(Editor’s Note: This list was compiled after placing phone calls to prominent newspapers, basketball halls of fame, and high school sports governing bodies in every state. The Smoke Signal believes this is the most comprehensive and definitive such list ever assembled.)

Tommy Barrett

Arkansas

Caddo Gap, Fountain Lake & Lake Hamilton

Both boys and girls

Amassed 1,474 combined wins at three different schools from 1956-2003.

Charles Berry

Arkansas

Huntsville

Girls

Currently in his 57th year of coaching, the 83-year old was the 2007 National Coach of the Year.

C.B. “Cotton” Havener

Arkansas

Mulberry

Both

Coached boys and girls teams to a combined 1,556 wins from 1945-87.

Morgan Gilbert

Arkansas

Tuckerman High

Boys

Has also reached the 1,000-win milestone as a baseball coach.

Thednall Hill

Arkansas

Highland

Girls

Hill is the fifth winningest high school girls basketball coach ever.

Jim Stafford

Arkansas

Huntsville

Both boys and girls

He reached 1,000 wins thanks to success coaching both boys and girls high school basketball.

John Wyatt, Jr.

Arkansas

County Line

Both boys and girls

Accumulated 1,136 wins and won three state titles (two with the girls program, one with the boys).

Gary McKnight

California

Mater Dei

Boys

Only had 85 losses when he won his 1,000th in 2014; Captured 11 state titles and coached the MaxPreps top-ranked team in the country for the 2013-14 season.

Ron Bradley

Georgia

Loganville

Both boys and girls

Had 29 seasons of 20 wins or more while coaching for nine different schools en route to 1,372 career wins over 53 years. He retired in 2011.

Dorothy Gaters

Illinois

Marshall   

Girls

Has guided her team to seven Illinois state titles as well as three additional appearances in the state championship game and a total of 20 state tourney appearances. (1,024-186)

Gene Pingatore

Illinois

St. Joseph  

Boys

48: Seasons as head coach at St. Joseph. 32: Regional championships and 20-win seasons. 15: Members of the boys basketball 1,000-win club nationwide. 13: Sectional championships. 6: State trophies for top-four finishes. 3: McDonald’s All-Americans: Isiah Thomas, Daryl Thomas, Deryl Cunningham. 2: State championships: Class AA in 1999, Class 3A in 2015.

Gene Klinge  

Iowa

West Central, Waukon   

Girls

Career record of 1,009-252 in 51 seasons, won the Morgan Wootten Lifetime Achievement Award from the Naismith Memo

Won the Basketball Hall of Fame’s Morgan Wootten Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011, retired in 2014 with a 1,009-252 record.

Leslie Gaudet

Louisiana

Pine Prairie High

Girls

The winningest high school coach when he retired in 1970 and still ranks fifth nationally, has died at age 82. In 30 years of coaching at several Louisiana schools, Gaudet had a 1,026-353 record.

Was the winningest high school basketball coach at the time when he retired in 1970 with a 1,026-353 record.

Joel Hawkins

Louisiana

Southern Lab, Lake Providence, G.W. Griffith

Boys

Has a career record of 1,071-263. Also has 39 winning seasons and 21 district titles. Has 12 state titles. Inducted into Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2001. (southern lab high school)

Put together 39 winning seasons and won 12 state titles from 1965-2008. Won 11 of those state titles in a 13-year span at Southern Lab.

Morgan Wootten  

Maryland

DeMatha Catholic    

Boys

Legendary coach owns 1,274-192 career record from 1957-2002 at the Washington, D.C.-area basketball powerhouse. The Basketball Hall of Fame’s Lifetime Achievement Award bears his name.

Bob McDonald

Minnesota

Chisholm     

Boys

Has a career record 1,012-428. Coached from 1961-2014. His teams went to the state tournament 11 times and won a total of 3 State titles. Has an award named after him to the states top player starting in 2018. (Madison Ridgley Academy)

Career record of 1,012-428 from 1961-2014. Starting this season, Minnesota will start recognizing the state’s top senior player with the McDonald Award.

Richard Duease

Mississippi  

MRA

Has average 28 wins a season at MRA after 35 years of coaching. He won his 1,000th game last year in Lafayette, LA, a 57-47 win.

Reached the milestone in December of 2016 and has averaged 28 wins per season in his 35 years of coaching.

Norris Ashley

Mississippi

Ingomar

Boys/Girls

Has a career of 1,697-860 in both girls and boys basketball. He has competed for 20 state championships and won 9 of them. His son took over for him after he retired and coached for 6 years.

Combined boys/girls record is 1,697-860. His son Jonathan took over the boys team from him at Ingomar when he retired in 2012.

Samuel Washington  

Mississippi

Finished his career with a 1,001-497 mark from 1962-1994; was inducted posthumously into the Mississippi Association of Coaches Hall of Fame last March.

Bob Roberts

Missouri

Atlanta (Missouri.), Cairo

Both

Won his 1,000th game on Jan. 11, 2016. .

Claude Simpson

Missouri

Northeast Nodaway

Had remarkably similar success with both the boys (536-129) and girls (556-67) programs before retiring in 1991.

Claude Samson  

Missouri

Northeast Nodaway    

Both

Had remarkably similar success with both the boys (536-129) and girls (556-67) programs.

Bobby Hurley Sr.  

