Buzz in the "almost-made-it category" top 25 coaches

[Sir Lawrence]

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Sports/260852/

LIKE IT IS : Williams, with 2 titles in 6 years, college's best

WALLY HALL



Posted on Sunday, May 31, 2009


Just for fun, your trusty scribe polled a few guys in the sports department about the top 25 college basketball coaches in America.

With all due respect to Pat Summitt, clearly the winningest coach of all time, it was limited to men's basketball this time.

Here's my subjective opinion of the top 25 college basketball coaches today:

1. ROY WILLIAMS (North Carolina ) Seems to have reached that place where it is fun to coach, and it doesn't hurt when you win two national titles in six years.

2. TOM IZZO (Michigan State) A fiery competitor who seems to have the respect of all his peers. Excellent coach and good recruiter.

3. MIKE KRZYZEWSKI (Duke) If the Blue Devils could have gotten past the Sweet 16, Coach K would have been No. 1.

4. BILL SELF (Kansas) All he has done is win every place he has coached. He paid his dues before getting his dream job.

5. BEN HOWLAND (UCLA) Another guy who paid his dues, won and landed a legendary job. He'll win a national championship soon.

6. RICK PITINO (Louisville) Could be ranked better, but not worse. The man can flat-out coach. He's got off-court problems now, but his on-court success will prevail.

7. JOHN CALIPARI (Kentucky)

Honestly, he may move up after next season. The guy has to be the best recruiter ever. How does he do it?

8. MIKE ANDERSON (Missouri)

No one in the country gets his players to play harder every minute of every game.

9. JIM CALHOUN (Connecticut)

Doesn't have the national sexy name, but he's a Hall of Famer who has won 805 games.

10. JAMIE DIXON (Pittsburgh)

The former TCU player inherited a good job and made it into a great one.

11. JIM BOEHEIM (Syracuse) He's not easy to like, but it's hard to deny he can flat-out coach. His marriage to zone defense keeps him from being top 10.

12. TUBBY SMITH (Minnesota)

Like others, he has won everywhere he has been, and will continue to do so.

13. MARK FEW (Gonzaga) As a head coach for a decade, he has never failed to make the NCAA Tournament and has won 264 games.

14. SEAN MILLER (Arizona)

Young and aggressive, but the move to the Wildcats will determine his legacy.

15. TONY BENNETT (Virginia) A bit of a work in progress and he has a huge challenge, but he's from a coaching family and has a great work ethic.

16. BRUCE PEARL (Tennessee)

What can you say about the man who sweats his way through more suits than a two-for-one tailor? His kids play hard for him.

17. BILLY DONOVAN (Florida)

Would have been a top-10 pick except the Gators have slid mightily since winning back-toback championships.

18. TIM FLOYD (Southern Cal)

Either he needs more oneand-dones, or none, but he can coach.

19. ANDY KENNEDY (Ole Miss)

Might be the best game coach in the SEC. He coaches every pass, dribble and shot.

20. JEFF CAPEL (Oklahoma)

Definitely a work in progress, but he proved last year he can have a superstar and keep it a team game.

21. BO RYAN (Wisconsin) Has quietly built a contender at a football school.

22. RICK BARNES (Texas) The latest good coach to be burdened with the "can't win the big one" rap.

23. TRENT JOHNSON (LSU) A disciplined guy who did well with a John Brady-recruited team, but don't expect much drop-off.

24. THAD MATTA (Ohio State)

Not the most popular guy in the world, but he knows what to do.

25. BRUCE WEBER (Illinois) Another guy who paid his dues and knows how to build a program.

In no particular order, the almost-made-it category: Chris Lowery (Illinois State); Anthony Grant (Alabama); Tom Crean (Indiana); Gary Williams (Maryland); Buzz Williams (Marquette); Rick Majerus, (Saint Louis); Mike Montgomery (California); Bob Huggins, (West Virginia) and Lorenzo Romar, (Washington).

