretch in which Ernst won seven state titles for the Toros and won over 900 games in Arizona.

Arkansas: Al Flanigan

High School: Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School (Little Rock)

Overall Record: 545-147 (.787)

State Championships: 7 (1998, 2002, 2006, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2018)

Bottom line: Al Flanigan coached Little Rock Parkview for 23 years and won seven state championships, inlcuding at least one in each decade he coached. Little Rock Parkview made the state championship game a total of 11 times under Flanigan and he was at his best toward the end of his career, winning five of his titles in the 2010s.

Little Rock Parkview renamed its court after Flanigan — Al Flanigan Court — in 2021.

California: Gary McKnight

High School: Mater Dei High School (Santa Ana)

Overall Record: 1,243-134 (.902)

State Championships: 11 (1987, 1990, 1995, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014)

Bottom line: Mater Dei head coach Gary McKnight has been with the school since 1983 and is closing in on Robert Hughes' record as the winningest high school basketball coach of all time. McKnight has won 11 state championships, including four consecutive titles from 2011 to 2014 and a national championship in 2014.

Colorado: Rudy Carey

High Schools: Denver East High School (Denver), Manual High School (Denver)

Overall Record: 897-222 (.801)

State Championships: 11 (1988, 1990, 1991, 1996, 1999, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2022, 2023)

Bottom line: Rudy Carey led Denver Manual High to three state titles in the late 1980s and early 1990s, then returned to his alma mater, Denver East, where he's since won eight state championships.

Carey passed Denver Christian's Dicke Katte to become Colorado's career wins leader with victory No. 877 in 2022 and has led Denver East to back-to-back state championships in 2022 and 2023. The scary thing about Carey's career is that he seems to be getting better with age — take into account that the 2023-24 season will be his 47th as a head coach in Colorado.

Connecticut: Vito Montelli

High School: St. Joseph High School (Trumbull)

Overall Record: 878-328 (.728)

State Championships: 11 (1975, 1977, 1986-88, 1992, 1993, 1996, 2001, 2011, 2012)

Bottom line: In an interesting twist of fate, Vito Montelli was actually hired as St. Joseph High's baseball coach when the school opened its doors in 1962, but because the baseball field wasn't ready yet, he switched to basketball. The rest is history.

Montelli was St. Joseph's coach for the next 50 years, winning 11 state championships and becoming the career wins leader for New England high schools. Montelli won state titles in five consecutive decades from the 1970s through the 2010s and went out a winner with back-to-back championships in his final two seasons in 2011 and 2012.

St. Joseph's named its court after Montelli in 2020. He died in 2023 at 92 years old.

Delaware: Stan Waterman

High School: Sanford School (Hockessin)

Overall Record: 571 wins, losses N/A

State Championships: 8 (1992, 2002, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2019, 2021)

Bottom line: Former University of Delaware point guard Stan Waterman became a high school coaching legend at Sanford School, where he led his team to eight state championships in 30 seasons, including in his first season in 1992 and his last season in 2021 — Sanford now plays its home games on Stan Waterman Court.

Waterman made the leap to college basketball when he was hired as Delaware State's head coach in 2021, where he was 8-50 through his first two seasons.

Florida: Kevin Boyle

Montverde Academy head coach Kevin Boyle

High School: Montverde Academy (Montverde)

Overall Record: 312-28 (.917)

National Championships: 7 (2013-15, 2018, 2020-22)

Bottom line: Kevin Boyle was already regarded as one of the best high school basketball coaches in the country when he made the move from St. Patrick (N.J.) High to Montverde Academy in 2011 and has only burnished his reputation since then.

Boyle won five state championships at St. Patrick and has won seven national championships at Montverde, which doesn't play for state championships in Florida.

The list of players who have been under Boyle's tutelage in high school is truly stunning and includes three No. 1 overall NBA Draft picks — Kyrie Irving, Ben Simmons and Cade Cunningham — along with 2023 NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid and a likely future No. 1 overall pick on the 2023-24 roster with forward Cooper Flagg.

Georgia: Duck Richardson

High School: Southwest High School (Macon)

Overall Record: 463-90 (.837)

State Championships: 6 (1973, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1985, 1989)

Bottom line: Southwest High's Donald "Duck" Richardson led his team to six state championships and a national championship in 1979 and never had a losing season during his tenure at Southwest. Richardson had some pretty incredible talent come through his program, including two-time NBA champion and NBA All-Star Norm Nixon and NBA All-Star Jeff Malone.

