Let's Admit it: Jeff Walz is One of WCBB's Best Coaches

[Gus Mahler]

If one were to go by accomplishments, Tara is the third-best coach of all time. Accomplishments being: Total wins, conference regular season and tournament championships, domination of her conference, Final Fours, and National Championships. She's also pretty good at putting a decent team together over the course of a season. And she does all this with probably the toughest admissions standards in the P5 conferences.

Is Walz a talented coach? Absolutely. One of the best in the game? For sure. Ahead of Tara? He's got to go some.

@Wally East, where the hell you been?

 

[MSSportsGuy]

Geno, Muffett and Tara are the top 3 and then there is a pretty big gap.

I don't rank at this point but the next tier would be Mulkey, Staley, Freeze, Waltz, Schaefer and Rueck. Stringer and Hatchell are both good coaches who have experienced a great deal of success but haven't done as well the last few years. Rutgers and UNC remind me of Georgia towards the end of the Landers years, winning enough to get by but lacking the talent to compete at a high level. Perretta at Nova and Bruno at DePaul have had some good teams but just haven't gotten as much exposure as some others but neither squad is an easy W for most teams.

 

[DefenseBB]

He’s a good coach, no doubt, but he has had several years of underachieving and he hasn’t developed talent to the level that many other top rate coaches do. For example, last year they significantly underachieved. He’s done a great job this year, but he isn’t in my top 5 coaches list.

Fair comments but you can’t say “not in my top 5” and not give you list. So, if I may ask, who is your top 5 and where would Jeff rate after that?

As they say, you have to be in it to win it so if a coach can’t get to the final four, how great can they be? Getting talent is as important if not more than the x’s and o’s, though both are required. Here’s mine with name, NC’s, # of Final Fours (of what I counted)
Geno 11/16, Muffet 1/7, Tara 2/13, Kim 2/3, Jeff 0/3, Dawn 1/2, Brenda 1/3, Vic 0/2, Rueck 0/1.

while there are others who have made a few Final Fours and even won a title, I am not as inclined to put them in my top 10 (Hatchell, Coale, Blair, CVS) as I don’t see enough winning league titles or deep runs in the Tournament to qualify a top 10.

 

[DaddyChoc]

I like Jeff... he's in a good groove right now. Has he played Tara, Kim and Muffett lately? What is his record against them?

 

[VA Huskie]

I like Jeff... he's in a good groove right now. Has he played Tara, Kim and Muffett lately? What is his record against them?

3-0 against Tara and Muffet this year. He beat Rueck as well.

As an aside, I met him at the FF a couple of years ago. Seemed like a nice enough guy. Why do so many hate him?

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Bingo. To me, he’s definitely behind the following coaches:
-Geno
-Muffet
-Tara
-Schaefer
-Mulkey
-Rueck
-Staley

His results have been streaky at best. I may get flack for putting Rueck over him, but overall Rueck has done a lot more with less than Jeff has. Walz recruits well and can come up with some good game plans (usually centered around being extremely physical) but player development and molding good basketball teams hasn’t been a strength in recent years.

*edited to include Staley*

Walz has only been a head coach for eleven years, including this one. Muffet and Tara have been at it for decades. Coach Geno didn't win the NC until a decade had passed. Compare first decades.

I put him ahead of Muffet and Tara now. Just like Summit did after Coach Geno showed up, Tara is fading. The jury is out on Rueck and Schaefer for the long-term.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

I put him ahead of Muffet and Tara now. Just like Summit did after Coach Geno showed up, Tara is fading.

Louisville has made the Final Four three times under Jeff Walz: 2009, 2013, and 2018.

Stanford has made the Final Four 12 times under Tara Vanderveer. From 2009 onward, when Walz made his first, Stanford has made six Final Four appearances, including last year. To say that Tara is fading after only making the Sweet 16 this year is a bit much.

 

[shizam]

I like Jeff... he's in a good groove right now. Has he played Tara, Kim and Muffett lately? What is his record against them?

Walz verse Muffet is 3-12 with a 2 game winning streak.

He lost by 33 points in Sweet 16 to KIM last year but beat her in Griner Sweet 16

He is 1-3 I believe vs Brenda
Tara in past 5 years he is 1-0

Geno 0-17. One game was within single digits
(Going into this year Walz was 1-28 verse Geno/Muffet)
This year 2-1

5-6 verse arch rival Kentucky

 

[nwhoopfan]

Louisville has made the Final Four three times under Jeff Walz: 2009, 2013, and 2018.

