Mid-Major Madness Reacts Survey: Which college basketball coach has a Minecraft city?

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NCAA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Mid-Major fans and fans across the country.

For the last 12 years, former Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin would come home from work and boot up a PlayStation, load into Minecraft’s creative mode, and get building.

Last week, Tomlin revealed to the world an extremely detailed, thought-out, and impressive Minecraft city that he built from scratch, building-by-building and road-by-road. He showed off some of the downtown apartments, describing his “view-conscious” approach where he tries to preserve city views for his residents. His city includes stadiums, mixed-use zoning, and each building has something that makes it unique – like a speakeasy.

People on social media loved it, but Tomlin’s son, Mayce, had seemingly been preparing for the moment that his father would show off his city for years. He had a few tweets in the chamber.

“IM SEEING A LOT OF PEOPLE SAY THEY WANNA LIVE IN MIKE TOMLIN’S MINECRAFT CITY,” he wrote. “WHAT IM NOT SEEING IS ANYONE ASKING WHAT HAPPENED TO THE VILLAGERS THAT USED TO LIVE THERE.”

Given Minecraft’s popularity, Tomlin is likely far from the only prominent person who plays on his own time, but it also makes sense why Tomlin plays the way that he does. His head coaching style was often described as ‘CEO-style’ given his penchant for man-management and organizational alignment that shows a big-picture thinking, but also the detail-oriented approach that is necessary for all coaches.

So which college basketball coach is most likely to have a Minecraft city – although none are as good as Tomlin’s.

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Matt Majkrzak

We already know that Northern Illinois head coach Matt Majkrzak plays video games. He told me on the Brackets, Bubbles, and Bid Stealers podcast that he used Northern Illinois in an NCAA Basketball dynasty mode back when he was a kid. He then got addicted to Hardwood Empire earlier in the year.

But he’s also an absolute control freak. Majkrzak attempts to script out each possession of every game. Given his Wisconsin roots, one can imagine him having some excellent designs for pubs and bars in mind. You have to think he might have a side hustle.

Grant Leonard

I feel like every time I ask a “which coach is most likely to…” question, Queens University’s Grant Leonard is the first one that comes to mind. Perhaps it’s because he’s always retweeting Mid-Major Madness on Twitter, but perhaps it’s because he truly has the capacity to think about everything.

I wouldn’t be shocked if he hid a whole universe of deep thought from us, including a Minecraft city.

Greg Kampe

How amazing would it be if Oakland’s long-time head coach Greg Kampe had a Minecraft city. You don’t coach at one program for more than four decades without being able to adapt with the times. Kampe can certainly do that. After all, he was voted as the sexiest mid-major coach back in 2022.

Other coaches worth a mention

Corey Gipson

I’d imagine that Corey Gipson’s city looks different from Tomlin’s. The Austin Peay head coach embraced his school’s military roots, doing much more than just wearing fatigues on the sidelines, as our Drew Gentile explained this offseason.

Gipson could be spending some of his free time building a military base on Minecraft as a continued sign of respect for his school.

John Gallagher

When current Manhattan head coach John Gallagher was at Hartford, he was all about the neighborhood. The culture that he built over a decade–plus with the Hawks was based on something that his father told him.

“When you need something, you don’t look in the Yellow Pages, you call someone in the family or in the neighborhood,” he told Mid-Major Madness in 2020.

Now, one can imagine Gallagher using a PlayStation or Xbox that he bought for his kids to build an idyllic neighborhood for himself on Minecraft modeled after that culture.

Richie Riley

Richie Riley is all about zone. The South Alabama head coach has his Jaguars playing a super unique zone that allows essentially no drives to the basket and paint touches. That’s how South Alabama has allowed by far the most 3-point attempts in the country each of the last two seasons.

Perhaps he takes his zone defense from a fascination with zoning, and has created a well-zoned Minecraft city.

So, which coach do you think is most likely?