Part of Richardson's legacy as a coach is something that really didn't have to do with winning games but was pretty awesome nonetheless: his sense of fashion was unmatched on this list and probably better than 99 percent of the coaches you'll ever come across, regardless of level. Truly wonderful stuff.

Hawaii: Mark 'Doc' Mugiishi

High School: Iolani School (Honolulu)

Overall Record: 463-125 (.787)

State Championships: 7 (1994, 1998, 2002-06)

Bottom line: Where did Dr. Mark Mugiishi find the time?

Along with being one of Hawaii's most respected surgeons and producing a Broadway play (seriously), Dr. Mugiishi also constructed a high school basketball dynasty at Iolani High. At Iolani, he set the state record with 463 career wins and went 7-0 in state championship games, including five consecutive titles from 2002 to 2006.

Idaho: Kirk Williams

High School: Borah High School (Boise)

Overall Record: 271-133 (.670)

State Championships: 5 (1982, 1984, 1985, 1993, 1994)

Bottom line: Borah High has won more state championships than any school in Idaho history and the coach with the most titles at Borah was Kirk Williams, who won five state championships in 16 seasons from 1978 to 1994.

Williams won back-to-back state championships in his final two seasons before he resigned at 47 years old but continued to teach and coach golf at Borah.

Illinois: Gene Pingatore

High School: St. Joseph High School (Westchester)

Overall Record: 1,035-383 (.729)

State Championships: 2 (1999, 2015)

Bottom line: Gene Pingatore crafted a Hall of Fame career in the Chicago suburbs at St. Joseph High, where he became famous for coaching future Indiana All-American and NBA superstar Isiah Thomas. He was also featured in the classic documentary "Hoop Dreams" in 1994.

Pingatore coached at St. Joseph for six decades, won two state championships and won 1,035 games, making him the career wins leader in basketball-crazy Illinois. Pingatore died in 2019 at 82 years old.

Indiana: Ray Crowe

High School: Crispus Attucks HIgh School (Indianapolis)

Overall Record: 179–20 (.899)

State Championships: 2 (1955, 1956)

Bottom line: Ray Crowe led Crispus Attucks to back-to-back state championships in 1955 and 1956, becoming the first all-Black school to win a state championship in the U.S. — an incredible accomplishment that is essentially unrivaled on this list.

Crowe's greatest team was his 1955-56 squad when future NBA legend Oscar Robertson was a senior, leading the team to a 31-0 record and being named Mr. Basketball in Indiana. Crowe, who went on to have a lengthy career in state politics, died in 2003. He was 88 years old.

Iowa: Steve Bergman

High School: Iowa City West High School (Iowa City), Monticello High School (Monticello), West Liberty High School (West Liberty)

Overall Record: 632-224 (.738)

State Championships: 6 (1998, 2000, 2012-14, 2017)

Bottom line: Steve Bergman carved out his place as the greatest high school basketball coach in Iowa history over the last 40 years, including six state championships at Iowa City West, where he's led the school to 19 state tournament appearances and an additional three state runner-up appearances.

Kansas: Steve Eck

High Schools: Wichita South High School (Wichita), Kapaun Mount Carmel High School (Wichita)

Overall Record: 271-19 (.934)

State Championships: 6 (1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996)

Bottom line: Few coaches on this list ever experienced a decade like Steve Eck did while coaching Wichita South High from 1986 to 1996. Playing in the largest division and the toughest league in basketball-crazy Kansas, Eck went 227-15 over 10 seasons while winning 10 consecutive City League titles and six Class 6A state championships.

Eck left high school basketball for 25 years to coach college basketball, winning two NJCAA national championships at Redlands (Okla.) Community College in 2001 and at Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College in 2017. His teams also finished as national runner-up twice.

Eck returned to coaching high school basketball at Wichita Kapaun Mount Carmel in 2021 and has gone 44-4 through his first two seasons, including a pair of Class 5A state tournament appearances and a Class 5A state runner-up finish in 2023.

Kentucky: Billy Hicks

High Schools: Scott County High School (Georgetown), Evarts High School (Evarts), Harlan High School (Harlan), Corbin High School (Corbin)

Overall Record: 1,013-277 (.785)

State Championships: 2 (1998, 2007)

Bottom line: Billy Hicks graduated from Evarts High and eventually coached there but became most well known for his time at Georgetown's Scott County High, where he led the school to the state championship game seven times and won twice in 25 seasons.

