Coming into the 2025-26 season, the Oregon Ducks men's basketball squad was picked to finish in the upper half of the Big Ten and expected to notch another 20-win season — a mark head coach Dana Altman had reached in each of the prior 15 seasons at the helm of the Ducks.
Twenty wins wasn't just going to signify the 16th straight season of posting that mark. It had a more important meaning, as Altman entered the season with 780 career victories as a head coach at Oregon, Creighton, Kansas State and Marshall across 36 seasons.
Unfortunately for Altman, that 20-win standard wasn't met, as the Ducks stumbled to just 12 wins and a 15th-place finish in the Big Ten in his 37th season as a head coach. That left him with 792 wins, just eight short of the 800-win
club. The thought had been that Altman would easily surpass that mark during the 2026-27 season, potentially before the New Year with Oregon playing 13 games before the calendar changed, with seven coming against mid-major opponents at Matthew Knight Arena.
But it wasn't meant to be.
"Oh, it would have been nice, but that's selfish," Altman said during his retirement press conference when asked about his win total. "Trying to come back when you know you're not your best is selfish."
With his career now closed, Altman lands at 15th on the all-time coaching wins list in men's college basketball, falling both behind and ahead of highly-decorated and legendary coaches in the sport — a billing that Altman ultimately now fits in. The full all-time coaching wins list and where Altman lands, below:
- Mike Krzyewski (1202)
- Jim Boeheim (1116)
- Rick Pitino (915)
- John Calipari (905)
- Roy Williams (903)
- Bob Knight (899)
- Dean Smith (879)
- Jim Calhoun (877)
- Adolph Rupp (876)
- Bob Huggins (863)
- Rick Barnes (861)
- Bill Self (855)
- Cliff Ellis (833)
- Eddie Sutton (806)
- Dana Altman (792)
- Lefty Driesell (786)
- Lute Olsen (776)
- Lou Henson (775)
- Mark Few (773)
- Tom Izzo (764)
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Where Dana Altman lands on all-time coaching wins list
