Who are the top coaches (besides Geno)?

[Vowelguy]

I would have

1. Tara
2. Muffett
3. Vic Schaefer

not sure who's after that, but would probably be someone from the grouping of:
Scott Rueck, Kim Mulkey, Brenda Frese, Sue Semrau, Jeff Walz, Dawn Staley

 

[ochoopsfan]

Kevin Borseth at Green Bay. Hardly gets anywhere near a top recruit and puts out a Top team almost every year.

 

[Vowelguy]

Kevin Borseth at Green Bay. Hardly gets anywhere near a top recruit and puts out a Top team almost every year.

And yet he didnt succeed at Michigan.

 

[UcMiami]

Yup ... though I am unconvinced by Brenda.

 

[Hope]

I came across this image when I googled Jerry Tarkanian.

 

[victor64]

Doug Bruno
The UCLA coach Casey Close?
The Division II coach Ashland (won like 50 straight regular season)
Amy Williams is quietly building Nebraska

The gap between Muffet at number 2 and whoever is number 3 is quite wide.

 

[JordyG]

I'm assuming we're talking WCBB. Any top ten list that doesn't include Doug Bruno who year after year does more with less is not a legitimate list. Geno, Muffet, Tara, Doug, and then there's the field. I respect coaches like Rueck, Schaffer, Close, Graves, Walz, Dawn, Hatchell and others, but none of them have the basketball minds of the top 4.

 

[hoophuskee]

I would have

1. Tara
2. Muffett
3. Vic Schaefer

not sure who's after that, but would probably be someone from the grouping of:
Scott Rueck, Kim Mulkey, Brenda Frese, Sue Semrau, Jeff Walz, Dawn Staley

Kelly Graves?

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

IMHO, (which obviously doesn't mean a heck of a lot) here are my, in order, 22 top WCBB coaches:
1. Geno Auriemma, UCONN Geno is really #1 to #10
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Doug Bruno, DePaul Constantly does more with less
3. Vic Schaefer, Miss St. Has taken Miss St. from average to highly competitive in short amount of time
4. Tara Vanderveer, Stanford Usually can come up with a game plan that makes her team comprtitive
5. Mike Carey, WVU He gets good athletes/BB players to go to WVU and makes TOUGH/GOOD teams
6. Jeff Walz, L'ville Brenda Frese owes her NC title to Jeff, outsmarted Kim Mulkey
7. Gary Blair, TX A&M Has been very good at 3 schools
8. Sue Semrau, FSU Has made FSU one of the top programs
9. Sheri Coale, OKLA Geno thinks she's a great coach, 'nuff for me
10. Jose Fernandez, SoFla Brings in parts from all over and is highly competitive
11. Karen Aston, TX Has added the pieces to the puzzle now we'll see the results?
12.Charli Turner Thorne, Ariz. St. Always has players coming at ya
13. Kelly Graves, Oregon Had a great program at Gonzaga, has brought same toughness to Oregon
14. Casey Close, UCLA One of the bright young minds in WCBB
15. Scott Rueck, Oregon St. Also one of the bright minds in WCBB
16. Kim Mulkey, Baylor Could only win one title with legend B. Griner
17. Bill Fennelly, IA St. Gets players that fit his system year-in-&-year-out and is competitive
18. Matthew Mitchell KY Has to reprove himself after a bunch of players & coaches jumped ship
19. Kevin Borseth, Green Bay Always competitive at a mid level school
20. The Muffett ND For 4-5 years had the best WBB team in USA and couldn't win a championship
21. Dawn Staley SoCar Her only title came because Miss St. played Giant Killer, jury still out
22. Brenda Frese, MD It's amazing her players are awake to play the game after her locker room talks

 

[nwhoopfan]

UCLA's coach is Cori Close, not Casey.

Scott Rueck shouldn't be listed behind any of the Pac 12 coaches other than Tara. Just sayin'. Talk about doing more w/ less. He's won the league 3 straight years w/ less talent than Stanford or UCLA typically have at their disposal. I'll wait for Graves to actually have a winning conference record in the Pac before I put him too high up the list. CTT has had a nice career at ASU but they've been quickly passed by w/ some of these younger up and coming coaches and their programs.

 

[bballnut90]

Muffett is my #2. Does more with less and her teams have been phenomenal the last 6-7 season’s.

Dawn is absolutely a top 5 coach too. I think some people omit her or put her lower due to the fact that she won a title without having to face Connecticut. Yes, it was a major stroke of luck, but her teams have been consistently in the top 5 for several years now and the turnaround job she did at Temple too was fantastic. Her teams do not play pretty basketball, but her players make big improvements during their time at SC and they’re regularly in the title hunt.