[VegasWarrior77]

Billy Donovan (and two national titles!) behind Tony Bennett???  No way...!

[Tugg Speedman]

Tim Floyd at 18?  Did he give hall a bag of money to make this list?

[cheebs09]

6. RICK PITINO (Louisville) Could be ranked better, but not worse. The man can flat-out coach. He's got off-court problems now, but his on-court success will prevail.



11. JIM BOEHEIM (Syracuse) He's not easy to like, but it's hard to deny he can flat-out coach. His marriage to zone defense keeps him from being top 10.

I have a feeling if he made a top broadcasters list he would put Digger Phelps at the top. Too bad he's not still coaching because he might have put him number one on this list.

[passion of da coach]

isnt chris lowery the coach at So. Illinois, not Ill State?

[lab_warrior]

Some staggeringly awful choices in this list...Tony Bennett and Andy Kennedy are JOKES, and Tim Floyd is pretty terrible, and how many tournament games has Trent Johnson won, 2?!  (Check that, 1 1/2, since he got booted.)  I would throw Tubby Smith in there, but he's at least won a title (albeit with Pitino's players).
Mike Anderson maybe belongs on the list, but not THAT high. 
And somebody should, yes, remind this Wally Hall yahoo that Lowery is the coach at Southern Illinois.  He performed some real crack research there.

[BrewCity83]

According to this guy, Buzz is either #5 or #6 in the Big East, ahead of Jay Wright!

[MU B2002]

Surprising that with all the complaints about this list nobody has mentioned #21.

[bma725]

I would throw Tubby Smith in there, but he's at least won a title (albeit with Pitino's players).

You're kidding right?  How many coaches have led four different schools to the NCAA Tournament, let alone taken places like Tulsa and Georgia to the Sweet Sixteen?    Don't buy into the UK theory that he can't coach, or can't recruit, that fanbase is delusional. Tubby is an excellent coach.  

Tulsa hadn't been to the NCAA Tournament in 4 years when he got there.  He took them to back to back Sweet Sixteens.

Georgia hadn't been to the NCAA Tournament in 5 years, he took them to the Sweet Sixteen his first year and had the only back to back NCAA Tournament appearances in school history.

Minnesota was a mess, and he got them to the NCAA in his second year.

For all the talk of his Kentucky win being with Pitino's players, let's remember who was on the team.  It was not the 1996 team of Walker, Anderson, Mercer, Delk, McCarty, Epps, Pope etc.  Every significant player from 1996 was gone.  While there was talent, it did not not compare to the 1996 team, or even the 1997 team that lost to Arizona with Ron Mercer.  Not one player on that 1998 team was a first team All American or a future lottery pick, making them the only team in the last 20 years not to have one.  The fact that he got them the title was a surprise, not a given based on the talent.

[DoubleMU0609]

So Roy Williams wins 2 national championships in 6 years, but Coach K would have been number 1 if he had made it to the elite 8 this year???

[MuMark]

The first 7 are fine. After that its pretty awful.


No Jay Wright? Andy Kennedy ahead of Bo Ryan? Anderson 8?

[GooooMarquette]

The first 7 are fine. After that its pretty awful.


No Jay Wright? Andy Kennedy ahead of Bo Ryan? Anderson 8?

I'm with you on the first 6, but not so sure about Cal (successful, yes, but the NCAA seems to show up just as he's on the way out the door).  You're absolutely right that it gets pretty awful after that.  Wright should be at least top 10 or 15, Ryan should probably be a bit higher than he is, and Kennedy has no business even reading this list, much less being on it.  Every single guy on the "almost made it" list deserves it more than Kennedy.  I also think Miller and especially Bennett are too high for what they've done so far.  Promising yes, but not yet top-15 caliber.

Guess we just can't count on the Arkansas Democrat Gazette for hard-hitting analysis like we used to, huh?

