If we manage to run the table...

[Tenspro2002]

where does that leave Geno in the pantheon of college basketball coaches?

I think a 9th championship and 5th undefeated season would elevate him above Pat Summitt and earn him the title of GOAT women's college basketball coach.

But where does that leave him in relation to John Wooden, who has 10 championships and 4 undefeated seasons? A close second? Not even close? What would it take for him to surpass Wooden, if anything? Is there anyone else in the conversation for top 2?

 

[sarals24]

Different sports, different GOATs. What Wooden did will never be equaled, but he was playing in a completely different era (no jumping to the pros, fewer games to win the tournament, etc) and I don't think that Geno's records will ever be equaled either. There's room for both.

 

[wire chief]

I suspect he'll be known to the public as the greatest singer of Nessun Dorma the bball world will
ever know, while chugging a glass of his own wine.
Remember the last line of the aria is "I shall win". Gurgle, gurgle.

 

[rford53]

Winning 9 championships and 5 undefeated seasons will make Geno the Greatest Women's Basketball Coach of all time. Pat will always be the first greatest and now Geno will be the latest greatest. Winning a 10th will end any arguments. He will stand alone, head and shoulders above all the rest.

 

[Suebird10fan]

Amazing thing about Ucla is how many close games they won. In the streak they won 14 games decided by ten or less, seven by five or less. Less dominant but in a certain way more remarkable.

 

[alexrgct]

Although winning #9 would be a significant, huge record, I don't think Geno needs to do it to have the title of greatest WCBB coach of all time. With all due respect to Pat Summit (and she's due a TON), Geno has won NCs the way Pat has and more. Rare is it that Pat won NCs with one or fewer losses. In fact, Geno has six such NCs. He's got equal or greater Olympic glory and a 90-game win streak. He's got a 70-game win streak too. The only record left is getting to 1,098 total victories, but if Geno coaches long enough, he'll do that.

In short, what Pat did to grow and legitimize the women's game should not be understated or ignored. But as astonishing as it all is, none of it makes her better than Geno, even now.

An 11th NC, one greater than Wooden, is probably one Geno cares about. Geno cared about 89 wins in a row, after all. I agree that the men's NCs from then versus women's NC now are apples and oranges, but if you just consider the magnitude of a dynasty over time, he would have done something no one has ever done. We're talking three NCs away, however- no small feat at all.

 

[MilfordHusky]

If we run the table, that gives us a 46-game winning streak, I believe. That would be about the 4th longest ever, with UConn already having the 1st and 2nd, plus a couple more of the top 10. Someone can look up the details, but the top 10 WCBB streaks are dominated by UConn.

 

[Kibitzer]

It's tricky enough to compare coaches' achievements in different sports but becomes unreasonable to factor in the differences in eras, given all of the variations that must be addressed.

Take men's college basketball, for example. Wooden had a great run at UCLA, but he had several years of only moderate success before he really got rolling and he was not confronted with the challenges faced later by other great HoF coaches. For one thing, it was relatively easy for UCLA to get to the Final Four back then and he had the luxury of keeping Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (nee Lew Alcindor) and Bill Walton for four years apiece. He also benefited from the generosity of a booster named Sam Gilbert. Coaches named Smith and Knight and Kryzyzewski have had a tougher row to hoe.

Similarly, although Pat Summitt set the bar high during her glorious tenure at Tennessee, for many of her early years she had an easier path to victories and championships than Geno has faced -- and overcome.

So let's just try to focus on "best coaches" of various sports for now.

For starters, Anson Dorrance jumps to the top of women's college soccer coaches with 29 NCAA championships (plus three runners-up) since 1982. Add Dan Gable, who coached 16 NCAA Championships in college wrestling at Iowa from 1976 to 1987.

Now, to answer the question posed by the OP, here are some reasonable goals/milestones that Geno could possibly attain:

A thousand victories during the 2016-2017 season. Eleven hundred by 2020.

A ninth NC soon (2014?) and eleven or more before 2020.​

Should Geno sustain his health and personal drive, these achievements would set him apart, like Dorrance and Gable, as supreme in his profession.

I believe he can do it. And I am among many who will pull for him every step along the way, from his current mere legendary status to ultimate immortality.