Stanford has made the Final Four 12 times under Tara Vanderveer. From 2009 onward, when Walz made his first, Stanford has made six Final Four appearances, including last year. To say that Tara is fading after only making the Sweet 16 this year is a bit much.

Plus a Final 4 the year before Walz' first, 2008. 7 Final 4's in the last 11 years, only UConn has done better. Everybody should be so lucky as to fade like that.

 

[Kevin G]

Well I'll take Waltz over Muffet. Oh wait we're talking about coaching. Yeah Im not changing my mind

 

[bballnut90]

Walz has only been a head coach for eleven years, including this one. Muffet and Tara have been at it for decades. Coach Geno didn't win the NC until a decade had passed. Compare first decades.

I put him ahead of Muffet and Tara now. Just like Summit did after Coach Geno showed up, Tara is fading. The jury is out on Rueck and Schaefer for the long-term.

If you compare Walz and Geno's first 10 years of coaching. Geno revitalized a struggling program and steadily turned them into a power. Walz inherited a team that went 27-8 the year before and had Angel McCoughtry on the roster. Very different circumstances.

Muffet did build up Notre Dame and has dominated Walz until this year. Keep in mind her team has just 7 scholarship players, and her PG and post are playing out of position. Some posters on this board love to rip on her for not being able to win the big one over UCONN, but you have to give her credit for at least proving she's able to beat Geno. Walz is 0-16 against Geno and has had just 1 game that was remotely competitive. Muffet has led Notre Dame to 7 straight #1 seeds, 5 (maybe 6 after tonight) Final Fours in the last 8 years, 5 straight ACC championships, and she won the last 2 Big East Championships outright over both Connecticut and Louisville. She owns Jeff Walz besides the 2 match ups this season.

Tara's recruiting hasn't been as strong in recent years but her teams consistently overachieve. She's been able to maintain consistent excellence and her results are not dissimilar to Muffet's. Anyone who puts Jeff over those 2 is incredibly short sighted.

And in regards to Schaefer and Rueck...I think their body of work shows more promise than Walz's, even if it has been less than 10 years. Like Geno, both have completely revitalized struggling programs and pump out consistent, overachieving teams. Players drastically improve under their tutelage and they frequently win games against more talented opponents. On the flip side, Walz never had to rebuild a program, he inherited a winning program. Players haven't consistently reached their potential under Walz and until this year, his teams were consistently underachievers or Cinderella-type teams. I'd pick Schaefer and Rueck over Jeff.

 

[Wally East]

@Wally East, where the hell you been?

Aww, thanks for noticing my absence

Busy with work and family-building stuff (no, not THAT kind of family-building stuff ) Also, school work. Working on getting a masters in Geographic Information Systems online.

 

[shizam]

Well I'll take Waltz over Muffet. Oh wait we're talking about coaching. Yeah Im not changing my mind

Walz teams from 2015-2017 finished below pre-season rankings 3 years straight

His *2014-2016 teams lost to lesser seeds in tourney. Lost to:
*2013-14 to Maryland Elite 8 (at Yum)
(This was a good team and well coached but MD was just better and red hot)
*2014-15 to Dayton Sweet 16
*2015-16 to DePaul 2nd Round (at Yum)
2017 lost to Baylor by 33 in Sweet 16. (Complete embarrassment )


Until this year Walz never won more than one game in the ACC tourney

 

[shizam]

In a nutshell Walz 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17 teams
+had no identity
+were inconsistent offensively
+couldn’t play perimeter defense
+did not look well coached

 

[shizam]

He didn't look so great last year.

Or the year before that, or the year before that

 

[shizam]

Geno, McGraw, Schaefer, Vanderveer are my top coaches in no particular order except Geno first...hard for me to even say his name, rubs me the wrong way as well. Hard to argue though, he led his 2009 squad to the nat’l championship game.

SN: Wonder how this team would be playing differently had Mariya Moore still been there?

If Mariya Moore were still on L’ville the team would be slower defensively and less consistent offensively. Her transfer opened up minutes for Jaz Jones development. Jones is the antithesis of Moore. Jones is the best individual defender on the team. Carter a close second. Mariya would need to sit verse athletic teams like Syracuse when they had Sykes and Peterson etc. Her first two years she was huge. Her game is choppy.

