Top 10 active coaches in the country

With the 2008-09 season deep in the rearview mirror and the NBA Draft still more than a month away, the offseason lull has hit college basketball during the month of May.

And while things couldn't get much quieter on the college hoops front these days, it's left us time to consider some bigger-picture items.

Because as the NBA Playoffs continue to unfold over the next month, college basketball's dead period actually gives us a chance to reflect on some of the best and worst that the sport has to offer.

So that got me thinking ... who are the 10 best coaches in the country right now? Since the sport's early days, college basketball has always been predicated on coaching.

The players come and go — whether it's one year or four years — but the coaches often remain the same.

From the countless hours of recruiting to a six-month, full-fledged run of film meetings, weightlifting sessions and on-court practices, the coaches are truly the faces that resonate most in college basketball.

In that regard, deciding who to keep on and off of this list was no easy task. The fact is, there isn't room for everybody.

Nevertheless, the 10 coaches below are undoubtedly some of the best out there today.

Yes, I realize Jim Boeheim, John Beilein, Bruce Weber, Jim Calhoun and Billy Donovan did not make this list. Neither did Bruce Pearl nor John Calipari (you can partially thank violations at UMass in 1996 for Cal's submission from this list while Kansas and UConn have had their own off-the-court issues with players more recently).

But if I needed a coach to build a clean and disciplined program from scratch, one that has the capability of competing for multiple national championships, I'd certainly be tracking down one of these guys.

Honorable Mention: Tony Bennett, Virginia

In the three short seasons that he spent in Pullman, Bennett turned Washington State from a Pac-10 afterthought into a national name, leading the Cougars to their highest ranking ever during the 2007-08 campaign. Now after the resignation of Dave Leitao, the 2007 AP National Coach of the Year is headed to Charlottesville to turn around a Virginia program that's been abysmal the past two seasons.

10. Sean Miller, Arizona

One of the most successful young coaches in the game today, Miller managed to collect six NCAA tournament victories in only five seasons at Xavier. Now at only the age of 40, the former Pittsburgh point guard holds the reigns to one of the most recognizable programs in the country as he looks to return Arizona to its glory days under the Lute Olson era.

9. Ben Howland, UCLA

Everywhere Howland has gone in his 15-year head coaching career, he's made his team a winner in a matter of three years. Starting at Northern Arizona and moving to the Steel City to rebuild a Pittsburgh program that has now blossomed under Jamie Dixon, Howland has taken UCLA to three Final Fours and continues to pull in some of the top recruiting classes in the country year after year.

8. Jamie Dixon, Pittsburgh

A former assistant under Howland, Dixon has captured the most wins of any collegiate coach in six years of work after guiding Pittsburgh past the Sweet 16 for the first time in 35 years last season. While his 163-45 record speaks for itself, the 43-year-old from Southern California also has a Big East regular-season and tournament championship to go along with nine NCAA tournament victories.

7. Bo Ryan, Wisconsin

His teams certainly don't play the prettiest game of basketball, but when it comes down to it, Ryan knows how to win and get the most out of his players. At the age of 61, he's made a name for himself all across the state of Wisconsin, employing a blue-collar style on both ends of the floor that has led the Badgers to the Sweet 16 twice and to the Elite Eight once in 2005.

6. Bill Self, Kansas

One of the best coaches still in his 40s, Self already has a national championship to his name and a Coach of the Year award in his first six years at Kansas. Prior to his arrival in Lawrence, Self proved that he's a winner at Tulsa, where he won more than 30 games in 2000 and took the Golden Hurricane to the Elite Eight, and Illinois, where he guided the Fighting Illini to a Regional final the following year and finished tied for first place in the Big Ten standings.

5. Jay Wright, Villanova

One of the brightest minds in the college game currently, Wright has worked hard to make Villanova a national power out of the mighty Big East once again. With a Final Four appearance this past season and a trip to the Elite Eight back in 2006, the former Hofstra coach, who took the Pride to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances his final two seasons, has the tools to potentially win a national championship if he chooses to stay with the Wildcats.

4. Roy Williams, North Carolina

Critics have always knocked Williams for his inability to win a national championship in his 15 seasons at Kansas — which included several extremely talented teams — but he's won two since leaving Lawrence for Chapel Hill. And aside from two exits in the second round of the NCAA tournament, the Hall of Fame coach has also taken the Tar Heels to the Elite Eight and Final Four before winning it all with four-time All-American Tyler Hansbrough this past season.

3. Mike Krzyzewski, Duke

Say what you will about Coach K (he's a weasel, the refs favor him, etc., etc.), the guy knows how to win year in and year out. Sure, his team got blasted by Villanova in the Sweet 16 this past season and we haven't seen Duke reach a regional final since 2004, but when you've got 833 wins to your name, 10 ACC regular-season championships and three national titles, there's something to be said for that.

2. Rick Pitino, Louisville

One of the most animated and candid coaches around, Pitino has been a bona fide winner going back to his early days at Providence, where he took the Friars to a Final Four in less than two years of service. Since then, the 56-year-old New Yorker has accumulated over 500 victories, including one in the 1996 national championship game with Kentucky, and after a brief stint in the NBA, he's turned Louisville back into a national power whether it's been in Conference USA or the Big East.

1. Tom Izzo, Michigan State

It's hard to find a better program over the last 10 years than the one that Izzo has been running in East Lansing. Aside from his first two seasons at Michigan State, Izzo has taken the Spartans to the NCAA tournament every year — a run that's included five Final Fours, a trip to the Elite Eight, a pair of Sweet 16 appearances and not to mention, a national championship in 2000 — with his focus on point guard play and hard-nosed approach to defense and rebounding.