I had a brief discussion about this the other day, and it got me thinking. Who is the best coach in college basketball history?
Use any criteria you deem important, just pick the guy who you think is the best.
Wooden IMO. All of those titles.
(04-25-2023 01:47 PM)HartfordHusky Wrote: [ -> ]Jim Calhoun
He's not a bad choice, IMO, once we take Wooden out of the picture. Three titles, and let's face it, really four IMO, and unlike just about anyone else with that many, he didn't step in to the shoes of a school with a legacy of hoops success. He built UConn from nothing, like Thompson did at Georgetown.
And some of the ways he did it! Beating what probably would have gone down as Coach K's best team in 1999, and the stupefying runs in the Big East and NCAA tournaments in 2011. Thrilling stuff!
A very difficult choice. But if I HAD to choose, I would likely go with the late legend: John Robert Wooden. Not only was he an elite X's and O's coach, but he was a strong motivator and skilled with the media and promoting his program. And he also did an excellent job of integrating his program with Black players at a time many programs failed in that regard.
It's so subjective that there is no right or wrong when we are talking about, say, the 10 most legendary coaches. Coach K, Knight, Boeheim, Calhoun, Rupp, etc. All legends
On a similar theme, what coach (current or former) who has had (or had) at least some involvement in the college game has enjoyed/enjoyed the most amazing/unusual overall career? I would vote for Larry Brown. His list of accomplishments is unmatched.
Wooden, and he did it without cheating or personal scandal.
(04-25-2023 05:35 PM)colohank Wrote: [ -> ]Wooden, and he did it without cheating or personal scandal.
Well he did have someone buy his players.
I'll still go with Wooden. Its close vs. Rupp
1. John Wooden
2. Adolph Rupp
3. Dean Smith
4. Phog Allen
5. Roy Williams
Honorable Mention: Herb Magee (Philadelphia Textile): a career mark of 1110-450, with just two sub-.500 seasons in 54 years of Division II teams.
As a player at Philadelphia Textile, he scored 2,235 points and averaged 24.3 ppg as a 5-10 guard.
(04-25-2023 05:35 PM)colohank Wrote: [ -> ]Wooden, and he did it without cheating or personal scandal.
No, Sam Gilbert took care of those things for him.
(04-25-2023 05:50 PM)bullet Wrote: [ -> ] (04-25-2023 05:35 PM)colohank Wrote: [ -> ]Wooden, and he did it without cheating or personal scandal.
Well he did have someone buy his players.
I'll still go with Wooden. Its close vs. Rupp
1. John Wooden
2. Adolph Rupp
3. Dean Smith
4. Phog Allen
5. Roy Williams
no way do Phog Allen's assistant coaches belong ahead of him.
(04-25-2023 06:41 PM)TeamRamRod1 Wrote: [ -> ] (04-25-2023 05:50 PM)bullet Wrote: [ -> ] (04-25-2023 05:35 PM)colohank Wrote: [ -> ]Wooden, and he did it without cheating or personal scandal.
Well he did have someone buy his players.
I'll still go with Wooden. Its close vs. Rupp
1. John Wooden
2. Adolph Rupp
3. Dean Smith
4. Phog Allen
5. Roy Williams
no way do Phog Allen's assistant coaches belong ahead of him.
And what about Phog’s old coach James Naismith? What a tree!
(04-25-2023 05:50 PM)bullet Wrote: [ -> ] (04-25-2023 05:35 PM)colohank Wrote: [ -> ]Wooden, and he did it without cheating or personal scandal.
Well he did have someone buy his players.
I'll still go with Wooden. Its close vs. Rupp
1. John Wooden
2. Adolph Rupp
3. Dean Smith
4. Phog Allen
5. Roy Williams
For the first 15 years of his tenure at UCLA, nobody was thinking of Wooden as a Hall of Fame coach. His record was good, but certainly not great. His teams won 69.5% of their games and reached the NCAAT five times where they had a 3-8 record in tournament play. Apparently he found the secret to being a great coach in his 16th season, winning 93.8% of the time and 10 nattys in his last 12 seasons. Makes you wonder what happened in 1963 to cause such a dramatic change.
(04-25-2023 05:06 PM)bill dazzle Wrote: [ -> ]A very difficult choice. But if I HAD to choose, I would likely go with the late legend: John Robert Wooden. Not only was he an elite X's and O's coach, but he was a strong motivator and skilled with the media and promoting his program. And he also did an excellent job of integrating his program with Black players at a time many programs failed in that regard.
