Ranking the Big East Coaches

[djct1999]

Hurley has one of the most talented teams in the country? I'm going to suggest a lot of people might disagree with that statement

Time to deliver? His third year? And his second year was stopped short just as his team was jelling

I like our team, I like the job Hurley is doing, I'm looking forward to this post season

100%. Hurley is absolutely delivering. Nelson's list is a fair one, but like every list, very subjective. Jay Wright is without question No. 1. One can easily argue(I actually would argue) that Hurley is already No. 2.

 

[UConnJim]

Arkansas basketball is the BEST!!!!!!!! Except for the last 20+ years, where it has kind of sucked.

Should Arkansas be using Final Four appearances during World War II as indicative of the quality of the program? Do you realize that most of the best American athletes of college age were off saving the world from fascism at the time?

Yet, you ignored the other points. For comparison, Arkansas has been to 7 NCAAs in the last 20 years and St. John's has been to 4. All time, Arkansas has been to 32 NCAAs tied for 17th with UConn and Oklahoma. Arkansas is more of a basketball school than football school.

 

[freescooter]

The Big East did go .500 against the other majors in the non-conference, so it can't be that bad.

Meaningless stat without digging down into who played who.Take Villanova. They went 3-1 but the 3 wins included BC and ASU and Texas. The loss was to Virginia Tech.

Creighton went1-1. Beat Nebraska but lost to a pretty good Kansas. We could pick 5 guys off this Board and go 4-2 against those 6. Well maybe 3-3 if they made us take Nelson. When the top of your league beats a bottom feeder from another it doesn’t prove much. Marquette at 2-2 with wins over UNC and Wisconsin is kind of inexplicable I’ll grant you. Considering they stink

 

[Zissou]

Maybe rank Ewing higher based on current events.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Nearing the end of UConn's first Big East season in 8 years, my take on the Big East coaches:


Best of the best:

1) Jay Wright, Villanova - he has 2 more rings than the rest of them combined.


Very good:

2) Greg McDermott, Creighton - at least he was #2 until he started making offensive comments in his post-game pep talks. We will see what happens.

3) Mike Anderson, St. Johns - He is good, and will build this program quickly. NYC should be a lot easier to recruit to than Arkansas. Too bad St. Johns couldn't have gotten him 10 years ago.

4) Hurley, UConn - Team plays hard and he is doing well on recruiting trail. He has one of the more talented teams in the country this year. Time to deliver.

5) Kevin Willard, Seton Hall - I would have liked to see last year's team in the tournament, because I think they could play with anyone. He has turned Seton Hall into a perennial tournament team, but he has not been able to make the next step.

6) Ed Cooley, Providence - I like Cooley, but he has got to recruit better. On the other hand, Providence is a tough place to win and this may simply be as good as PC can get.

Unproven:

7) Patrick Ewing, Georgetown - clearly knows his X's and O's, and the players play hard for him. He has to deliver on the recruiting trail.

8) Lavall Jordan, Butler - solid game coach and they play hard for him, but the talent is pretty thin for a coach in his 4th year at a program.


Not working out:

9) Travis Steele, Xavier - small time. This is the second team in 3 years at Xavier that should have been a lock for the tournament and will not make it. Steele is an assistant pretending to be Head Coach.

10) David Leitao, Depaul - likely getting fired whenever his BET run ends, and it is hard to argue with results. He has been there 6 years and his best season is 7-11 in the Big East. Depaul has struggled since the late 80's, but Chicago is an incredible recruiting territory and there is no excuse for Depaul to be this bad. And honestly, watching Depaul play a few times this season, the talent is OK. He has .500 caliber players on a 4-13 team. They just play sloppy.

11) Wojo, Marquette - Can recruit and is a competitor, but he is in over his head running a big time program. 2 NCAA appearances in 7 years, and the team quit on him today. Marquette needs to find a big time coach.

Standing by this list. Wojo and Leitao canned, and wheels are coming off at Xavier.

