Athlon: Top 50 CBB Coaches for 2015-2016

[tcf15]

In determining our top 50 coaches, we attempted to look at a variety of factor: Past success, regular season records, conference records, NCAA Tournament results, head-to-head rankings, team trends and records relative to the history of the program.

1. Coach K
2. Calipari
3. Izzo
4. Pitino
5. Bo Ryan
6. Self
7. Sean Miller
8. Tony Bennett
9. Gregg Marshall
10. Roy Williams
11. Boeheim
12. Beilein
13. Jay Wright
14. Thad Matta
15. Mark Few
16. Shaka
17. KO

Record at UConn: 72–33, 32–22 Big East/American
NCAA record: 6–0, one Final Four, one championship
Number to note: Under Ollie, UConn is 6–12 against KenPom top 100 teams in American Athletic Conference teams (10–14 including the league tournament).
Why he’s ranked here: The unlikely national championship run in 2014 vaulted Ollie to stardom. Apart from those three weeks, UConn has been mediocre. This should be a more typical season for a Huskies team wholly assembled under Ollie.​

18. Kruger
19. Huggins
20. Steve Fisher

http://athlonsports.com/college-basketball/ranking-top-50-college-basketball-coaches-2015-16

 

[OkaForPrez]

.680 W/L is mediocre?

 

[jfuchs91]

Boneyard meltdown forthcoming...

But seriously, I'm not sure how some of those guys are ahead of KO, who already has a championship to his name in his first three seasons at the helm. He's also killing it on the recruiting trail right now, and has been one of the hottest names from NBA suitors.

We're going to make a lot of these lists look stupid this year and in the coming years. UConn is still a national powerhouse in basketball.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I have a hard time disagreeing with that assessment. Hopefully this year KO will make a case for being closer to the Top 10 and we can return, finally, to having a more typical "in contention" year ("dominant" is too great a stretch).

 

[OkaForPrez]

Off the top of my head, Ollie is 6-6 vs. coaches ranked ahead of him right?

0-1 vs. K
1-0 vs. Squid
2-0 vs. Izzo
0-4 vs. Pitino
1-1 vs. Wright
1-0 vs. Boheim

 

[James]

tony bennett, same guy who went 500 his first two years at uva...they should ask izzo what he thinks of KO's in game coaching ha.

 

[Leebo]

.680 W/L is mediocre?

Are you including the 2014 NCAA tournament in that?

Removing those wins, I get 66-33, or .666, but the number alone doesn't really capture some of the disappointing stretches.

 

[upstater]

I don't see any disappointments. Guy has been a miracle worker given the sanctions on the program and falling into the AAC. How many of those coaches above him could have survived let alone thrived in the situation he was in? Not many at all.

 

[Leebo]

I don't see any disappointments. Guy has been a miracle worker given the sanctions on the program and falling into the AAC. How many of those coaches above him could have survived let alone thrived in the situation he was in? Not many at all.

If you genuinely weren't disappointed with a first round NIT loss season, then I won't try to convince you you should be, but I think it's fair to say we generally felt disappointed.

 

[Kembacity]

I wouldn't be surprised if this is already printed out and hung up on the wall across from KO's desk. I hope it is at least because nothing seems to motivate UConn Huskies like low expectations or being forgotten

 

[aceboon]

I was disappointed in last year, but I can also see why it happened, KO basically lost out on 2 years of recruiting classes b/w the sanctions/ban and interim coaching tag, and that contributed to the weakened roster.

 

[huskiesNhoos]

tony bennett, same guy who went 500 his first two years at uva...they should ask izzo what he thinks of KO's in game coaching ha.

