1978      1979      1980

Active and Former (20+ games)

Rank Coach, Schools (*=not active) Yrs. W-L Pct. Final
4 2 1
1 John Wooden*, UCLA 29 47-10 .825 12 10 10
2 Al McGuire*, Marquette 20 20-9 .690 2 2 1
3 Hank Iba*, Oklahoma State 41 15-7 .682 4 3 2
T4 Frank McGuire, South Carolina 29 14-8 .636 2 2 1
T4 Jerry Tarkanian, UNLV 11 14-8 .636 1 0 0
6 Adolph Rupp*, Kentucky 42 30-18 .625 6 5 4
7 Dean Smith, North Carolina 18 16-11 .593 5 2 0
8 Digger Phelps, Notre Dame 9 12-9 .571 1 0 0
9 Ray Meyer, DePaul 37 13-12 .520 2 0 0
T10 Guy Lewis, Houston 23 14-14 .500 2 0 0
T10 Jack Gardner*, (Kansas State, Utah) 28 12-12 .500 4 1 0


Highlights:

National Champs: Michigan State Jud Heathcote
Second place: Indiana State Bill Hodges
Third place: DePaul Ray Meyer
Fourth place: Pennsylvania Bob Weinhauer

DePaul returns to the Final Four for the first time since its first tournament appearance in 1943, getting Ray Meyer out of last place at .520, his first time over .500 since that first tournament win.  In 1943, with only eight teams invited, just one win was needed to get to the semi-finals, so Meyer only had a 1-1 record to show for that first Final Four appearance.
Another North Carolina first game loss (first round bye) drops Dean Smith below .600 to .593, though he holds onto seventh place.
Notre Dame wins two, improving Digger Phelps's record to .571 and allowing Phelps to debut on the list in eighth place.
The field is expanded to 40 teams with 8 teams playing a small first round and 24 teams getting a first round bye.