CBSSports: ranking college basketball coaches of all time

[BuffaloHusky]

Only Mark Few has come close to what Calhoun did among the Top 25 greatest coaches yet Few hasn't won a title (yet) and was at least provided a rudimentary blueprint from Don Monson. Calhoun through sheer talent and work ethic took a middling program and made it into a top 10 destination and added three titles on top of it. If this was baseball, it would be like the Cleveland Indians were contenders for 25 years and won three titles.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Only one i’d argue with is Bob Knight. Maybe could make an argument with Roy as well.

I’d rank Big John Thompson and Rollie Massimino as coaches and teachers of the game over Boeheim and Roy Williams any day.

 

[CallMeBruce]

This list absolutely sucks, and anyone who thinks Roy Williams was a better college basketball coach than Jim Calhoun eats paste. I will accept K over Calhoun, but that's it. Wooden cheated his balls off, and everyone else put up a comparable career to Calhoun despite much better circumstances. Boeheim doesn't belong in the top 25 coaches of all-time, guy is a complete fraud.

 

[uconnbill]

Wooden has to be one and hate to say it but I would have Coach K and Calhoun 2a and 2b as they are both great.

I know some don't like Knight but he would be 4 and 5 would be Dean Smith

 

[billybud]

Ask any non Husky guy....Calhoun or K ?....and they would look at you to assess the leg pull...

 

[TheChamps990411]

So I guess I am not in my right mind.

Youre not but i dont have a problem with it. Enjoy yourself.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Ask any non Husky guy....Calhoun or K ?....and they would look at you to assess the leg pull...

Aren’t you just some random Florida State fan who stumbled over here way back during conference realignment?

Nobody else has had a coach who was 2-0 against K in the Final Four. Maybe if they did, or had a real grasp of what JC built in Connecticut, the discussion wouldn’t go as you describe. That’s half the point we are collectively making here: even at 6, he is underrated. A true blue collar New Englander who didn’t come from Bob Knight’s coaching tree, who built everything he did from the dirt up.

 

[billybud]

Aren’t you just some random Florida State fan who stumbled over here way back during conference realignment?

Nobody else has had a coach who was 2-0 against K in the Final Four. Maybe if they did, or had a real grasp of what JC built in Connecticut, the discussion wouldn’t go as you describe. That’s half the point we are collectively making here: even at 6, he is underrated. A true blue collar New Englander who didn’t come from Bob Knight’s coaching tree, who built everything he did from the dirt up.

I get it that you are a Husky...and, in my statement I excepted UConn folks....but, it really is my belief that most folks would rank Coach K above Coach Calhoun.

I think my statement was a valid one....

Sure, K coached longer, but that is why folks rank him highly...

Tournament Game Wins
K.....94
C.....49

Final Four Appearances
K......12
C......4

Championships...
K.....5
C.....3

K...24 successive tournament appearances
........5 successive Final Fours

K also coached the US team to three Olympic gold medals and coached the teams that won two FIBA World Cups.

 

[Hoophound]

K should be ahead. However, he had his own tv network at ESPN helping him recruit. No one else had that.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I get it that you are a Husky...and, in my statement I excepted UConn folks....but, it really is my belief that most folks would rank Coach K above Coach Calhoun.

I think my statement was a valid one....

Sure, K coached longer, but that is why folks rank him highly...

Tournament Game Wins
K.....94
C.....49

Final Four Appearances
K......12
C......4

Championships...
K.....5
C.....3

K...24 successive tournament appearances
........5 successive Final Fours

K also coached the US team to three Olympic gold medals and coached the teams that won two FIBA World Cups.

what do you think successive means

 

[Rocktheworld]

I get it that you are a Husky...and, in my statement I excepted UConn folks....but, it really is my belief that most folks would rank Coach K above Coach Calhoun.

I think my statement was a valid one....

Sure, K coached longer, but that is why folks rank him highly...

Tournament Game Wins
K.....94
C.....49

Final Four Appearances
K......12
C......4

Championships
K.....5
C.....3

K...24 successive tournament appearances
........5 successive Final Fours

We know the numbers. Including how Puke had been to four Final Fours (including one 2 years before he started) and two Championship game appearances before K showed up. He was coaching that program at 33 while JC was about half way through his tenure at Northeastern; and when he was sitting at the end of Bob Knight’s bench, JC was in year 3 at northeastern.

One coach had a silver spoon and didn’t screw it up; the other built a top 5 program from truly nothing. They have similar winning percentages in the final four and JC is 2-0 head to head. So if we are talking “who do you want to…” build a program? Win one game? It’s not as crazy a discussion as you implied (yit yit you pullin my leg, Skeeter?) when parties are capable of looking past raw numbers. But sure, if the analysis stops at just numbers, there isn’t too much of a debate in that arena.

 

[Rocktheworld]

what do you think successive means

It’s quite synonymous with “consecutive”

 

[billybud]

what do you think successive means

Huh? Bruce...I don't follow...

 

[Dean Wormer]

what do you think successive means

In layman talk 5 successive Final Fours = 5 in a row.