ESPN: Top 50 College Hoops Coaches

[tcf15]

Which coaches are doing the best job right now?

We've been thinking about that question this offseason, looking for the best way to quantify the answer. Luckily, we've got ESPN Forecast. Last week, we asked a panel of nearly 100 ESPN writers, editors, broadcasters and researchers to rate college basketball coaches on all aspects of running a program, on a scale of 1-10. (The crucial distinction here is that the prompt was not career-oriented. This isn't about legacy. It's all about the present.) We compiled their scores and ranked the names, and now comes the fun part: The big reveal.

http://espn.go.com/ncb/notebook/_/page/top50coaches50-25/top-50-coaches

The only released the first 25, and there was no Kevin Ollie. The top 25 will be released tomorrow, and he should make the list

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

If they stay true to their word and this is NOT about legacy then KO should be top 5.

I still don't get the Pastner and Cronin love here.

 

[EricLA]

If they stay true to their word and this is NOT about legacy then KO should be top 5.

I still don't get the Pastner and Cronin love here.

Agree. If it's truly "which coaches are doing the best right now", the KO should be near the top. After all, in his first season, with barely a contract and a team ineligible for the post season (not to mention transfers), he led them to a 20 win season that would have had them NCAA bound any other year. In his 2nd season, he wins the NC.

 

[CallMeBruce]

If they stay true to their word and this is NOT about legacy then KO should be top 5.

I still don't get the Pastner and Cronin love here.

I don't think that having Pastner at 42 or Cronin at 27 is unreasonable. It's not like they're bad coaches. They just are clearly not elite coaches.

What's the guess on where Ollie lands? I'm thinking anything outside of the top 10 would look pretty silly, but I'm not sure he fits into the top 5. For #1, I'm guessing they go with Donovan, Izzo, or Coach K. I figure they'll be the top three, with Pitino and Calipari rounding out the top 5. There's no one else I can think of that I'd for sure put ahead of Ollie. Maybe Bill Self? Roy Williams (though that would be kind of lame)? I'd better not see Boeheim ahead of him. Larry Brown is a tricky one. I'm not sure how he'll get rated. I could see him at like 20, but I could also see him in the top 5. I hope that Hoiberg is in the top 10-15. I really like him.

 

[James]

I will lose my if somebody like sean miller is placed above him, which I doubt.. Pastner is equal to sean miller IMO , he should be coaching his dream job zona. I can totally see them snubbing him out of top 5 and saying , "let's see him win with his own players"

 

[CallMeBruce]

I will lose my if somebody like sean miller is placed above him, which I doubt.. Pastner is equal to sean miller IMO , he should be coaching his dream job zona. I can totally see them snubbing him out of top 5 and saying , "let's see him win with his own players"

Keep in mind that only 5 coaches fit into the top 5. Could you really be mad if Ollie were #6 behind Izzo, Donovan, Coach K, Pitino, and Calipari? All of those guys have championship pedigrees and long track records of a lot of success.

I'd be really surprised if Miller were ahead of Ollie, given Miller's relative lack of postseason success. It feels great to write that, because I remember being very jealous of Arizona getting Miller to replace Olson when I was really worried about what was going to happen to UConn post-Calhoun.

 

[huskies20]

Larry Brown is the most interesting to me. His success at Kansas and UCLA were obviously impressive, but he is taking SMU to a place where they would not have thought they could be 5 years ago. I am more interested to see where they put Boeheim than where they put KO just because he has the numbers, but not much of anything else. I would not be shocked if they put him and KO tied for 7 behind K, Izzo, Billy the kid, Pitino, Cal and maybe Larry Brown.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Keep in mind that only 5 coaches fit into the top 5. Could you really be mad if Ollie were #6 behind Izzo, Donovan, Coach K, Pitino, and Calipari? All of those guys have championship pedigrees and long track records of a lot of success.

I'd be really surprised if Miller were ahead of Ollie, given Miller's relative lack of postseason success. It feels great to write that, because I remember being very jealous of Arizona getting Miller to replace Olson when I was really worried about what was going to happen to UConn post-Calhoun.

It wouldn't be outrageous to have KO behind those guys. But the column did say that legacy wasn't being considered. Leaves a lot of room for ambiguity, but KO is right there. If Roy Williams is ahead of KO that might light my arse up.

