| 1981 | 1982 | 1983 |
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 | Bob Knight, Indiana | 17 | 18-5 | .783 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | Al McGuire*, Marquette | 20 | 20-9 | .690 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 4 | Hank Iba*, Oklahoma State | 41 | 15-7 | .682 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| 5 | Dean Smith, North Carolina | 21 | 25-13 | .658 | 7 | 4 | 1 |
| T6 | Frank McGuire*, (St. John's, North Carolina, South Carolina) | 30 | 14-8 | .636 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| T6 | Jerry Tarkanian, UNLV | 14 | 14-8 | .636 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Adolph Rupp*, Kentucky | 42 | 30-18 | .625 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| 9 | Denny Crum, Louisville | 11 | 16-10 | .615 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | Digger Phelps, Notre Dame | 12 | 13-11 | .542 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Guy Lewis, Houston | 26 | 18-16 | .529 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Jack Gardner*, (Kansas State, Utah) | 28 | 12-12 | .500 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 13 | Ray Meyer, DePaul | 40 | 13-15 | .464 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| National Champs: | North Carolina | Dean Smith |
| Second place: | Georgetown | John Thompson |
| Third place: | Houston | Guy Lewis |
| Fourth place: | Louisville | Denny Crum |
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For the second time (1977 being the previous time), three of the final four coaches (Dean Smith, Guy Lewis and Denny Crum) have participated in 20 or more tournament games. |
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Dean Smith takes North Carolina to its fourth championship game and second in a row. This time, with a freshman named Michael Jordan, Smith wins his first national championship and jumps up to .658 and fifth place on the list. |
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Denny Crum takes Louisville to the Final Four for the fourth time, putting him back over .600 at .615. |
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Houston's third Final Four trip puts Guy Lewis back over .500 at .529. This makes Ray Meyer the only coach with 20 or more games with a below .500 record. |
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Indiana only wins one this year, dropping Bobby Knight to .783, still good enough for second place behind John Wooden. |