​

 

[uconnfan68]

Although winning #9 would be a significant, huge record, I don't think Geno needs to do it to have the title of greatest WCBB coach of all time. With all due respect to Pat Summit (and she's due a TON), Geno has won NCs the way Pat has and more. Rare is it that Pat won NCs with one or fewer losses. In fact, Geno has six such NCs. He's got equal or greater Olympic glory and a 90-game win streak. He's got a 70-game win streak too. The only record left is getting to 1,098 total victories, but if Geno coaches long enough, he'll do that.

In short, what Pat did to grow and legitimize the women's game should not be understated or ignored. But as astonishing as it all is, none of it makes her better than Geno, even now.

An 11th NC, one greater than Wooden, is probably one Geno cares about. Geno cared about 89 wins in a row, after all. I agree that the men's NCs from then versus women's NC now are apples and oranges, but if you just consider the magnitude of a dynasty over time, he would have done something no one has ever done. We're talking three NCs away, however- no small feat at all.

To quote another familiar coach, "it's doable".

 

[Sonny44]

Wouldn't you say that Pat's championships came at a time when there were fewer schools interested and serious and less competitive in WCBB? And far less money to throw at the sport.
Same even for Wooden?

 

[Kibitzer]

Wouldn't you say that Pat's championships came at a time when there were fewer schools interested and serious and less competitive in WCBB? And far less money to throw at the sport.
Same even for Wooden?

I said:

"t was relatively easy for UCLA to get to the Final Four back then. . . ."

"[F]or many of her early years she had an easier path to victories and championships [than Geno]. . . ."​

 

[Blakeon18]

One of the more amazing records in UConn's history under Geno is the 8-0 record in national championship games.

4-0 against LadyVol
2-0 against Louisville
1-0 against Oklahoma
1-0 against Stanford.

Pat is 8 and what? Maybe 8-5? Or perhaps she is undefeated against everybody else and 0-4 against UConn?

OT fact: The UConn guy-side is a not too shabby 3-0 in national championship games...Duke, Georgia Tech and Butler.

When Storrs gets to the biggest game of the year, they close the deal....11-0....and counting!

 

[Zorro]

Comparisons are odious.

 

[Phil]

Wouldn't you say that Pat's championships came at a time when there were fewer schools interested and serious and less competitive in WCBB? And far less money to throw at the sport.
Same even for Wooden?

This is true.

On the flip side, there were fewer resources in those eras.

Summitt didn't have an full-time assistant coach until Darsh in 1978, Pat's fifth year. There were some grad assistants Starting in 1977, but the coaching staff was far lower than today.

Recruiting was a whole different world, starting with the lack of assistants to take the trips, which worked out because there was no budget to send them. No dvds of performances showing up in the coach's in-box. No scouting services to help identify the players to recruit. This meant recruiting was regional, not national, with few exceptions.

 

[Phil]

Pat is 8 and what? Maybe 8-5? !

Pat is 8-5 in NCAA Championship games.

She also has two runner-up finishes in the AIAW Championships, in 1980 and 1981. (The media guide says ten runner-up finishes, I don't know where that number comes from)

 

[Phil]

Or perhaps she is undefeated against everybody else and 0-4 against UConn?

Runner-up to Southern Cal in 1984

 

[DobbsRover2]

Pat is 8-5 in NCAA Championship games.

She also has two runner-up finishes in the AIAW Championships, in 1980 and 1981. (The media guide says ten runner-up finishes, I don't know where that number comes from)

Number skills aren't necessarily that strong down there, but it's possible the guide statistician counted three of the regional runer-ups Pat had back in the 1980s and early 1990s, but she's had four or five more in the last 15 years. In 1923 and 1926 the Vols ended their season with their only lost game of the year, and it is possible that Pat was the coach back then since from what I understand she invented women's basketball.

 

[jdubct]

I think it's too close to call. PS will have more career wins. Geno will have more national championships. Without going head to head, it might take 2 or more national championships to make a clear call in Geno's favor and even then there would be many who would disagree.

 

[DobbsRover2]

I think it's too close to call. PS will have more career wins. Geno will have more national championships. Without going head to head, it might take 2 or more national championships to make a clear call in Geno's favor and even then there would be many who would disagree.