[TomW1365]

Tom Crean (Indiana); Buzz Williams (Marquette); Rick Majerus, (Saint Louis);
3 current/former MU coaches?!?  That's pretty cool.  It would be interesting to see a coaching family tree...  from assistant to head coach thing. 
Al McGuire> Rick Majeras>                             
Tom Izzo>Tom Crean>Buzz Williams

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

If there was a tree, I hardly think spending less than a year with jerkoff makes Buzz a branch. He's a Gillespie guy.

[dwaderoy2004]

Why, because he was an assistant under gillespie for a whopping TWO seasons? 

[4everwarriors]

I'd categorize Buzz as a twig off of dead driftwood.

[ATWizJr]

I'd categorize Buzz as a twig off of dead driftwood.

Well, that's very complimentary of you.

[wadesworld]

One thing I don't understand is how people bash Coach Cal being at number 7 for not having a National Championship but they say that Wright should be in the top 10.  I'm pretty sure Coach Cal has gone further in the NCAA Tournament than Wright has.

I really can't stand Coach Cal and I like Jay Wright, but you can't hold something against 1 guy but not hold it against another guy.  Coach Cal has done more as a coach than Jay Wright has.  I understand people don't like how he goes about his business, but strictly based on performance of his teams he deserves to be placed higher than Jay Wright, and I consider Jay Wright to be a very good coach.

[dsfire]

I'm pretty sure Coach Cal has gone further in the NCAA Tournament than Wright has.

Not if the NCAA has their way.

[wadesworld]

Not if the NCAA has their way.

Fair enough.  Like I said, I'm a fan of Jay Wright's and can't stand Coach Cal, but if you say Coach Cal isn't a top 10 coach because he's never won a National Championship then you can't claim that Jay Wright IS a top 10 coach.  If you want to claim Coach Cal isn't a top 10 coach because of the way he runs his programs then have at it with Jay Wright being a top 10 coach and Coach Cal not.

[GooooMarquette]

Fair enough.  Like I said, I'm a fan of Jay Wright's and can't stand Coach Cal, but if you say Coach Cal isn't a top 10 coach because he's never won a National Championship then you can't claim that Jay Wright IS a top 10 coach.  If you want to claim Coach Cal isn't a top 10 coach because of the way he runs his programs then have at it with Jay Wright being a top 10 coach and Coach Cal not.

I don't think Cal should be lower "because he's never won a National Championship."  I think he should be lower because he has shown a consistent pattern of bending rules (or at the very least, benefitting when someone else does), then leaving town as soon as the NCAA shows up.

Example:  Right now it appears that Derrick Rose never should have been eligible to play for Memphis.  Do you think they'd have been as good as they were last year without him?  Do you really think Cal should get full credit for what they did last year, if in fact they were led by a guy who never should have been eligible to play?  Do you think it matters whether Cal himself changed scores or grades, or simply benefitted from someone else doing it for him?  My answers:  No...No...and No.

Wright, on the other hand, has never given anyone reason to think that he's doing anything but following the rules.  As a result, unless and until it appears otherwise, he should get full credit for taking Nova to a new level.  I'm not necessarily sure if that means he goes ahead of Cal or not, but he most certainly belongs on the list, and probably in the top 10 or 15.

Edit:  By the way, a couple of people (me included) have said Cal should be lower, but I don't see anywhere where someone says he shouldn't be top 10.  And while it is universally agreed that Wright should be on the list, there are varying opinions as to how high -- most seem to agree top 15, but it isn't clear if everybody thinks he should be even higher.  My own opinion is somewhere in the 10 to 15 range.  You can certainly reconcile these two positions -- that Cal should be lower and Wright should be higher -- with a scenario where Cal would still be (slightly) ahead of Wright.

[lurch91]

10. Calapari
11. Wright

PS. I have been a fan of Tubbies for years.  Part of me wanted Tubby to come to Marquette last year, but knew it wouldn't happen.  The other part wanted Marquette to find a young coach that would help Marquette remain on the national scene, on the court and in recruiting.