Friday, December 09, 2005

Bracketology 101's Top 10 Coaches

This week's Top 10 ranks the best coaches in college basketball - some old, some new, some Hall of Famers, and some up-and-comers. As always, we welcome your comments, and we invite our readers to post their own lists. Enjoy...

Top 10 Coaches
Coaches were ranked on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale by the three voters. First place votes are in parentheses.

1. Mike Krzyzewski (Duke) 29 (2)
2. Jim Calhoun (UConn) 25
3. Tom Izzo (Michigan State) 23 (1)
4. Lute Olson (Arizona) 21
5. Bobby Knight (Texas Tech) 18
6. Jim Boeheim (Syracuse) 15
7. Rick Pitino (Louisville) 10
8. Roy Williams (North Carolina) 9
9. Eddie Sutton (Oklahoma State) 5
10. Tubby Smith (Kentucky) 5

Also receiving votes: Gary Williams (Maryland) 4, John Chaney (Temple) 1

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mine differ just a bit.

1. Mike Krzyzewski
2. Tom Izzo
3. Tubby Smith
4. Rick Pitino
5. Jim Calhoun
6. Lorenzo Romar
7. Paul Hewitt
8. Jim Boeheim (he’d be ranked #1 in terms of a quality wife)
9. Mark Few
10. Jay Wright

Just missed: Kelvin Sampson, Roy Williams, Bill Self, Lute Olson

Anonymous said...

These are all wonderful coaches, but there are two key omissions. Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan is the greatest coach in Division III history, and has won 100 games in four short years with the Badgers, including a couple of Big Ten titles. Last season, he nearly knocked off North Carolina in the regional final. And he does all of this with mostly non-blue chip players.

How about Washington State coach Dick Bennett? He took Wisconsin to the Final Four in 2000 (again, with players other programs didn't want), and his Cougars are winning Pac 10 games they haven't won in years. And if you asked any coach in America to invite ten coaches to a camp, most of them would invite Coach Bennett.

Anonymous said...

i agree with "andrew" - bo ryan has got to be up there. coach k is first, izzo a close second (he keeps beating coach k). the rest are purely hypothetical where they lay. all i can say is that i think the rest (in no particular order) are the following:

Mark Few
Bo Ryan
Jim Calhoun
Jim Boeheim
Roy Williams
Bobby Knight
Rick Pitino
Bruce Weber

Tubby is not as good as Pitino. Romar is not established yet. And Wright only came into being within the last year. Lute Olsen is the only person on this list who could be on it, but since he has had many disappointing marches, i don't see him in the top ten.

Anonymous said...

Here's my top ten, many of the same coaches, just in a slightly different order.

1. Coach K
2. Jim Calhoun
3. Roy Williams
4. Tom Izzo
5. Gary Williams
6. Jim Boeheim
7. Tubby Smith
8. Lute Olsen
9. Bill Self
10. Rick Pitino

I'm not sure how Gary didn't make the original top 10. You have to look at what he did not only at Maryland, turning around a team from probation and problems to 11 straight NCAA bids and a team constantly feared by all, but also at American University and BC before his revival of the program at Maryland.

Anonymous said...

Bill Self making any top ten list immediately invalidates anything else you may write.
Same for Paul Hewitt.

Bruce Weber should be on every top ten list right now.

Anonymous said...

Roy Williams.

Anonymous said...

Ummmm...Doesnt Conn. OWN Duke in the last 3 years (not to mention beating them in the '99 title game as well as ousting them in the '02 final four). If this is a list of the best coaches EVER then I agree with Coach K at the top, but if this is the best coaches RIGHT NOW then Calhoun wins going away.

Anonymous said...

I would also choose to remain anonymous when claiming anyone but Coach K occupy the top of the list...

Anonymous said...

If this were a "best ever" list, I think we would have to start with The Wizard of Westwood himself, Mr. John Wooden. Greatest coach of any sport ever. I don't foresee any active coach, including Coach K, approaching the records that the UCLA teams of the 60's/70's set.

Bracketology 101 said...

Thanks to everyone who has commented on the poll so far. Narrowing down the list of coaches to 10 was tough, especially when you have to consider "older" coaches vs. "newer" coaches, success in the Tournament, head-to-head matchups, building up of multiple programs, etc. You can make arguments for a bunch of other coaches to be listed as well.

Anyway, keep up the good posting and keep checking back for our latest lists and features.

Chris and Craig
Bracketology 101

Anonymous said...

While Coach K is clearly the best coach today, no matter what stat you give he will possibly go down as the most loved coach ever, but the success of old Johhny at UCLA is the type only accomplished in video games set on jv

Anonymous said...

did people forget about the two best coaches of all time? my list...

1 john wooden
2 dean smith
3 coach k
4 bobby knight
5 lute olson
6 jim calhoun
7 rick pitino

Anonymous said...

No List whether you are talking now or in the past can not have Bob Knight as your top 3 names. Like him or hate him, he is a great great coach. No team since his team back in the 70's has had an undeafeated season,plus all the money he has given back to both schools and the fast turn around of his current program. Any decent college program would love to have in on there staff

Anonymous said...

I believe you have to send some props to Pat Flannery (Bucknell). This guy gets his team to beat 4 top 25 teams in less than a 12 month span with a program that has only been giving scholarships for a couple years. A Patriot League team beating Kansas in the tourney . . . throw this guy a bone.

Anonymous said...

The best coach is in Omaha, NE. His name is Dana Altman. What he has done at Creighton is nothing short of amazing. Every year he has his teams in the post season.

Anonymous said...

OK. Coach MIKE KRZYZEWSKI. (right now and so forth) is the BEST and should be #1. (and im not only saying this because im a DUKE FAN :P) but if JOHN WOODEN was still coaching, doesnt matter where, he'd definitely be better than coach k.

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