 

[SportsFan88]

Some of these takes were hilarious

 

[gtcam]

Yet, you ignored the other points. For comparison, Arkansas has been to 7 NCAAs in the last 20 years and St. John's has been to 4. All time, Arkansas has been to 32 NCAAs tied for 17th with UConn and Oklahoma. Arkansas is more of a basketball school than football school.

If you asked 99.9% of Arkansas fans if they a basketball school they would laugh at you - they hang their lives and tears on football, baseball and women's softball - mens basketball would come in a distant 4th
Sure there are diehard Arkansas mens basketball fans but they are the minority - look at where the athletic and alumni money goes and it's not close

 

[Greg]

Nearing the end of UConn's first Big East season in 8 years, my take on the Big East coaches:


Best of the best:

1) Jay Wright, Villanova - he has 2 more rings than the rest of them combined.


Very good:

2) Greg McDermott, Creighton - at least he was #2 until he started making offensive comments in his post-game pep talks. We will see what happens.

3) Mike Anderson, St. Johns - He is good, and will build this program quickly. NYC should be a lot easier to recruit to than Arkansas. Too bad St. Johns couldn't have gotten him 10 years ago.

4) Hurley, UConn - Team plays hard and he is doing well on recruiting trail. He has one of the more talented teams in the country this year. Time to deliver.

5) Kevin Willard, Seton Hall - I would have liked to see last year's team in the tournament, because I think they could play with anyone. He has turned Seton Hall into a perennial tournament team, but he has not been able to make the next step.

6) Ed Cooley, Providence - I like Cooley, but he has got to recruit better. On the other hand, Providence is a tough place to win and this may simply be as good as PC can get.

Unproven:

7) Patrick Ewing, Georgetown - clearly knows his X's and O's, and the players play hard for him. He has to deliver on the recruiting trail.

8) Lavall Jordan, Butler - solid game coach and they play hard for him, but the talent is pretty thin for a coach in his 4th year at a program.


Not working out:

9) Travis Steele, Xavier - small time. This is the second team in 3 years at Xavier that should have been a lock for the tournament and will not make it. Steele is an assistant pretending to be Head Coach.

10) David Leitao, Depaul - likely getting fired whenever his BET run ends, and it is hard to argue with results. He has been there 6 years and his best season is 7-11 in the Big East. Depaul has struggled since the late 80's, but Chicago is an incredible recruiting territory and there is no excuse for Depaul to be this bad. And honestly, watching Depaul play a few times this season, the talent is OK. He has .500 caliber players on a 4-13 team. They just play sloppy.

11) Wojo, Marquette - Can recruit and is a competitor, but he is in over his head running a big time program. 2 NCAA appearances in 7 years, and the team quit on him today. Marquette needs to find a big time coach.

I would make Cooley four and Ewing 5 right now. Willard is too much of a dirt bag IMO and Hurley is a poor x's and O's guy to be in the top tier. Too good of a recruiter to be in the bottom, but I can't think of many times when in game adjustments equaled a win.

 

[Psolo12]

I would make Cooley four and Ewing 5 right now. Willard is too much of a dirt bag IMO and Hurley is a poor x's and O's guy to be in the top tier. Too good of a recruiter to be in the bottom, but I can't think of many times when in game adjustments equaled a win.

You would have Ewing and Cooley over Hurley when he beat them 3/4 games this year?

 

[gtcam]

To be a top tier coach you have to have the full package but most importantly you need to coach to wins. Some HCs do very little of the hands on recruitment until actually sitting down with the recruit and/or family so I discount that area a bit but it is important to be an effective closer.
DH is obviously a great closer
Another must is to be able to communicate to and gain the respect of your players. Jay Wright, Mike Anderson, DH and Cooley I feel shine in this area.
Right now the only coach in the NBE that hits all the buckets, based on NBE results, is Jay Wright.
I think Mike Anderson has hit them all over his career but St Johns has got to achieve consecutive winning seasons.
DH has a way to grow within the in game coaching area but he is in the top 5 - I feel he and Cooley are on level ground there.
I would have included McDermott but feel he may be gone after Creighton loses in the NCAAs