It's so subjective that there is no right or wrong when we are talking about, say, the 10 most legendary coaches. Coach K, Knight, Boeheim, Calhoun, Rupp, etc. All legends
On a similar theme, what coach (current or former) who has had (or had) at least some involvement in the college game has enjoyed/enjoyed the most amazing/unusual overall career? I would vote for Larry Brown. His list of accomplishments is unmatched.
Larry Brown, he's had some kind of career. Also a great coach ofc, certainly one of the all-timers.
I'll make the case for Coach K.
- 5 titles, 2nd only to Wooden. If you think someone is better than either of these 2 then let's compare resumes.
- 13 final 4's -4 wins in each of those seasons at least, which is how many Wooden had to win for a title
- 42 year track record, with strong success in every decade:
- first decade, 4 final 4's, 22 NCAAT wins
- 2nd decade, 2 Titles, 27 NCAAT wins
- 3rd decade, 2 Titles, 27 more NCAAT wins
- last decade (12 years), 1 title, 26 NCAAT wins
- 5 time Gold Medal winning National Team coach (twice as an assistant, including on the Dream Team)
- From 1996 to 2018, only finished one season before the NCAAT ranked outside of the top 10 in the final AP poll
He didn't fade at the end. He didn't stick around too long. He did it against a LOT stiffer competition than Wooden had to compete against. He had to win a lot more NCAAT games to win a title against that tougher competition, too. All of Wooden's Titles came in 16 team Tournaments; all of K's came in 64-68 team Tournaments. He was coveted by the best NBA teams for decades and passed up the greater money and exposure to stay at Duke. I think that he's probably the best Basketball Coach in the history of Basketball, though we could certainly have some lively discussions once we include Professional Coaches.
Coach K, Bobby Knight, Adolph Rupp, Jim Calhoun, Roy Williams
These guys are all great but John Wooden is still tops on my list. There's many more that belong in the conversation but these would be my Top 6.
Two of my personal favorites of all time were Tark and Chaney, for different reasons.
(04-25-2023 09:34 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote: [ -> ]I'll make the case for Coach K.
- 5 titles, 2nd only to Wooden. If you think someone is better than either of these 2 then let's compare resumes.
- 13 final 4's -4 wins in each of those seasons at least, which is how many Wooden had to win for a title
- 42 year track record, with strong success in every decade:
- first decade, 4 final 4's, 22 NCAAT wins
- 2nd decade, 2 Titles, 27 NCAAT wins
- 3rd decade, 2 Titles, 27 more NCAAT wins
- last decade (12 years), 1 title, 26 NCAAT wins
- 5 time Gold Medal winning National Team coach (twice as an assistant, including on the Dream Team)
- From 1996 to 2018, only finished one season before the NCAAT ranked outside of the top 10 in the final AP poll
He didn't fade at the end. He didn't stick around too long. He did it against a LOT stiffer competition than Wooden had to compete against. He had to win a lot more NCAAT games to win a title against that tougher competition, too. All of Wooden's Titles came in 16 team Tournaments; all of K's came in 64-68 team Tournaments. He was coveted by the best NBA teams for decades and passed up the greater money and exposure to stay at Duke. I think that he's probably the best Basketball Coach in the history of Basketball, though we could certainly have some lively discussions once we include Professional Coaches.
Coach K is in the top 5 and had a great coaching career. But he cannot match Coach Wooden. Coach Wooden never had a losing season in his 27 years at UCLA. He inherited a UCLA team that had only two winning seasons in the previous 17 seasons. The first 15 seasons they went 285-125 but did not win a national championship. In the last 12 years they won 10 times. In those days, only one team was allowed per conference, the conference champion. It is easier today to get into the tournament.
Coach K inherited a team that had been 73-24 over the previous three seasons under Bill Foster, including getting to the national championship game in 1978, losing to Kentucky. Coach K had two losing seasons in his first three seasons at Duke and was under a lot of pressure, especially considering what Foster had done the three previous seasons before he got hired. He turned it around, and only had one losing season after that, a 13-18 season in 1994-1995.
My Top Five:
1. Coach Wooden
2. Adolph Rupp
3. Dean Smith
4. Coach K
5. (tie) Bobby Knight, Jay Wright, Pete Newell
(04-25-2023 10:50 PM)SoCalBobcat78 Wrote: [ -> ] (04-25-2023 09:34 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote: [ -> ]I'll make the case for Coach K.
- 5 titles, 2nd only to Wooden. If you think someone is better than either of these 2 then let's compare resumes.