 

[shizam]

Here in Maryland people in the know argue that Brenda's best years were when Jeff was assisting.
I'm surprised no one mentioned how well prepared L'ville was today. At the outset the Cards took OSU out of its game and out of its comfort zone. The Beavers never recovered. All I could think was what an excellent plan and execution of a plan Walz had designed and his team delivered. Sagging in on Gulich not only prevented her from shooting, but she was often unable to pass the ball to the perimeter--and turned it over. Truly killed two birds with one stone.
You may remember that UConn did exactly the same to the Cards when we played them. In about one quarter the game was over. Perhaps Jeff got the message.

Great plan. He’s great with game prep. Forced Gulich to touch the ball further out than she normally does (thanks Sam Fuehring) then double her quick and that threw perimeter players off too. Knock on Walz was player development. Now that’s the difference from past years. Development this year is through the roof.
Jaz Jones
Sam Fuehring
Arica Carter
Gives them 5 scorers now

 

[BobbyJ]

I just like Walz and Graves because they don't dress like they're going to a wedding or to work at a bank. Just coaching basketball,

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Well, Walz is in the Final Four. Not Tara. Not Rueck. Muffet's in, but Walz has beaten ND this year, once blowing them out.

Pretty impressive.

 

[CardHack]

I'd guess Walz is like a lot of coaches in that it's less talent as it is fit. He's a hard ass, can be acerbic to his players but if he gets that right collection of players who sift through it and play like he coaches...results follow and the best example of that is Fuehring who plays like Walz coaches. Rugged and rough around the edges. Oddly enough he's doing it this year with a group a little different from the 09 and 13 squads which were helped along by a decent local recruiting pool to draw that provided roster depth (Monique Riggs, Tia Gibbs and Candice Bingham were Louisvillians on the 09 roster; Antonita Slaughter was a Louisvillian on the '13 roster with Kentuckian Hammond). This squad really doesn't have any local kids on it with scholarships and the talent in the City is in the underclasses; we're landing players out in the state in areas you'd consider to be UK turf in the Class of 2018 including the likely Ms. Basketball Saygain Robbins. Louisville is likely going to become very perimeter oriented the next two years.

 

[JavaMan]

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[wallman]

If Mariya Moore were still on L’ville the team would be slower defensively and less consistent offensively. Her transfer opened up minutes for Jaz Jones development. Jones is the antithesis of Moore. All Walz does now is talk about how he loves how this present team pulls for each other and gets along. Moore was drama though I liked her, she peaked big time by her soph year. She needed a new start. Mariya would need to sit verse athletic teams like Syracuse when they had Sykes and Peterson etc. she couldn’t keep up. Her first two years she was huge. Her game is choppy.

Sorry but thats not accurate. Moore was very intense on defense and used to get in players heads. She was also much better offensively than Jones.

 

[shizam]

Here in Maryland people in the know argue that Brenda's best years were when Jeff was assisting.
I'm surprised no one mentioned how well prepared L'ville was today. At the outset the Cards took OSU out of its game and out of its comfort zone. The Beavers never recovered. All I could think was what an excellent plan and execution of a plan Walz had designed and his team delivered. Sagging in on Gulich not only prevented her from shooting, but she was often unable to pass the ball to the perimeter--and turned it over. Truly killed two birds with one stone.
You may remember that UConn did exactly the same to the Cards when we played them. In about one quarter the game was over. Perhaps Jeff got the message.

I think you are right Brenda was better w Jeff.
However, Brenda is 3-1 verse Jeff

 

[shizam]

​

He is right. The other two teams would have beaten his most likely if UConn didn’t. But you never know for sure. I can’t “just appreciate how good UConn is” because the championship games are ALWAYS blowouts. I don’t blame UConn, I blame teams like L’ville and SC that can’t compete w UConn. Makes the championship game too predictable just like the UConn-S. Car game yesterday was. Teams are afraid of UConn. Ty Harris looked scared. SC backcourt was ill prepared. You see it over and over. Dawn looks overmatched every time. S. Carolina owes Miss St a share for that championship lol. No way SC beats UConn last year even with Davis and Gray.

 

[wallman]

Mariya is slow. Erratic outside shot and has a very low release so her drives are easier to block. She is physical and a good passer. She can see the floor well and should do ok finding the athletic players at USC. No way would any L’ville fan take Mariya over the development of Jaz Jones this year. Mariya was not good for team chemistry. She needed a change. Turned out to be addition by subtraction for L’ville. Her transfer will be a perfect win/win/win for everyone. Her, USC and L’ville.

Thats funny, Jeffy didn't think so when she was on his U19 USA team Or is this just sour grapes because she left, not a good side to show.