Hicks, Kentucky's career wins leader, retired in 2019 after a state runner-up finish and was named Louisville Courier-Journal Coach of the Year three times across three different decades. That's called consistency.

Louisiana: Joel Hawkins

High Schools: Southern Lab High School (Baton Rouge), Lake Providence High School (Lake Providence)

Overall Record: 1,071-263 (.803)

State Championships: 12 (1985, 1993-2001, 2003-05)

Bottom line: Joel Hawkins began coaching high school basketball in Louisiana in 1966 and didn't win his first state championship until 1985 — the first of 12 state championships over the next 20 years at Baton Rouge's Southern Lab High, including eight consecutive titles from 1993 to 2001 and 11 titles in 12 seasons from 1993 to 2005.

Hawkins was inducted into the Louisiana High School Sports Hall of Fame as well as the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. He died in 2016 at 77 years old.

Maine: Max Good

High School: Maine Central Institute (Pittsfield)

Overall Record: 275-30 (.902)

NEPSAC Championships: 5 (1990, 1991, 1998, 1999)

Bottom line: Max Good made the most of his decade at Maine Central Institute, winning 90 percent of his games over that decade and five championships in the ultra-competitive New England Prep School Athletic Conference.

Good's teams went undefeated three times in that stretch, including a 79-game winning streak from 1989 to 1992. Good is unique to this list in that he's been a Division I head coach at three different schools: Eastern Kentucky, UNLV (interim) and Loyola Marymount. He also led Bryant to the NCAA Division II championship game in 2005, which was a huge step toward the school going Division I in 2008.

Good was inducted into the Maine Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019 and was presented by former player and longtime NBA veteran Caron Butler — one of 10 MCI players under Good who ended up in the NBA.

Maryland/District of Columbia: Morgan Wooten

High School: DeMatha Catholic High School (Hyattsville)

Overall Record: 1,274-192 (.869)

State Championships: 22 (1961-66, 1968, 1970-73, 1978, 1979, 1981-84, 1988, 1991, 1994, 1998, 2002)

Bottom line: Arguably the most well known high school basketball coach of all time, DeMatha Catholic's Morgan Wooten coached at the school from 1957 to 2002 and won almost 90 percent of his games including 22 state championships, 33 WCAC championships, and five national championships.

Wooten first made national headlines at DeMatha with one of the most stunning upsets in high school basketball history in 1961, when his team defeated New York City's Power Memorial Academy and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor), ending their 71-game win streak.

In 2000, Wooten became just the third high school coach inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. He died in 2020 at 88 years old.

Massachusetts: Robert Foley

High School: Saint John's High School (Shrewsbury), Uxbridge High School (Uxbridge), St. Peter-Marian High School (Worcester)

Overall Record: 971-392 (.712)

State Championships: 2 (2000, 2009)

Bottom line: There is no one on this list like St. John's head coach Robert Foley — the former Holy Cross basketball star began his high school coaching career in Massachusetts in 1963 and was entering his 61st season in 2023-24. That means his career has spanned 12 U.S. presidents. He's been at St. John's for the last 37 seasons.

Foley is in his 37th season at St. John's and has an outside shot of hitting 1,000 career wins if he coaches for two more seasons. He's also won two state championships in his career and is the winningest coach in not just Massachusetts history but also New England high school basketball history.

Michigan: Lofton Greene

High Schools: River Rouge High School (River Rouge), New Buffalo High School (New Buffalo)

Overall Record: 728-217 (.770)

State Championships: 12 (1954, 1955, 1959, 1961-65, 1969-72, 1998, 1999)

Bottom line: People who know way more about Michigan high school basketball than us at The Detroit Free Press called Lofton Greene the greatest high school basketball coach in Michigan history, and it's not hard to see their logic.

Greene spent one year coaching high school basketball in Kentucky and one year at New Buffalo High before coming to River Rouge, where he coached for 41 seasons and won 12 state championships, including nine titles in an 11-year stretch from 1961 to 1972.

No victory in River Rouge history can hold a candle to the 1972 state championship game against Muskegon Heights, when Greene's team rallied from seven points down with less than one minute to play to win 65-64 on a pair of free throws from Leighton Moulton with two seconds left.

