What Conference has best Coaches?

[shizam]

I think it’s no contest. Right now PAC 12 plays the hardest and smartest.
Wynn (Wash) and Daugherty (Wash St) are the only two out of 12 I’m not sold on. Pac 12 has better played basketball collectively than any other conference.
By far most entertaining and fundamentally sound. Good combination.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I totally agree about Daugherty. You have to give Wynn a pass at least for this year. Nobody, not even Geno, could compete in a P5 conference w/ that roster. Most of which is completely to blame on Neighbors.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

While I agree that the PAC has a very distinguished core of coaches. I'm not sure how Colorado and Utah coaches will work out and even though I'm "sold"on Adia she has (obviously) yet to prove it.

Some of the other conferences also have distinguished coaches that haven't necessarily done well. I would suggest that the B1G has a distinguished bunch as well.

PAC12 BB is what it is. The style has features that are endemic to the PAC. I admit I do like watching the PAC, although I see very little.

 

[DefenseBB]

I think the SEC and the PAC12 have the most “quality” coaches with each league having their share of coaches not quite cutting the mustard. Each league has coaches who do a pretty good job recruiting but stuggle actually coaching the team up and habe coaches who are great with the x’s and o’s and not so good at recruiting.

I appreciate Knights perspective but there’s no way I agree the Big10 has quality coaching. As a lot, they are actually pedestrian at best. The best of the group is Brenda. Amy Williams has the most upside given what she’s done at Nebraska. McGuff is soooo overrated. He can recruit but can’t coach ANY DEFENSE. CVS time has Come and Gone she had a flashback to past for a brief time this year but water, as they say seeks its own level.

I put the PAC12 first, SEC second and the BIg12 third (only 10 teams), the ACC (15 teams very bifurcated with some bad programs), then the Big10.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I think the SEC and the PAC12 have the most “quality” coaches with each league having their share of coaches not quite cutting the mustard. Each league has coaches who do a pretty good job recruiting but stuggle actually coaching the team up and habe coaches who are great with the x’s and o’s and not so good at recruiting.

I appreciate Knights perspective but there’s no way I agree the Big10 has quality coaching. As a lot, they are actually pedestrian at best. The best of the group is Brenda. Amy Williams has the most upside given what she’s done at Nebraska. McGuff is soooo overrated. He can recruit but can’t coach ANY DEFENSE. CVS time has Come and Gone she had a flashback to past for a brief time this year but water, as they say seeks its own level.

I put the PAC12 first, SEC second and the BIg12 third (only 10 teams), the ACC (15 teams very bifurcated with some bad programs), then the Big10.

I agree with your analysis. My quote said that the B1G has some "distinguished" coaches, not necessarily doing well -
Vivian and the HOF'er at Illinois are distinguished (I don't disagree that CVS is past her prime and I'm not sure Illinois will improve) Brenda and McGuff (who may indeed be overrated) are at least successful; Barnes-Arico and Suzie Merchant at MSU have decent histories; Joe McKeon (sp?) at Northwestern has a strong history and is well thought of, and so is Coquese Washington although I'm not sold on her), as you said Williams is doing well and I hope that the train wreck at Wisconsin will be corrected by Tsypis.

I think it is very difficult to assess some of these folks but I don't think they are a "bad" bunch.

I would like to know who you are touting in the SEC because I think that is, to borrow your term, rather bifurcated as well.

 

[shizam]

I totally agree about Daugherty. You have to give Wynn a pass at least for this year. Nobody, not even Geno, could compete in a P5 conference w/ that roster. Most of which is completely to blame on Neighbors.

Neighbors in Ark may not end well.

 

[shizam]

Will be interesting to see how Cam Newbauer, the Florida coach (from Belmont) recruits. He did a great job at Belmont. He is one of two Jeff Walz assistants that have had nice success. Michelle Clark-Heard with Western Kentucky is the other. She’s had W. Ky in the tourney twice and gave Baylor a heck of a game a few years ago in the first round as well as doing the same to Texas one year later. She also beat Walz at the Yum in an OOC game two years ago.

 

[DefenseBB]

I agree with your analysis. My quote said that the B1G has some "distinguished" coaches, not necessarily doing well -
Vivian and the HOF'er at Illinois are distinguished (I don't disagree that CVS is past her prime and I'm not sure Illinois will improve) Brenda and McGuff (who may indeed be overrated) are at least successful; Barnes-Arico and Suzie Merchant at MSU have decent histories; Joe McKeon (sp?) at Northwestern has a strong history and is well thought of, and so is Coquese Washington although I'm not sold on her), as you said Williams is doing well and I hope that the train wreck at Wisconsin will be corrected by Tsypis.

I think it is very difficult to assess some of these folks but I don't think they are a "bad" bunch.

I would like to know who you are touting in the SEC because I think that is, to borrow your term, rather bifurcated as well.

