How much experience coaches have when they reach their first Final Four

The 2019 NCAA Tournament saw three head coaches make their first Final Four: Virginia's Tony Bennett, Texas Tech's Chris Beard and Auburn's Bruce Pearl.

March Madness doesn't just apply to the student-athletes — it also applies to head coaches as well. Some coaches, like Bennett and Pearl, endure more than a decade as a head coach, or even at one program, before reaching the Final Four.

Others, like Shaka Smart, get there in Year Two. Are there patterns? What about oddities?

There's plenty of both. Some figures before we look at the full data set of 157 head coaches:

1. On average, it takes a head coach 10.5 years to reach their first Final Four.
2. 18 coaches needed at least two decades to reach the Final Four.
3. 82 coaches needed less than one decade to reach the Final Four.
4. 49 coaches need five years or less to reach the Final Four.
5. Nine coaches reached the Final Four in their first respective years at the helm: Bill Guthridge, 1998, North Carolina; Ray Meyer, DePaul, 1943; Bill Hodges, Indiana State, 1979; Dick Harp, Kansas, 1957; Denny Crum, Louisville, 1972; Steve Fisher, Michigan, 1989; Bruce Drake, Oklahoma, 1939; Bully Gilstrap, Texas, 1943; Gary Thompson, Wichita State, 1965

Here's a look at the years of experience (as a head coach) it took each NCAA coach to reach the Final Four, dating all the way back to the first NCAA tournament in 1939, in descending order:

That's a lot of coaches.

A few more fun facts:

• 57 coaches have made their Final Four debuts since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The average experience for those coaches is 12.4 years.
• 33 coaches made their Final Four debuts in the first decade of the NCAA tournament (1939-1948). The average experience was 12.1 years.
• Three very good coaches — Phog Allen, Bo Ryan, John Beilein — took a combined 96 years to get to their first Final Fours. They are the only three coaches to require three decades of experience to reach the Final Four.
• Kansas is the only school with five different head coaches to reach the Final Four — Bill Self (15, 2008), Roy Williams (3, 1991), Ted Owens (7, 1971), Dick Harp (1, 1957), Phog Allen (34, 1940).

Correction: This article had the incorrect year (2000) for Bill Guthridge's first Final Four appearance as North Carolina head coach. He took the Tar Heels to the Final Four first in 1997-98 and again in 1999-2000.