Minnesota: Ken Novak Jr.

High School: Hopkins High School (Minnetonka)

Overall Record: 944-181 (.839)

State Championships: 8 (2002, 2005, 2006, 2009-11, 2016, 2019)

Bottom line: Hopkins High's Ken Novak Jr. has been the school's head coach since 1982 and became just the third coach in state history to pass 900 wins in 2021.

Novak, like a lot of coaches on this list, has just gotten better with age. Hopkins didn't make it to the state championship game until his 12th season, in 1994, and did win a state championship under him until 2002.

Mississippi: Orsmond Jordan

High School: Murrah High School (Jackson), Lanier High School (Jackson), Brinkley High School (Jackson), East Flora High School (Madison)

Overall Record: 700+ wins, losses N/A

State Championships: 5 (1964, 1970, 1986, 1991, 1992)

Bottom line: Orsmond Jordan coached high school basketball in Mississippi in a period in which schools went from segregated to integrated and never lost steam.

Jordan became most well-known for his time at Murrah High, where he won four state championships and produced a steady stream of Division I players, but his greatest team was undoubtedly at Lanier High in 1963-64. That year, his squad went 43-0, averaged nearly 100 points per game and won a national championship on the court, winning a postseason tournament for Black schools.

One team that may have competed with them? Jordan's 1986 state championship team at Murrah featured a pair of future NBA players, Lindsey Hunter and James Robinson.

Jordan was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 2001. He died in 2017 at 82 years old.

Missouri: Bud Lathrop

High School: Raytown South High School (Rayton), Mound City High School (Mound City)

Overall Record: 1,026-385 (.923)

State Championships: 4 (1970, 1972, 1977, 1990)

Bottom line: If you know high school basketball in the Midwest, you've probably heard of Bud Lathrop. Lathrop won four state championships and over 1,000 games coaching in Missouri for almost 60 years and was most well known for his time at Raytown South High. He died in 2018, just one year after coaching his last game. He was 80 years old.

Montana: Dean Gamradt

High School: Fairfield High School (Fairfield), Dutton/Dutton-Brady High School (Dutton)

Overall Record: 717-194 (.787)

State Championships: 5 (1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997)

Bottom line: Dean Gamradt fit a lot of basketball into his coaching career thanks to an odd quirk in scheduling that had Montana high school girls basketball played in the fall and boys basketball in the winter — which meant eight years serving double duty at Fairfield. He's the only coach on this list with a wins total that includes boys and girls victories because Montana records aren't totally clear about the separation.

Gamradt's boys teams at Fairfield won five state championships — all in the 1990s — and he was inducted into the Montana Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1996.

Nebraska: Doug Goltz

High School: Sacred Heart Catholic School (Falls City)

Overall Record: 736-197 (.788)

State Championships: 11 (1988-91, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2008, 2018, 2020, 2021)

Bottom line: Doug Goltz returned to his hometown and alma mater of Sacred Heart Catholic after graduating from college in 1986 with the plan to stay for two or three years then move on — almost 40 years later he's become a legend in the community.

Goltz has been the coach for 11 state championships in boys basketball, winning at least one title in five consecutive decades dating back to his first four titles from 1988 to 1991. Goltz passed Duane Mendick as Nebraska's career wins leader in boys basketball in 2021 and has won a total of 30 state championships at Sacred Heart in football, boys basketball and track and field.

Nevada: Grant Rice

High School: Bishop Gorman HIgh School (Las Vegas)

Overall Record: 554-110 (.834)

State Championships: 13 (2002, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2012-20)

Bottom line: Grant Rice was just 26 years old when he was hired as Bishop Gorman's head coach in 2001 and began winning right away — he won the first of a record 13 state championships in his first season and set another state record with nine consecutive titles from 2012 to 2020.

Rice entered the 2023-24 season with 554 wins, which was only 11 away from breaking the state record for career wins set by Joe Stein.

New Hampshire: Jason Smith

High School: Brewster Academy (Wolfeboro)

Overall Record: 614-140 (.814)

National Prep School Championships: 7 (2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020)

Bottom line: Jason Smith has built a juggernaut at Brewster Academy since 2000. His teams have won seven National Prep School Championships and seven prestigious NEPSAC championships and have produced a steady stream of high-level Division I and NBA talent, including Donovan Mitchell, Thomas Robinson and Devonte Graham.