 

[aceboon]

not really a big deal but I don't get how Pastner is ahead of Drew, they're both considered more as recruiters than coaches but Drew has way more tourney success

 

[CallMeBruce]

It wouldn't be outrageous to have KO behind those guys. But the column did say that legacy wasn't being considered. Leaves a lot of room for ambiguity, but KO is right there. If Roy Williams is ahead of KO that might light my arse up.

It's a weird question, because I'm not sure how to differentiate between "legacy" and "track record." As much as I love KO, I can't blame a neutral observer from wanting to see more than two years of data, especially since they've only been eligible for the postseason for one year. At this point, KO is like a talented rookie who pinch-hit in the bottom of the 9th and hit a 500-foot home run off of Mariano Rivera. This year was amazing, and his growth as a tactician was visible over the course of the season. It's still only one data point, though, so he's a really hard guy to rank. As I said, I'd be pretty annoyed if he weren't in the top 10, and there are a couple of guys (Williams, and especially Boeheim) who I think might get put ahead of him, but it would be pretty stupid if they were.

 

[Husky25]

Can Calipari really be that high? He leaves teams on probation and recruits a lot of one-and-dones. He may be the best talent accumulator, but the very fact that his teams have vacated, not 1, but 2 Final Fours goes a long way for me to push him down the list a bit.

In no particular order, the top 5 are probably Roy Williams, Coach K, Donovan, Pitino and Izzo.

Boehiem gets knocked down a few notches by virtual of playing 99% zone defense and bending over backwards to avoid playing a real OOC opponent outside the geographic boarders of New York State.
Hoiberg, Larry Brown, Beilein, Amaker, and Shaka Smart all have a claim to a top 10 spot. My guess is Ollie will be somewhere between 11 and 20. He hasn't been on the job long enough, National Championship notwithstanding.

 

[HomeKing93]

I think KO should be in the top 5, especially considering the fact that KO won a title with no McD AAs. Is there any active coach that can say that?

 

[UMass]

If they stay true to their word and this is NOT about legacy then KO should be top 5.

I still don't get the Pastner and Cronin love here.

If you look at the list of the 25 who missed the cut, Bruce Pearl is there and he hasn't coached a game yet. I'm guessing this will be based on legacy

 

[CallMeBruce]

Can Calipari really be that high? He leaves teams on probation and recruits a lot of one-and-dones. He may be the best talent accumulator, but the very fact that his teams have vacated, not 1, but 2 Final Fours goes a long way for me to push him down the list a bit.

In no particular order, the top 5 are probably Roy Williams, Coach K, Donovan, Pitino and Izzo.

Boehiem gets knocked down a few notches by virtual of playing 99% zone defense and bending over backwards to avoid playing a real OOC opponent outside the geographic boarders of New York State.
Hoiberg, Larry Brown, Beilein, Amaker, and Shaka Smart all have a claim to a top 10 spot. My guess is Ollie will be somewhere between 11 and 20. He hasn't been on the job long enough, National Championship notwithstanding.

Calipari has a troubled history, but he's already been to three Final Fours with Kentucky, so I'm not sure I could put him outside of the top 5. I wouldn't be shocked to see him at #1. I think Williams in the top 5 is too high, but I get it. He's been a pretty consistent winner for a good while now. He just doesn't "feel" like a great coach to me.

 

[kobe]

If they stay true to their word and this is NOT about legacy then KO should be top 5.

I still don't get the Pastner and Cronin love here.

He rebuilt a program that was in a worse situation than Indiana when Crean took over. He is a deep tournament run away from being a top 20 coach...

 

[CallMeBruce]

If you look at the list of the 25 who missed the cut, Bruce Pearl is there and he hasn't coached a game yet. I'm guessing this will be based on legacy

In the sense that a guy's legacy is instructive as to how good he is now, you have to consider it somewhat. Otherwise it's just a list of how good a year each guy had last season. In Pearl's case, I wouldn't be remotely surprised if he were top 15 if you did this in two years.

 

[SixRings]

Calipari is probably in the top 5. Has the NC and final fours. After the last few years I don't really mind anything he does - it looks better on us.

Agree with 25 that Boehiem should be knocked down but he probably wont be seeing he is ACC and this ESPN. Doesn't really matter. This is just another crap analysis to crown coach K with something else.

Although, if you don't consider legacy than wouldn't KO be #1? Who has coached better since the last games played? I hope like hell he is in the top 10. He has coached 2 phenomenal seasons in row now.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Calipari is probably in the top 5. Has the NC and final fours. After the last few years I don't really mind anything he does - it looks better on us.

Agree with 25 that Boehiem should be knocked down but he probably wont be seeing he is ACC and this ESPN. Doesn't really matter. This is just another crap analysis to crown coach K with something else.