UVA was a mess before Bennett came around. Back-to-back regular season champs and a conference tourney championship in a very good ACC earns him plenty of respect. Uconn has yet to get a regular season or conference tourney championship under KO in a mediocre-goodish AAC

 

[Inyatkin]

Here's someone else trying to "Yeah, but" about a freaking national championship, as if those things grow on trees.
There's no "apart from those three weeks." It happened. It's on the record and it matters. Half the guys ahead of him would kill to have an "apart from those three weeks"
And by the way, we were pretty good with a severely undermanned 2013 team and in the top 10 early in 2014.

 

[James]

UVA was a mess before Bennett came around. Back-to-back regular season champs and a conference tourney championship in a very good ACC earns him plenty of respect. Uconn has yet to get a regular season or conference tourney championship under KO in a mediocre-goodish AAC

sure uconn wasn't in a mess at all when ko took over, you know, other than a mass exodus of transfers and the stepping down of a legend (and other ncaa sanctions) . Uconn was as doomed as uva ever was.

I'm not saying bennett is a bad coach, but I dont see any separation between him and KO as far as X+O's , in game adjustments and over all basketball philosophy... definitely not enough to warrant a 7 spot difference.

This list is a joke everybody in ncaab knows KO is a hot commodity and one of the best coaches in the country.

 

[upstater]

If you genuinely weren't disappointed with a first round NIT loss season, then I won't try to convince you you should be, but I think it's fair to say we generally felt disappointed.

Given what we had coming back and our youth, no. Wasn't surprised at all by that. UConn has had much more talented teams in the NIT under Calhoun, and he was a legend.

I still say Ollie has not only done a much better job than anyone could have expected. More than that, it has been astonishing.

 

[selles]

I was disappointed in last year, but I can also see why it happened, KO basically lost out on 2 years of recruiting classes b/w the sanctions/ban and interim coaching tag, and that contributed to the weakened roster.

I agree 100%. I am starting to get annoyed though with this narrative that's seeping into some national media that KO's been mediocre other than 3 weeks of catching lightning in a bottle.

2013 was an amazing coaching job given all that happened coming into the season, the postseason ban, and the depleted roster. He beat Michigan State to open, beat Providence with RJ Evans playing 44 minutes to close, won 20 games, and got the team to play hard all year despite having no postseason aspirations. In context, that was anything but mediocre.

In 2014, we were 26-8 with several name OOC wins entering the tournament. Sure it would have been nice to handle Louisville and SMU better, but any way you slice it that's a very solid year. And, of course, we did win the national title. That was pretty good.

Last year was disappointing, but as you say it was understandable.

Anyway, the concept that it's been a mediocre 3 years except for the 2014 tourney is ridiculous and I look forward to KO putting the kibosh on it this year.

 

[aceboon]

I agree 100%. I am starting to get annoyed though with this narrative that's seeping into some national media that KO's been mediocre other than 3 weeks of catching lightning in a bottle.

2013 was an amazing coaching job given all that happened coming into the season, the postseason ban, and the depleted roster. He beat Michigan State to open, beat Providence with RJ Evans playing 44 minutes to close, won 20 games, and got the team to play hard all year despite having no postseason aspirations. In context, that was anything but mediocre.

In 2014, we were 26-8 with several name OOC wins entering the tournament. Sure it would have been nice to handle Louisville and SMU better, but any way you slice it that's a very solid year. And, of course, we did win the national title. That was pretty good.

Last year was disappointing, but as you say it was understandable.

Anyway, the concept that it's been a mediocre 3 years except for the 2014 tourney is ridiculous and I look forward to KO putting the kibosh on it this year.

Yea, the 2012-2013 team was like 19-7 before an already thin roster got gutted with the injuries to Bazz, Omar, Giffey, and Olander. That was a very good year and then the CBS crew just dismisses it as a mediocre season with KO at the helm. It was also furthering this now changed narrative that KO was handed some talented roster and a steady running ship, while those same hacks were writing that he was destined to fail when he took over after all of the defections.

 

[gwhuskyfan]

Get to go up against 4 of these teams next year. Time for Ollie to show who's boss.