Yes, bifurcated is the right word and I say the SEC has a significantly higher peak of coaches than the Big10. I just don’t buy into NW, MSU, RU or Purdue being relevant.
Barnes Arico is slowly moving up. Tsipis did well in the A10 but you need to up your recruiting to compete in P5.
For the SEC, Vic, Dawn and Gary Blair are all proven. Robin Pingeton, Joni Taylor are good up and comers. Kristy Curry, Nikki Fargas are serviceable and better than most in the Big10. Mitchell has his issues now after a good start with Epps. Holly is a good recruiter and would win the Big 10 with her current squad and her issues on coaching/motivating. White is a supposed savant (I don’t see it), Neighbors parlayed McGuffs recruitment into. Final Four and his job at Ark. as noted above, I think it will end badly. Florida is too soon to tell, Miss is a Mess. Auburn-meh. The bottom in all the leagues are usually bad and due to Athletic Department apathy, and no effort, not solely on the coach.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Neighbors in Ark may not end well.

He's going to have to recruit a lot better than he did at UW once Plum and Osahor were in the fold. Although apparently he got a hidden gem in Amber Melgoza, I bet even he had no idea how good she was going to turn out. She's been tearing it up for the Huskies in an otherwise very forgettable season. Too bad Aarion McDonald transferred, she and Melgoza would be a heck of a 1-2 punch, and only sophs.

 

[DEpup]

Overall, I have to say PAC-12. The other P5 conferences have some glaring liabilities that are talked about daily on this board.

 

[connie]

“What Conference has best Coaches?”

To quote the Sundance Kid, “do you mean best, toughest? Or easiest to bribe?”

 

[JellyBean]

What Conference has the best coaches? Great question. The SEC comes to mind. The Big Ten is up there. The Big East has a solid core group of coaches. Folks are sleeping on the decent coaching being done in the West Coast Conference. Lisa Forteir is doing well at Gonzaga. Paul Thomas has St Mary's program playing some great basketball.

I think that there are some great coaches in all of the conferences. Some of the mini- major conferences have solid coaches. They just do not get a lot of love because we do not hear about them until March Madness time. Good example, Vanessa Blair-Lewis (Bethune-Cookman). One of many coaches from the MEAC.

 

[DefenseBB]

Help me here people. Why does a smart, knowledgeable, astute and fanatical board of members on this board keep extolling the virtues of the Big10 Coaches? What have they accomplished as a group? How many top 5, 10 rankings regularly do they have? How many NC’s, Final Fours, or Elite 8’s do they have? When top recruits, those in the top 10, make a list of schools, how many Big 10 schools are being considered? I ask for evidence, not conjecture or opinion. I just don’t see it. Am I blind, naive or dumb? Only Brenda with a NC and that was in the ACC. She has 2 FF as a Big 10 school. CVS has 1FF as a Big East School. Other than those 2, 0 FF’s, no #1 rankings. I looked to see if any top 5- and end of season polls only had MD, tOSU cracked the top 5 during the year but not finishing.

So I ask again, why are my esteemed colleagues saying Big 10 Coaches are good?

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Help me here people. Why does a smart, knowledgeable, astute and fanatical board of members on this board keep extolling the virtues of the Big10 Coaches? What have they accomplished as a group? How many top 5, 10 rankings regularly do they have? How many NC’s, Final Fours, or Elite 8’s do they have? When top recruits, those in the top 10, make a list of schools, how many Big 10 schools are being considered? I ask for evidence, not conjecture or opinion. I just don’t see it. Am I blind, naive or dumb? Only Brenda with a NC and that was in the ACC. She has 2 FF as a Big 10 school. CVS has 1FF as a Big East School. Other than those 2, 0 FF’s, no #1 rankings. I looked to see if any top 5- and end of season polls only had MD, tOSU cracked the top 5 during the year but not finishing.

So I ask again, why are my esteemed colleagues saying Big 10 Coaches are good?

Just to correct one thing - CVS has 4 Final Fours, including 2 as a Big East Coach and 1 when she was at Iowa.

Also, lets consider the winningest active women's coaches by percent, top 50, minimum 5 seasons - by conference, in order except for Fahey
Big 12 - Mulkey, Schneider, Fennelly, Coale, Carey, Mittie
B1G - Freese, Stringer, McGuff, McKeown, Bluder, Fahey (not set in DI but 5th all time in all divisions)
ACC - McGraw, Moore, Walz, McCallie, Hatchell, Brooks, Hillsman
SEC - Warlick, Staley, Blair, Mitchell
PAC - VanDerveer, Rueck, Graves
AAC - Auriemma, Coach Abe, Stockton
BE - Bruno, Tartamella, honorable mention Parretta (victories)

As to accomplishments - Geno by himself has accomplished more than all the noted coaches in any conference. The list should also be a cold reminder of how few other active coaches have won NCs .

Yes, Vivian and Sylvia are definitely on the downside of their careers, others reaped their points at other schools in inferior conferences. But, all in all, I think the grousing about the quality of any of them is wrong. Also, I agree there are some young coaches up and coming and making a name for themselves.

 

[TARZAN22]

The Big 12