Although, if you don't consider legacy than wouldn't KO be #1? Who has coached better since the last games played? I hope like hell he is in the top 10. He has coached 2 phenomenal seasons in row now.

Brennan is not a Duke homer, at all. He's the guy who did the "best NBA players by school since 1989" thing last year, and he had UConn ahead of Duke (also Georgetown and UNC).

 

[Husky25]

Calipari has a troubled history, but he's already been to three Final Fours with Kentucky, so I'm not sure I could put him outside of the top 5. I wouldn't be shocked to see him at #1. I think Williams in the top 5 is too high, but I get it. He's been a pretty consistent winner for a good while now. He just doesn't "feel" like a great coach to me.

That doesn't surprise me given the talent he accumulated. But the original post indicates the rank is based on running the program as a whole. That means academic matriculation, possible probationary offenses, and team performance in addition to recruiting. Out of 6 Freshman from the 2010-11 Final 4, only two (a redshirt and a former walk on) played in the 2013-14 season, and sparingly at that.

 

[CallMeBruce]

That doesn't surprise me given the talent he accumulated. But the original post indicates the rank is based on running the program as a whole. That means academic matriculation, possible probationary offenses, and team performance in addition to recruiting. Out of 6 Freshman from the 2010-11 Final 4, only two (a redshirt and a former walk on) played in the 2013-14 season, and sparingly at that.

I'm not sure about that. They didn't say anything about players graduating. Keeping a good APR just means keeping guys eligible and on pace to graduate if they stick around. Not to mention that the UMass and Memphis issues are years ago and neither was every directly tied to Calipari. I'm not naive enough to think he's innocent, but I doubt they'll really be held against him.

The bottom line by anyone's measure (including the video promo) is winning, especially in the tournament. Calipari has 3 and a title in the last four years, and he's been the dominant recruiter in college basketball by a comfortable margin since he got to Kentucky. The more I think about it, the more I think he takes the top spot, especially with Coach K suffering ugly, embarrassing first-round losses in two of the last three years.

 

[Husky25]

I'm not sure about that. They didn't say anything about players graduating. Keeping a good APR just means keeping guys eligible and on pace to graduate if they stick around. Not to mention that the UMass and Memphis issues are years ago and neither was every directly tied to Calipari. I'm not naive enough to think he's innocent, but I doubt they'll really be held against him.

The bottom line by anyone's measure (including the video promo) is winning, especially in the tournament. Calipari has 3 and a title in the last four years, and he's been the dominant recruiter in college basketball by a comfortable margin since he got to Kentucky. The more I think about it, the more I think he takes the top spot, especially with Coach K suffering ugly, embarrassing first-round losses in two of the last three years.

Program as a whole means exactly that to me. #1, I think APR is a stupid tool, particularly as it is defined. Calipari is the CEO of the Basketball program. Similar to the NCAA charge on Calhoun for not promoting an environment of compliance, I thought at the time how is he supposed to know everything his assistants are doing? But he is. It is all his responsibility.

Let's find out if it means the same to the folks at ESPN...

 

[CallMeBruce]

Program as a whole means exactly that to me. #1, I think APR is a stupid tool, particularly as it is defined. Calipari is the CEO of the Basketball program. Similar to the NCAA charge on Calhoun for not promoting an environment of compliance, I thought at the time how is he supposed to know everything his assistants are doing? But he is. It is all his responsibility.

Let's find out if it means the same to the folks at ESPN...

APR is stupid, but in terms of what a coach's job is (to keep the program in good standing), it's really the only thing that matters to these guys. In terms of right now, I'm not sure there's anyone who is recruiting and coaching better than Calipari. And I despise Calipari.

 

[champs99and04]

I'll say one thing, Coach K has no business being ahead of Self, Donovan, Calipari, or Pitino. One final four in the last decade.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I'll say one thing, Coach K has no business being ahead of Self, Donovan, Calipari, or Pitino. One final four in the last decade.

And only two Elite Eights. I didn't realize how consistently they'd been failing in the postseason.

 

[Matrim55]

1. Larry Brown
2. Pitino
3. KO

Ollie outcoached Izzo, Donovan and Calipari in part because of the lessons Brown and Pitino inflicted upon him during the regular season. I think they're both better in-game coaches than him right now, but his ability to learn is a sight to behold.

K and Boeheim are both wildly overrated, as everyone knows. But spare a thought for Self - he absolutely mangles in-game decisions.