Back to the Top News Newsfeed

For six veteran coaches, there's nothing like the familiar feeling of March Madness

NEW YORK — It’s called March Madness, but a striking thing about the NCAA Tournament is how stable it is. Players come and go, and programs rise and fall, but the routine of the whole thing is steady as can be.

Friday’s four first-round games in Brooklyn feature eight teams whose coaches have combined for 85 appearances in the Big Dance, with 81 of those split between six men: Michigan’s John Beilein, Notre Dame’s Mike Brey, Temple’s Fran Dunphy, West Virginia’s Bob Huggins, Iowa’s Fran McCaffery and Villanova’s Jay Wright.

MORE: Tournament's first round, in photos

Of those half-dozen coaches, it was Wright, at 54 the youngest of the group, who has noticed the most change.