SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Three Southern Conference head coaches are among ESPN’s “40 Under 40” in college men’s basketball, led by UNCG’s Wes Miller, who was No. 1 on the list. Furman’s Bob Richey was No. 5 and Wofford’s Jay McAuley checked in at No. 27.
 
The list of head and assistant coaches was selected by ESPN writers ESPN college basketball writers Myron Medcalf, Jeff Borzello and John Gasaway and attempts to rank coaches according to both achievements and potential.
 
Under Miller, 37, the Spartans have become one of the elite programs in the country. They have won 104 games over the last four years, which is the second-most of any North Carolina Division I program. It's a stretch that includes the program's first NCAA tournament appearance in 17 years (2018) and a No. 1 seed in the National Invitation Tournament and school-record 29 victories (2019). Miller was named the SoCon Coach of the Year in 2011-12 and 2017-18.
 
UNCG and Duke are the only two North Carolina programs that enter the 2020-21 season with four consecutive 20-win seasons.
 
Three years after playing on a North Carolina team that captured the 2005 national title, Miller started his coaching career as an assistant at Elon in his mid-20s. After accepting the head-coaching job at UNCG as a 27-year-old, Miller has emerged as one of the top young coaches in college basketball.
 
Richey, who recently completed his third season as head coach at Furman, has guided the Paladins to 73-25 overall record and 41-13 mark in Southern Conference play over the past three seasons. The 37-year-old ranks ninth among active NCAA Division I head coaches with a .737 winning percentage and has guided the Paladins to a school-record 25 wins in each of the last two years.
 
After spending six seasons as an assistant coach for the Paladins, Richey took the reins of the program in 2017-18 and led Furman to a 23-10 record and third-place finish in the SoCon. His 2018-19 squad gained national attention by downing 2018 NCAA Final Four participant Loyola Chicago and defending national champion and eighth-ranked Villanova en route to earning the school's first appearance in the Associated Press Top 25. The Paladins went on to post a 25-8 record and earn the school's first berth in the NIT since 1991.
 
This past season, Furman fashioned a 25-7 overall mark and finished second in the SoCon at 15-3. Richey helped Furman earn a top-100 spot in the Pomeroy Ratings for a third consecutive year as the Paladins claimed victories over Loyola Chicago, ETSU and UNCG, while also pushing nationally ranked Auburn to overtime.
 
After a combined eight years as an assistant coach in the SoCon at Furman and Wofford, including the last two years as the Terriers’ associate head coach, McAuley, 36, took over at Wofford in 2019-20, leading the Terriers to the title game of the Ingles SoCon Basketball Championship presented by General Shale.
 
In 2018-19, McAuley helped Wofford to a school-record 30 wins (30-5), included an 18-0 run through the SoCon. The Terriers made their first-ever appearance in the Associated Press Top 25, finishing the season ranked No. 19. Seventh-seeded Wofford also earned its first-ever win in the NCAA tournament, downing No. 10 seed Seton Hall in the first round, a game in which SoCon Player of the Year Fletcher Magee set the NCAA Division I career 3-point record.
 
For ESPN’s full “40 Under 40” list, click here.