Depending on how long Smith wants to coach — and on what level — he could very well hit 1,000 wins before his career comes to a close.

New Jersey: Bob Hurley

High School: St. Anthony High School (Jersey City)

Overall Record: 1,185-124 (.907)

State Championships: 26 (1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1983-91, 1993, 1995-97, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2016)

Bottom line: Bob Hurley Sr. coached St. Anthony from 1972 until the school closed its doors for good in 2017, winning 26 state championships and four national titles while producing over 150 Division I players.

Hurley Sr.'s players included two future national champions on the college level. Older son Bobby Hurley won two national titles as Duke's point guard in the early 1990s and younger son Dan Hurley led UConn to a national championship as its head coach in 2023. Bob Hurley Sr. was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011.

New Mexico: Ralph Tasker

High Schools: Hobbs High School (Hobbs), Lovington High School (Lovington)

Overall Record: 1,122-291 (.794)

State Championships: 12 (1949, 1956-58, 1966, 1968-70, 1980, 1981, 1987, 1988)

Bottom line: Ralph Tasker spent one season coaching Ohio before enlisting in the military during World War II then making his way to New Mexico afterward, where he coached for 52 years and won 12 state championships — one at Lovington High and 11 at Hobbs High.

Tasker's team set a national record when it averaged 114.6 points in 1968-69 — the first of three consecutive state championship teams — and he was named National Coach of the Year.

Tasker retired from coaching in 1998 and died one year later, at 80 years old. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.

New York: Jack Curran

High School: Archbishop Molloy High School (Queens, New York)

Overall Record: 972-437 (.689)

State Championships: 3 (2003, 2004, 2011)

Bottom line: Bronx native Jack Curran was a baseball star at St. John's and pitched in the minor leagues for several years before going into coaching at Archbishop Molloy High in 1958, where he coached baseball and basketball for the next 55 years.

Molloy won more games then any high school coach in the United States: a staggering 2,680 games across the two sports. Curran coached a slew of NBA players, including Kenny Smith and Kenny Anderson, among others, and was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2008.

Curran died in 2013 at 82 years old.

North Carolina: Freddy Johnson

High School: Greensboro Day School (Greensboro)

Overall Record: 1,166-315 (.787)

State Championships: 11 (1989, 1990, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2015, 2017-19, 2023)

Bottom line: Greensboro Day School's Freddy Johnson became one of just eight high school basketball coaches to pass 1,100 wins in Feb. 2021 and is the winningest head coach in North Carolina history. Johnson has been Greensboro Day's head coach since 1977 and has won 12 state championships — he was also the head coach for the East in the 2013 McDonald's All-American Game.

Johnson and Greensboro Day's most recent state title in 2023 gave him at least one championship in each of the last five decades.

North Dakota: Dan Carr

High School: Linton/Hazelton-Moffitt-Braddock (Linton)

Overall Record: 798 wins, losses N/A

State Championships: 3 (1984, 1985, 2009)

Bottom line: To put Dan Carr's career in perspective, he's coached almost eight full seasons since he broke the North Dakota state coaching record for career wins in 2015-16.

Carr has led his Linton to three state championships and will pass 800 career wins at North Dakota high schools in 2023-24 — he passed the 800-win mark overall in 2022-23, including his time coaching high school basketball in Minnesota. Carr was inducted into the North Dakota Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.

Ohio: Dru Joyce II

St. Vincent-St. Mary High School basketball coach Dru Joyce

High School: St. Vincent-St. Mary High School (Akron)

Overall Record: 460-125 (.786)

State Championships: 7 (2003, 2009, 2011, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022)

Bottom line: You might only remember St. Vincent-St. Mary High head coach Dru Joyce II from his time guiding a young LeBron James and the Irish to a state championship and national championship in 2003. While they may have made a movie about that team, Joyce's story goes well beyond that.

Joyce has kept winning on the high school level in the 20 years since and led SVSM to its seventh state title under him in 2022. SVSM named its court after Joyce in 2022 and he's on track to winning his 500th career game in the next few seasons.

Oklahoma: Nathan Harris

High Schools: Booker T. Washington High School (Tulsa), Mason High School (Tulsa), Edison High School (Tulsa)

Overall Record: 632 wins, losses N/A

State Championships: 10 (1984-87, 1995-97, 1999, 2001, 2002)

Bottom line: Booker T. Washington alum and Oral Roberts star Nate Harris returned home to coach his alma mater in 1982, kicking off a run in which he won 10 state championships over the next 20 years, including three consecutive titles from 1984 to 1987 and 1995 to 1997.

