By Garin Turner
The Final Four Men’s Basketball games are tomorrow night. First up is UConn vs. Illinois and then Michigan vs. Arizona. The winners will play Monday to determine the 2026 champion, the losers will hang a Final Four banner but will ask themselves “what if”. In this article, we’re going to focus on the coaches of those teams.
Brad Underwood – Illinois
This is Brad Underwood’s first Final Four appearance. His coaching career started in 1986 as a graduate assistant at Hardin-Simmons where he played as a guard for one year back in 1982. His first head coaching job came in 1988 at Dodge City CC. He went 62-60. He would leave in 1992 to become an assistant at Western Illinois. From 2003-2006 he was the head coach at Daytona Beach CC where he went 70-25 in three years, only losing double digit games once. He won back-to-back National Championships his first two years.
Underwood would then spend the next six years at Kansas State, first as an assistant and then as an associate head coach.
He then took the same position for a year in 2012 at South Carolina. From there he took the head coaching job at Stephen F. Austin for three years. He was an outstanding 89-14. He took a job for a year as the head coach at Oklahoma State before being hired at Illinois where he’s been since 2017. In his lone year at Oklahoma State, he went 20-13. Underwood holds a 302-136 (.689) record as a NCAA head coach and is 132-85 (.608) as a NJCAA head coach. In the NCAA tournament, Underwood currently is 8-7.
As a head coach, Underwood has only had two losing seasons in 13. He’s sent four players to the NBA (Ayo Dosunmu, 2021, Terrance Shannon Jr., 2024, Kasparas Jakucionis, 2025, and Will Riley, 2025) with Keaton Wagler, likely to be the fifth in the upcoming NBA Draft.
At Illinois, Underwood is 193-109. This is the Fighting Illini’s 6 th time in the Final Four. Underwood is a three-time Southland Coach of the Year (2014-2016). He also won the Joe B. Hall Coach of the Year in 2014 and won the Coaches vs. Cancer Champion Award in 2023. He has his Illini in the Final Four for the first time since 2006. He’s a three- time Southland tournament winner (2014-2016), a three-time Southland regular season champion (2014-2016), a two-time Ben Ten tournament champion (2021, 2024) and a Big Ten regular season champion (2022). Underwood is in the last year of his deal. He signed a two-year extension back in 2020. He’s making $4.4 million a year.
Dan Hurley – UConn
This is Dan Hurley’s fourth appearance in the Final Four winning twice. Hurley is 349-179 (.661) as a head coach. After playing at Seton Hall as a point guard from 1991-1996, Hurley became an assistant at St. Anthony High School in 1996. In 1997, he was an assistant at Rutgers. His first head coaching job came in 2001 when he was hired at St. Benedict’s Prep. He
coached there for nine years before becoming the head coach at Wagner for two seasons (38-23.) In 2012, he became the head coach at Rhode Island before taking the head coaching job at UConn in 2018 (113-82 at Rhode Island.) At UConn, Hurley is 198-74 (.728). He’s also 19-5 in the NCAA tournament and 1-1 in the NIT.
Dan Hurley won the Naismith Coach of the Year in 2024 and the Sporting News National Coach of the Year in 2024. In 2018, he was the A-10 Coach of the Year and in 2024 the Big East Coach of the Year. This is UConn’s 8th Final Four Appearance.
Hurley is a two-time NCAA tournament champion (2023,2024). He’s been to the Final Four three times. He won the A-10 tournament in 2017 and the A-10 regular season in 2018. He won both the Big East tournament and regular season in 2024. He’s only had three losing seasons in his coaching career.
Dan Hurley has sent nine players to the NBA including: Jordan Hawkins 2023, Andre Jackson Jr. 2023, Adama Sanogo 2023, Donovan Clingan 2024, and Stephon Castle 2024
In 2024 Hurley turned down offers from Kentucky and the Los Angeles Lakers to become their head coach. In 2024, he signed an extension for $50 million over six years.
Tommy Lloyd – Arizona
Much like Brad Underwood, this is Tommy Lloyd’s first appearance in the Final Four and Arizona’s first trip since 2001. Lloyd’s record as a coach is 148-35 (.809). After his playing career ended in 1998, he became an assistant at Gonzaga from 2001-2021. He then became the head coach at Arizona in 2021. He is 10-4 in the NCAA tournament. This is Arizona’s 5 th
time in the Final Four.
Lloyd’s awards include: AP Coach of the Year (2022), NABC Coach of the Year (2022), USBWA Coach of the Year (2022), Pac-12 Coach of the Year (2022), Sporting News Coach of the Year (2026), and Big 12 Coach of the Year (2026).
He’s won the Pac-12 tournament twice (2022,2023). He’s also won the Pac-12 regular season championship (2022, 2024). Lloyd’s team won the Big 12 regular season and tournament in 2026. He’s also the head coach of the USA under 19 men’s basketball team in 2024.
Tommy Lloyd just signed a new five-year deal to stay at Arizona. He’s sent five players to the NBA: Bennedict Mathurin 2022, Dalen Terry 2022, Christian Koloko 2022, Pelle Larsson 2024, and Carter Bryant 2024.
Dusty May – Michigan
Dusty May is 188-82 (.696) overall as a head coach and 62-13 in just his second year as the Michigan Wolverines head coach. May started coaching in 2005 as an assistant at Eastern Michigan for a season. He then was an assistant at Murray State, UAB, Louisiana Tech, and Florida. In 2018, he landed his first head coaching job at Florida Atlantic before joining the
Wolverines in 2024. May is 10-3 in the NCAA Tournament. This is Dusty’s second appearance in the Final Four, his first with Michigan.
May was the CUSA Coach of the Year in 2023, the Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2026 and he won the Henry Iba Award in 2026. He holds records at FAU for most career wins at 126, most single season wins at 35. He currently holds that mark currently at Michigan with 35 wins this season. He has the most single season conference wins in CUSA history at 18 and the most in the Big Ten at 19.
May went to the Final Four in 2023 with FAU and now with Michigan this year. He won the CUSA regular season and tournament in 2023. At Michigan, he won the Big Ten tournament in 2025 and the Big Ten regular season in 2026. This is Michigan’s 9th time in the Final Four and first time since 2018.
When hired at Michigan, May signed a five year deal at $3.75 million a year. Dusty May has never had a losing season. He’s sent three players to the NBA. Alijah Martin in 2025, Vladislav Goldin, 2025, Danny Wolfe, 2025. He’s likely to have three players drafted in the first round in the upcoming draft in Yaxel Lendeborg, Morez Johnson Jr. and Aday Mara.
