810 Varsity takes a look at the top active Kansas City area boys basketball coaches, based on their careers and mainly since 2010.

Coaches are listed in alphabetical order

Part I of 4

Briggs rolled in the decade at Lansing, compiling a 158-68 record in 10 years at LHS. The Lions went through a 7-year stretch of reaching the Kansas Class 5A state tournament six times, including four straight final four and two straight title games, including a 25-0 undefeated season and state championship in 2014 – the last undefeated boys season in the Metro area.

Briggs taken a Truman program from two wins three years ago to .500 last year and in the Top 25 this past season.

2010-2020
Kansas Class 5A state final fours – 4; State title games – 2; State tiles – 1 (2014)

Easily the coach of decade – five state titles, seven appearances in the state title game and nine trips to the state tournament are nearly unheard of at the Kansas Class 6A level. Well, unless its BV Northwest. Fritz amassed a 224-43 record (84%) in the decade, and was selected as the head coach of the 2019 McDonald’s All-American Game. BV Northwest was named by MaxPreps as one of the Top 25 public schools in the decade.

Two Huskies were names Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year – Clayton Custer (2014) and Christian Braun (2019). State titles were 2013 (25-0), 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

2010-2020
Kansas Class 6A state tourney appearances – 10; State finalist – 8; State titles – 5 (2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019)

One of the long-time coaches in Kansas City, Hair has served as the head coach of Shawnee Mission East for 24 years. The Lancers have posted a Kansas Class 6A title game appearance and two other semifinal appearances, as Hair has tallied over 400 career wins.

Heitman finished just his seventh season as the Rams head man, but has posted a strong resume with a 122-67 record, including the Missouri Class 3 state title in 2018, and third-place finish in 2017. The three-year span in 2015-2018 ran up 20+ wins each with a 72-17 run.

2014-2020
20-win seasons – 3; Class 3 3rd Place (2017); Class 3 State Title (2018)

Hilbert has endured the ups-and-downs of being at the helm with the Broncos since the start of the century, but some great seasons with two Missouri Class 5 third-place finishes (2011, 2019) and two other final eight runs.

2010-2020
District titles – 3; Class 5 3rd Place – 2 (2011, 2019)

Um, this is in alphabetical order, and this was Part 1 of 4. So probably at the letter Z, we all can guess where "Z"ych will be in. Well, most of us, that is.