Harris would end up coaching BTW for 25 years and winning over 600 games. He produced a consistent stream of Division I and NBA players throughout. In 1995, all five of BTW's starters all signed Division I scholarships.

Oregon: Gene Potter

High School: Jesuit High School (Beaverton, Oregon)

Overall Record: 635-202 (.758)

State Championships: 7 (1999, 2005, 2009-12, 2019)

Bottom line: Gene Potter has been Jesuit's coach since 1992 and won his first state championship in 1999 with future Duke star and NBA player Mike Dunleavey Jr. as his star player. Potter has won six more titles since, including four consecutive titles from 2009 to 2012, and passed 600 career wins in 2021 to move into the top five spots for coaching wins in Oregon history.

Pennsylvania: Speedy Morris

High Schools: Roman Catholic High School (Philadelphia), St. Joseph's Prep (Philadelphia), Penn Charter (Philadelphia)

Overall Record: 743-218 (.773)

Philadelphia Catholic League Championships: 8 (1969, 1973, 1974, 1978-80, 2003, 2004)

Bottom line: William "Speedy" Morris will always be most well-known for his time at La Salle University, where he spent his first two seasons as the head women's coach and the next 15 seasons as the head men's coach. He led the school to the postseason in each of his first six seasons.

Morris was also a legendary high school coach in Philadelphia, where he sandwiched his time at La Salle around two legendary stints as a high school basketball coach in Philadelphia. Morris won a total of eight Philadelphia Catholic League championships while at Roman Catholic High from 1968 to 1984, then at St. Joseph's Prep from 2001 to 2019.

Morris has more wins than any high school basketball coach in Philadelphia history.

Rhode Island: Michael Hart

High School: St. Andrew's School (Barrington)

Overall Record: 583-277 (.677)

NEPSAC Championships: 7 (1999-2001, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2019)

Bottom line: Michael Hart enters his 30th season as head coach at St. Andrews in 2023-24, having built a powerhouse program that includes seven NEPSAC championships — a run that has also seen five of his former players make it to the NBA.

South Carolina: John Smith

High School: Great Falls High School (Great Falls)

Overall Record: 943-267 (.779)

State Championships: 8 (1977, 1992, 1996-98, 2004, 2011, 2012)

Bottom line: Great Falls High's John Smith won eight state championships in 47 years at the school from 1969 to 2017. He also became South Carolina's career wins leader (943) and set the record with a staggering 19 state championship game appearances.

South Dakota: Gary Munsen

High School: Mitchell High School (Mitchell)

Overall Record: 672-254 (.725)

State Championships: 9 (1984-86, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2005)

Bottom line: Gary Munsen coached Mitchell High from 1973 to 2012 and won a record nine state championships, including five in the 1990s, as he oversaw the prep career of the state's greatest high school basketball player of all time: University of Florida and NBA star Mike Miller.

Munsen's teams also won three consecutive state championships from 1984 to 1985, including a 40-game winning streak. Mitchell finished as state runner-up five times under Munsen and made the state tournament 34 times in his 39 seasons. The coach also led Mitchell's girls team to three state titles.

Munsen died in 2016. He was 72 years old.

Tennessee: Robert High

High School: Brainerd High School (Chattanooga)

Overall Record: 974-296 (.767)

State Championships: 3 (1984, 1988, 1992)

Bottom line: Robert High spent 31 years coaching at Chattanooga's Brainerd High from 1972 to 2013, becoming one of the winningest high school basketball coaches in U.S. history. High led Brainerd to the state championship game five times, winning three times. He was inducted into the TSSAA Hall of Fame in 2000.

Texas: Robert Hughes

High School: Dunbar High School (Fort Worth), Terrell High School (Fort Worth)

Overall Record: 1,333-265 (.834)

State Championships: 5 (1963, 1965, 1967, 1993, 2003)

Bottom line: Robert Hughes won more games than any high school basketball coach ever did over 46 seasons at two Fort Worth high schools — segregated Terrell High and Dunbar High. Hughes won five state championships in his career and made the state semifinals 12 times. He's a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, National High School Hall of Fame and Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

Utah: Craig Drury

High School: Provo High School (Provo)

Overall Record: 546 wins, losses N/A

State Championships: 8 (1985, 1987, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2004, 2007, 2008)

Bottom line: Craig Drury coached Provo High from 1983 to 2015, winning over 500 games and a state record eight state championships, including back-to-back titles in 1997 and 1998 and again in 2007 and 2008.