Geno and Pat went head-to-head many times in the tourney, and Geno came away with a huge advantage. The only claim Pat really has even now is as the best coach of the 1900s in WCBB, as any tie-breaker on the 8 and 8 NCs would be decided in his favor. If Geno's coaching tenure is as long as Pat's, he will also end up with more wins. More problematic about not having the most wins is that there is another UConn coach who does have the most wins in her sport, and if Nancy Stevens' gets the field hockey team on a big roll for more NC's, Geno may find himself being challenged for "the greatest" title on home grounds. He does have 5 more titles than Nancy, though she beat him to the first one by more than a decade.

 

[Icebear]

She, also, holds the career record for most wins.

 

[alexrgct]

I think it's too close to call. PS will have more career wins. Geno will have more national championships. Without going head to head, it might take 2 or more national championships to make a clear call in Geno's favor and even then there would be many who would disagree.

There will always be some who disagree, but the bottom line is that Geno has already won eight NCs in more impressive fashion than did Pat. As great a turnaround as 1997 was for the LVs after Kelly Jolly returned, they lost as many games in that season alone as Geno did in his eight championship seasons combined. Pat was 263-32 in championship seasons. Geno is 291-10. The point is that a championship season is a work of art, but doing so with perfection is a masterpiece. Geno's done it more times, and it's about having the vision and execution to build juggernauts. Pat gets credit for having her teams in the best position to play by tournament time, but Geno delivers teams that should (and do) win the tournament by tournament time.

To me, having more total victories (247 more until Sunday) is a legitimately impressive record, but it's clearly a function of coaching that much longer than Geno. Pat coached 11 seasons before Geno. During those same 11 seasons, UConn had exactly one with a winning record! So that's a legacy of 11 seasons, as well as a poor situation Geno inherited, which he turned around amazingly well over time. I think if Geno coaches seven more seasons after this one, he'll break that record.

As far as which record (NCs or total victories) is more important, we had to endure the LV fan refrain of 8>7 until that ceased to be true. I'm not seeing 1098>851 today.

 

[Phil]

I'm not seeing 1098>851 today.

I suspect it is being said, but thankfully they cloistered themselves in an echo chamber so no one can hear it.

 

[DobbsRover2]

I suspect it is being said, but thankfully they cloistered themselves in an echo chamber so no one can hear it.

Talking about clositered, after the the Vols decided to hide themselves away from both the Maya and Stewie eras, they would need egregious amounts of nerve to open their yaps about anything. They do hold the record for the biggest act of cowardice in WCBB history, however, so I guess they can hang a banner about that.

 

[EricLA]

One of the more amazing records in UConn's history under Geno is the 8-0 record in national championship games.

Pat is 8 and what? Maybe 8-5? Or perhaps she is undefeated against everybody else and 0-4 against UConn?

OT fact: The UConn guy-side is a not too shabby 3-0 in national championship games...Duke, Georgia Tech and Butler.

When Storrs gets to the biggest game of the year, they close the deal....11-0....and counting!

That's pretty much what my "signature" says whenever I post!

Anyhoo... I think most UCONN fans think Geno is the best ever, most Tennessee fans would say Pat is the best ever. One of the many interesting stats in the all time wins - Pat did it in 38 years. Hatchell has coached for 38 years also and is about 180 away from Pat. Stringer has coached for 42 years. But Vanderveer only 34 years. If she were to win 35 games or so in each of the next 4 seasons, she'd be at about 1,030 wins, the closest to Pat in the same amount of time.

However, Geno's been coaching for 28 years only. Give him 35 wins per season and he will be at 1,190 or so, approx 80 more wins than Pat during the same time. If he wins 1 NC every 3 years, he'd be at 12 (assuming he wins this year).

I'm not sure how much longer Hatchell, Stringer or Vanderveer will coach, but they all will come close to beating Pat's all time win record as well. I think once that happens, even if Geno has less than 1,000 wins, with more NC's, he will be seen as the GOAT.

But as others have pointed out, there are many factors that go into that. One other feather in Geno's cap I've not seen mentioned - US National and Olympic coach twice.

Sue Gunter was an asst, then HC of the national team. Pat Head was an asst and then HC of the national team. But only Geno was an asst, then HC twice of the national team for the Olympics.

 

[arty155]

If we manage to run the table...
where does that leave Geno in the pantheon of college basketball coaches?