- 13 final 4's -4 wins in each of those seasons at least, which is how many Wooden had to win for a title
- 42 year track record, with strong success in every decade:
- first decade, 4 final 4's, 22 NCAAT wins
- 2nd decade, 2 Titles, 27 NCAAT wins
- 3rd decade, 2 Titles, 27 more NCAAT wins
- last decade (12 years), 1 title, 26 NCAAT wins
- 5 time Gold Medal winning National Team coach (twice as an assistant, including on the Dream Team)
- From 1996 to 2018, only finished one season before the NCAAT ranked outside of the top 10 in the final AP poll
He didn't fade at the end. He didn't stick around too long. He did it against a LOT stiffer competition than Wooden had to compete against. He had to win a lot more NCAAT games to win a title against that tougher competition, too. All of Wooden's Titles came in 16 team Tournaments; all of K's came in 64-68 team Tournaments. He was coveted by the best NBA teams for decades and passed up the greater money and exposure to stay at Duke. I think that he's probably the best Basketball Coach in the history of Basketball, though we could certainly have some lively discussions once we include Professional Coaches.
Coach K is in the top 5 and had a great coaching career. But he cannot match Coach Wooden. Coach Wooden never had a losing season in his 27 years at UCLA. He inherited a UCLA team that had only two winning seasons in the previous 17 seasons. The first 15 seasons they went 285-125 but did not win a national championship. In the last 12 years they won 10 times. In those days, only one team was allowed per conference, the conference champion. It is easier today to get into the tournament.
Coach K inherited a team that had been 73-24 over the previous three seasons under Bill Foster, including getting to the national championship game in 1978, losing to Kentucky. Coach K had two losing seasons in his first three seasons at Duke and was under a lot of pressure, especially considering what Foster had done the three previous seasons before he got hired. He turned it around, and only had one losing season after that, a 13-18 season in 1994-1995.
My Top Five:
1. Coach Wooden
2. Adolph Rupp
3. Dean Smith
4. Coach K
5. (tie) Bobby Knight, Jay Wright, Pete Newell
Bobby Knight
(04-26-2023 06:32 AM)goherd17 Wrote: [ -> ] (04-25-2023 10:50 PM)SoCalBobcat78 Wrote: [ -> ] (04-25-2023 09:34 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote: [ -> ]I'll make the case for Coach K.
- 5 titles, 2nd only to Wooden. If you think someone is better than either of these 2 then let's compare resumes.
- 13 final 4's -4 wins in each of those seasons at least, which is how many Wooden had to win for a title
- 42 year track record, with strong success in every decade:
- first decade, 4 final 4's, 22 NCAAT wins
- 2nd decade, 2 Titles, 27 NCAAT wins
- 3rd decade, 2 Titles, 27 more NCAAT wins
- last decade (12 years), 1 title, 26 NCAAT wins
- 5 time Gold Medal winning National Team coach (twice as an assistant, including on the Dream Team)
- From 1996 to 2018, only finished one season before the NCAAT ranked outside of the top 10 in the final AP poll
He didn't fade at the end. He didn't stick around too long. He did it against a LOT stiffer competition than Wooden had to compete against. He had to win a lot more NCAAT games to win a title against that tougher competition, too. All of Wooden's Titles came in 16 team Tournaments; all of K's came in 64-68 team Tournaments. He was coveted by the best NBA teams for decades and passed up the greater money and exposure to stay at Duke. I think that he's probably the best Basketball Coach in the history of Basketball, though we could certainly have some lively discussions once we include Professional Coaches.
Coach K is in the top 5 and had a great coaching career. But he cannot match Coach Wooden. Coach Wooden never had a losing season in his 27 years at UCLA. He inherited a UCLA team that had only two winning seasons in the previous 17 seasons. The first 15 seasons they went 285-125 but did not win a national championship. In the last 12 years they won 10 times. In those days, only one team was allowed per conference, the conference champion. It is easier today to get into the tournament.
Coach K inherited a team that had been 73-24 over the previous three seasons under Bill Foster, including getting to the national championship game in 1978, losing to Kentucky. Coach K had two losing seasons in his first three seasons at Duke and was under a lot of pressure, especially considering what Foster had done the three previous seasons before he got hired. He turned it around, and only had one losing season after that, a 13-18 season in 1994-1995.
My Top Five:
1. Coach Wooden
2. Adolph Rupp
3. Dean Smith
4. Coach K
5. (tie) Bobby Knight, Jay Wright, Pete Newell
Bobby Knight
Sad, but probably unsurprising, that Knight and K went from mentor-mentee to...well, not enemies, but certainly not friends, either.
https://www.si.com/college/2022/02/16/co...ewski-book