Drury's teams won 40 consecutive games from 2008 to 2009 — the third-longest streak in state history — and he coached some of the state's greatest high school basketball players of all time, including future BYU stars and NBA players Brandon Davies and Kyle Collinsworth.

Vermont: Paul Pecor

High School: Rice Memorial High School (South Burlington)

Overall Record: 347-89 (.795)

State Championships: 8 (2007, 2009, 2011, 2013-15, 2020, 2022)

Bottom line: Former Norwich University basketball star Paul Pecor has been Rice Memorial High's coach for the last 20 years, winning eight state championships in that stretch — Pecor's most recent state title in 2022 came with no seniors on the roster.

Another thing about Pecor that made us love him that much more: He's been a DJ in Vermont since he was a senior in high school and has done over 500 weddings in his home state. What a time to be alive.

Virginia: Steve Smith

High School: Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson)

Overall Record: 1,232-97 (.927)

National Championships: 9 (1993, 1994, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2012, 2016)

Bottom line: Steve Smith took the job at Oak Hill Academy when he was just 28 years old and was the sixth head coach in seven seasons. Smith would remain at Oak Hill for 37 seasons and retired after being named USA Today National Coach of the Year four times and winning nine national championships.

Smith saw a staggering amount of talent walk through Oak Hill's doors as it became the premiere high school basketball program in the nation — 34 future NBA players, 32 McDonald's All-Americans and 16 future NBA first-round draft picks.

Washington: Ed Pepple

High Schools: Mercer Island High School (Mercer Island), Fife High School (Fife), Longview Mark Morris High School (Longview)

Overall Record: 952-306 (.757)

State Championships: 4 (1985, 1993, 1997, 1999)

Bottom line: Ed Pepple began coaching high school basketball in Washington in 1958 and took the job at Mercer Island in 1968 — he remained there through 42 seasons and the end of his career in 2009.

Pepple's legend grew in the early 1980s as his career stretched into its third decade with no state championships — a controversial loss to Spokane Shadle Park in the 1981 championship game only burnished it — but he finally won it all in 1985, then added three more titles in the 1990s.

Pepple's greatest player is now one of the most well-known coaches in basketball — former Duke star and current Atlanta Hawks head coach Quin Snyder. Pepple was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. He died in 2020 at 88 years old.

West Virginia: David Barksdale

High School: Woodrow Wilson High School (Beckley)

Overall Record: 335-93 (.782)

State Championships: 5 (1990, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998)

Bottom line: There are a lot of big personalities on this list, but maybe none are bigger than legendary Woodrow Wilson High coach David Barskdale.

Barksdale led Beckley — no one calls it by its given name — to an undefeated season and a state championship in 1962 before returning to coach his alma mater for 17 seasons from 1984 to 2001, winning five state championships and making the state tournament 11 times.

The Register-Herald's Dave Morrison wrote an achingly beautiful column about Barskdale in 2011 that tells his story better than we ever could.

Wisconsin: Bob Haffele

High Schools: Randolph High School (Randolph), Gilman High School (Gilman)

Overall Record: 512-91 (.849)

State Championships: 10 (1996, 1998, 2002-05, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2013)

Bottom line: Bob Haffele set the Wisconsin record with 10 state championships in 17 seasons at Randolph High, going 10-1 in title games. Haffele led Randolph to two unbeaten seasons in 2004 and 2010 and won 175 straight games in conference play from 2001 to 2013.

Randolph won three consecutive state titles from 2002 to 2005 with three of those coming with future NBA center Greg Stiemsa leading the way. Haffele's 10 state titles are double the second-highest total of any coach in state history and his 84.9 winning percentage is the highest of any coach over 500 wins in state history.

Wyoming: Mike Curry

High School: Campbell County High School (Gillette)

Overall Record: 605-152 (.799)

State Championships: 12 (1990, 1992-97, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2008, 2011)

Bottom line: Mike Curry won more games than any other high school basketball coach in Wyoming history at Campbell County High from 1984 to 2013. He won 12 state championships, including 10 over 13 seasons from 1990 to 2002.

Curry was inducted into the Wyoming Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2014.