March Madness: The D2 and D3 Guys

March 20, 2026
 

THE D2 AND D3 GUYS

I played college basketball at Division III Monmouth College and began my coaching career as an assistant at Beloit College, Lawrence University, and Grinnell College, which are all DIII programs. My first head coaching job was at DIII Eureka College.  I went on to be the head coach at DIII schools Cornell College and Rhodes College. My final stop, before becoming the head coach at Cal Poly, was Division II Colorado Mesa. 

Only two of my 25 years in coaching have been spent at the Division I level, so I find myself cheering for the D2 and D3 guys in the tournament. There are a lot of coaches who began their careers at lower-level schools. Let’s take a look. 

Josh Schetz (Saint Louis): In 13 seasons at DII Lincoln Memorial, Schertz won 337 games and lost just 69. That’s a winning percentage of .830. He made 10 trips to the DII Tournament. Three times he reached the Final Four and was the National runner-up in 2016. In Division II, the Elite 8 is the equivalent of the Final Four, but Coach Schertz advanced to the National Semifinals three times. His 2019-20 team was 32-1 and poised for a national title run when the season was canceled due to the pandemic.

Jerrod Calhoun (Utah State): The former Bob Huggins assistant at Cincinnati and West Virginia got his first head coaching job at DII Fairmont State. In five seasons he posted a record of 124-38. That’s .765 winning percentage. He was even better in Conference games going 87-23 (.791). He went to the tournament four times and was the National runner-up in 2017.

Ben McCollum (Iowa): He built a powerhouse at Division II Northwest Missouri State. In 15 seasons he posted a record of 395-91 (.813) and was a ridiculous 241-63 in conference games (.793). He guided the program to 12 NCAA Tournament appearances and won FOUR National Championships. During a six-year stretch, from 2016-17 to 2022-23, he won 224 games and lost only 16 times. After leading his team to a 38-0 record and his second National Championship in 2019, McCollum became the first non-division I coach to win the John McClendo National Coach of the Year award. He is still the only non-DI coach to win it.

Here are some other coaches in the tournament with Division II and Division III roots:

Bill Armstrong (McNeese State) began his coaching career as an assistant at Division III Birmingham Southern. 

Rick Barnes (Tennessee) played DII basketball at Lenoir–Rhyne in Hickory, NC.

Randy Bennett (Saint Mary’s) played at Division III UC-San Diego, which is now a DI program. 

Brad Brownell (Clemson) played at Division III DePauw University and spent two seasons as an assistant coach at DII University of Indianapolis. 

John Calipari (Arkansas) played point guard for two seasons at DII Clarion University, in Pennsylvania.

Rich Croy (California Baptist) became the head coach at Cal Baptist, when the school was still a DII program. He led the Lancers to the NCAA Tournament every season, before they made the jump to Division I in 2018-19.

Andy Enfield (SMU) was a standout guard at Division III Johns Hopkins where he holds 18 school records, including the school’s all-time scoring leader.

Jim Ferry (UMBC) played one season at Division II NYIT (which no longer has Athletics) before transferring to Division III Keene State College for his final three years. He led the team in scoring as a junior. After graduation he began his coaching career as an assistant at Keene State.

Eran Ganot (Hawaii) played for Division III Swarthmore where he was the captain for two seasons. 

Greg Gard (Wisconsin) began his coaching career as an assistant at Division III Wisconsin-Platteville.  Bo Ryan was also on that staff. 

Brian Hodgson (South Florida) spent four seasons as an assistant at Division II SUNY-Fredonia State.

Tom Izzo (Michigan State) was a Division II All-American at Northern Michigan University. After college he spent four seasons as an assistant at his alma mater. 

Ben Jacobson (Northern Iowa) was a four-year letterman, a two-year starter and team captain in his final two season at the University of North Dakota, which was a DII program at the time. He spent seven seasons as an assistant at his alma mater one at North Dakota State, which was still a DII program at that time.  

Grant Leonard (Queens) spent one season as an assistant at Division III Washington College and one season at Division II Flagler. He later became an assistant coach at Queens when it was still a DII program.

Tommy Lloyd (Arizona) played one season at DII Colorado State University-Pueblo, before transferring to DIII Whitman College for his final two seasons.

Grant McCasland (Texas Tech) spent two seasons as the head coach at Division II Midwestern State.

Nate Oats (Alabama) began his coaching career as an assistant at DIII UW-Whitewater.

Ryan Odom (Virgina) played at Division III Hampden–Sydney where he became the school’s all-time leader in made threes. He spent one season as the head coach Division II Lenoir–Rhyne. 

TJ Otzelberger (Iowa State) played one season with Norfolk State head coach Robert Jones at Division III SUNY-New Paltz before transferring to Division III UW-Whitewater where he was a two-year captain.

Matt Painter (Purdue) was an assistant coach at Division III William & Jefferson in the early 1990s.

Alex Pribble (Idaho) was an assistant coach at DII San Francisco State and DII Saint Martin’s in Washington.

Brett Reed (Lehigh) played four seasons at DII Eckerd College in Florida. He played point guard and helped his team win a conference championship.

Bob Richey (Furman) played at Division II North Greenville University.

David Richman (North Dakota State) was a graduate assistant at North Dakota State when the program was still Division II. 

Kelvin Sampson (Houston) was a four-year letterman in basketball and played three seasons of baseball at Division II Pembroke State. 

Herb Sendek (Santa Clara) played college basketball for Division III Carnegie Mellon.

Brad Underwood (Illinois) played one season at Division III Hardin Simmons. After graduating he spent one season as a graduate assistant.

Kevin Young (BYU) was a standout point guard at Division II Clayton State for two seasons.