South Carolina Basketball: Ranking the best head coaches in Gamecock history

South Carolina Basketball’s Greatest Head Coach of All-Time:
Frank McGuire

Frank McGuire (1964-1980) is the greatest coach in the history of South Carolina basketball, and it isn’t particularly close. After coaching at St. John’s and North Carolina for fifteen years, McGuire spent one year in the NBA (and coached the Philadelphia Warriors when Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a game). After the short professional stint, he took over a South Carolin program that had a losing record in 12 of the previous 14 seasons.

The first two years in Columbia were difficult for McGuire as the Gamecocks won just 17 games combined. After that, though, McGuire never had a losing season in Columbia for the rest of his 16-year career.

One of the best recruiters in the history of college sports, McGuire built his South Carolina basketball program by bringing in New York City kids and securing the state of South Carolina’s top prospects. Almost all of his best players were either from New York or South Carolina, and the results were tremendous for the Gamecocks.

McGuire won 21+ games in six-straight seasons and made 4 NCAA Tournaments (restrictive conference tournament rules kept them out of the Big Dance several other times).

The 1969-1970 season is arguably the greatest in South Carolina basketball history. The Gamecocks went 25-3 and a perfect 14-0 in the ACC. A loss in the ACC Tournament final kept them out of the NCAA Tournament, but All-Americans John Roche and Tom Owens would have made the Gamecocks one of the top contenders to win the championships if they would have been allowed in the field.

McGuire is the program’s all-time leader in wins, NCAA Tournament berths, and winning percentage. He is also one of just a handful of coaches to win over 100 games at three Division-1 programs.