New Jersey          

St. Anthony   

Boys

Coached from 1972-2017. Has 28 state championships and 4 national championships. His two sons are basketball coaches. Bobby Hurley Jr. is at Arizona State and Danny Hurley is a coach at University of Rhode Island. Record was 1184-125. One of the most decorated high school coaches of all time, he led St. Anthony to 28 state championships and compiled a 1,184-125 record before the school closed its doors last year.

Jeff Jasper

New Jersey

Pascack Valley   

Girls

According to Jasper, the team’s spiritwear is never the school colors of green and white because he picked the wrong color the first year due to his colorblindness.

Ralph Tasker

New Mexico

Hobbs High School    

Boys

Overall record of 1122-291. He won 12 state championships. Coached from 1949-1998. Tasker was inducted in the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.

Coaching from 1949-1998, the 2005 New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame inductee won 12 state titles and owns a 1,122-291 career mark.

Freddy Johnson

North Carolina

Greensboro Day    

Boys

He’s won state titles just under 25 percent of the time he’s been coaching 9 state championship games. The Greensboro Bengals have also won 25 conference championships under Johnson.

Bertha Teague

Oklahoma

Byng High School   

Girls

She Coached the Byng High School girls team in Byng, Oklahoma for 42 years with a career record of 1,157-115. She is a member of every basketball hall of fame for which she is eligible for.

Robert High

Tennessee

Brainerd High     

boys

One of the most accomplished coaches in chattanooga sports history.

High compiled a 1,001-307 record and won 20 games in 31 of his 37 seasons, including eight 30-win seasons, before stepping down after the 2012-13 season.

Jerry Peters  

Tennessee

Memphis University School, Lausanne    

Boys

Jerry Peters coached Marc Gasol, center for the Memphis Grizzlies. He inherited a sports program at Lausanne.

Won 1,001 games in 52 years at the helm before stepping away after the 2011-12 season.

Lamar Rogers

Tennessee

Clarkrange High School    

Girls

Several of Coach Rogers’ teams have been honored by the Tennessee House of Representatives and by the U. S. Congress

One of the few active coaches on the list, he has coached Clarkrange, which owns 39 straight winning seasons, since 1976. His 1,000th came in December 2011.

Jim Smiddy    

Tennessee

Charleston High, Bradley Central High  

Girls

Stands alone as the winningest basketball coach at any level in the history of the sport with a staggering 1,217 wins

Won 1,217 games from 1949-1994. Led his team to five state titles and mythical national titles in 1975 and 1976.

Walter Van Huss

Tennessee

Hampton High

Boys

Van Huss was named coach of the year twelve times and was honored to receive the Distinguished Service Award from the National Basketball Foundation.

Did not start coaching until he was 35 years old but still compiled a 1,021-313 mark in 37 years at the helm (1953-1990).

Leta Andrews

Texas

Gustine, Comanche, Corpus Christi Calallen, Granbury    

Girls

She led her teams to 16 state final four appearances and was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

Her record was 1416-355 over the course of 1962-2014.

Robert Capello

Texas

Mont Belvieu Barbers Hills, Donna, Lyford, Uvalde, Edcouch-Elsa

Boys

1965-2012; 2015-17

With a record of 1,004-475. He coached from 1965-2012 and 2015-2017 and compiled a record of 1,004-475.

Jerry English

Texas

Pflugerville, Sweeny, Dripping Springs, Marble Falls Faith Academy    

Girls

1969-2000; 2005-2017   1,227-261

He also took 19 teams to the State Final 4.

Coached from 1969-2000 and 2005-2017 and had a record of 1,227-261 (83% win percentage).

Tony Harper

Texas

Cathedral High School

Boys

He is Texas’ active leader in wins and along the way he won 15 district championships and made 30 playoff appearances with a state tournament appearance.

Harper is still an active coach in his 50th season, he recorded his 1,000th win on Feb. 10, 2017.

Robert Hughes Sr.

Texas

Paul Laurence Dunbar High    

Boys

His teams won 1,333 games and five state championships in 47 seasons at Fort Worth Dunbar and Fort Worth I.M. Terrell.
His teams won 1,333 games and five state titles in 47 seasons. He was the nation’s all-time wins leader when he retired in 2005.

Rhonda Farney

Texas

Goldthwaite, Ozona, Georgetown     

Girls

1975-1987; 1989-2016 1,058-289
In summer 2001, she was one of two high school coaches named by the USA Basketball Women’s Collegiate Committee to serve as floor coach for the USA Basketball Women’s Junior National Team Trials in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Joe Lombard

Texas

Nazareth, Canyon

Girls

1978-2016. 1,261-117

All USA-Basketball coach in 2003. Was inducted in the Women’s Basketball High School Hall of Fame in 2016. He won 13 state titles.

John Guice

Texas

Midway Henrietta

Boys

34 district championships, with 24 regional appearances, three regional titles, three state appearances, and two state runner-ups. Amassed 1,018-504 1961-2005

Bill Krueger

Texas

Clear Lake High School

Boys

Has the Clear Lake High School Gym named after him.

Also: Stepped down in 1996 after 38 seasons and 1,096 wins, the most in the nation at that time.

Steve Smith

Virginia

Oak Hill

Boys

Coach Smith at Oak Hill has been crowned “National High School Champions” Nine times.

Smith was named USA Today National Coach of the Year four times and notched his 1,000th win on Dec. 29, 2015.