 

[ctchamps]

Given what we had coming back and our youth, no. Wasn't surprised at all by that. UConn has had much more talented teams in the NIT under Calhoun, and he was a legend.

I still say Ollie has not only done a much better job than anyone could have expected. More than that, it has been astonishing.

Speak for yourself. I had ten toes in from the get go. Only scrappy beats me in the irrational exuberance department.

 

[huskiesNhoos]

sure uconn wasn't in a mess at all when ko took over, you know, other than a mass exodus of transfers and the stepping down of a legend (and other ncaa sanctions) . Uconn was as doomed as uva ever was.

I'm not saying bennett is a bad coach, but I dont see any separation between him and KO as far as X+O's , in game adjustments and over all basketball philosophy... definitely not enough to warrant a 7 spot difference.

This list is a joke everybody in ncaab knows KO is a hot commodity and one of the best coaches in the country.

The Uconn program was certainly in a bad situation, but the team was good. KO had daniels, bazz, boat, giffey, olander (laugh, but he gave us good minutes on 2 NC teams), grad senior Evans, and a good freshman Calhoun when he first came in. The cupboard was not exactly bare...

At the expense of bringing up the stupid NC vs reg season success argument, KO has some work to do. He clearly can coach with the best of them (and win), but to gain more respect he's got to start having success in the regular season. I don't doubt in another couple years KO will be sitting pretty in the top 5 or so (depending on guys like ryan, K, boeheim still being around). Don't get me wrong, I would be totally fine if we we never won a conference title, but continued bringing home NC's...obviously I would prefer that wasn't the case, and we dominated the conference, too. It's just outside the program we would not have the respect we think we deserve due to NC's being "flukes." The NC in '11 not as much, but the one in '14 is downsized by a lot of people outside the program due to both being unimpressive in conference. Obviously it's stupid that people see it that way, but that's typically the national perception of those teams

 

[OkaForPrez]

Speak for yourself. I had ten toes in from the get go. Only scrappy beats me in the irrational exuberance department.

Like for use of irrational exuberance.

 

[selles]

The NC in '11 not as much, but the one in '14 is downsized by a lot of people outside the program due to both being unimpressive in conference. Obviously it's stupid that people see it that way, but that's typically the national perception of those teams

If you're talking about the media seeing it that way, maybe. In my experience the perception regular people have at this point is 'don't f with UConn in the tournament'. We've earned that perception, and I'm delighted with it.

 

[CTBasketball]

I don't see how he's not top 15. Top 10 is pushing it IMO.

 

[8893]

Speak for yourself. I had ten toes in from the get go. Only scrappy beats me in the irrational exuberance department.

C'mon man, you know I was driving the Ollie train from Day 1.

 

[superjohn]

The Uconn program was certainly in a bad situation, but the team was good. KO had daniels, bazz, boat, giffey, olander (laugh, but he gave us good minutes on 2 NC teams), grad senior Evans, and a good freshman Calhoun when he first came in. The cupboard was not exactly bare...

At the expense of bringing up the stupid NC vs reg season success argument, KO has some work to do. He clearly can coach with the best of them (and win), but to gain more respect he's got to start having success in the regular season. I don't doubt in another couple years KO will be sitting pretty in the top 5 or so (depending on guys like ryan, K, boeheim still being around). Don't get me wrong, I would be totally fine if we we never won a conference title, but continued bringing home NC's...obviously I would prefer that wasn't the case, and we dominated the conference, too. It's just outside the program we would not have the respect we think we deserve due to NC's being "flukes." The NC in '11 not as much, but the one in '14 is downsized by a lot of people outside the program due to both being unimpressive in conference. Obviously it's stupid that people see it that way, but that's typically the national perception of those teams

Shabazz and Boat were great college guards and Daniels and Giffey were very good college players but Olander and RJ Evans are not guys that would have ever gotten UConn scholarships without the troubles the NCAA handed down to us and would never get a sniff at any other top 10 type programs.