Rueck is one of the best up and coming coaches in the game. He led a massive turnaround at the D2 level and has done the same at Oregon State. If he can start landing consistent talent, OSU could be a real title threat.

Schaefer is one who might be a top coach. Curious to see how he does in the seasons going forward, but he’s impressed me with his body of work the last 3 years.

Tara is a top coach. Her program may be losing steam but she is a phenomenal game planner.

Brenda Frese isn’t a top coach, but she’s better than a lot of people give her credit for. She’s done a fantastic job the last 4-5 years at Maryland and has put together great teams after underwhelming showings from 2007-2013.

I do think Walz, Mulkey and Coale are some of the most overrated coaches in the game today. Sherri has made Final Fours in the past but I think her teams usually fail to live up to expectations. Mulkey has been a prime example of doing less with more the last 5 years despite being a heck of a recruiter. And Walz has the 2 title game runs but he’s never been able to get Louisville to be a team that’s a national power or regular top 5 team. This year might be the turning point for him, but aside from the runs in 2009 and 2013 I’ve been underwhelmed by him.

 

[Golden Husky]

IMHO, (which obviously doesn't mean a heck of a lot) here are my, in order, 22 top WCBB coaches:
1. Geno Auriemma, UCONN Geno is really #1 to #10
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Doug Bruno, DePaul Constantly does more with less
3. Vic Schaefer, Miss St. Has taken Miss St. from average to highly competitive in short amount of time
4. Tara Vanderveer, Stanford Usually can come up with a game plan that makes her team comprtitive
5. Mike Carey, WVU He gets good athletes/BB players to go to WVU and makes TOUGH/GOOD teams
6. Jeff Walz, L'ville Brenda Frese owes her NC title to Jeff, outsmarted Kim Mulkey
7. Gary Blair, TX A&M Has been very good at 3 schools
8. Sue Semrau, FSU Has made FSU one of the top programs
9. Sheri Coale, OKLA Geno thinks she's a great coach, 'nuff for me
10. Jose Fernandez, SoFla Brings in parts from all over and is highly competitive
11. Karen Aston, TX Has added the pieces to the puzzle now we'll see the results?
12.Charli Turner Thorne, Ariz. St. Always has players coming at ya
13. Kelly Graves, Oregon Had a great program at Gonzaga, has brought same toughness to Oregon
14. Casey Close, UCLA One of the bright young minds in WCBB
15. Scott Rueck, Oregon St. Also one of the bright minds in WCBB
16. Kim Mulkey, Baylor Could only win one title with legend B. Griner
17. Bill Fennelly, IA St. Gets players that fit his system year-in-&-year-out and is competitive
18. Matthew Mitchell KY Has to reprove himself after a bunch of players & coaches jumped ship
19. Kevin Borseth, Green Bay Always competitive at a mid level school
20. The Muffett ND For 4-5 years had the best WBB team in USA and couldn't win a championship
21. Dawn Staley SoCar Her only title came because Miss St. played Giant Killer, jury still out
22. Brenda Frese, MD It's amazing her players are awake to play the game after her locker room talks

This reminds me of the graded entries in horse racing, with pithy comments ("stops on a dime," "barn likes," "been with better," "stretch menace," et al) next to each runner. I can't attest to the accuracy of the comments but they sure are entertaining to read. Great stuff. Two hooves up.

 

[DefenseBB]

I'm assuming we're talking WCBB. Any top ten list that doesn't include Doug Bruno who year after year does more with less is not a legitimate list. Geno, Muffet, Tara, Doug, and then there's the field. I respect coaches like Rueck, Schaffer, Close, Graves, Walz, Dawn, Hatchell and others, but none of them have the basketball minds of the top 4.

Jordy, you bring up an interesting point here-“coach” as opposed to recruiter. To win, you need a stronger component of talent than raw coaching skills. So while Doug can certainly coach, why can’t he recruit? Whereas few coaches I loathe-Holly, Brenda and Joanne P, all can recruit and better teams than Doug.
So while many here on this thread don’t want to credit the most important skill of getting great prospects, even Geno says that is clearly the key to winning.
My own top 5 are Geno, Muffet, Tara, Dawn, Kim and yes, Brenda as 6. Anyone who wants to put another person within that group better have a title as province or multiple Final Fours.
Up and comers are Graves, Rueck, Close and Aston. Though, Aston and Vic may be pretty close in age so to call her an up and comer is a stretch.

 

[JordyG]

Jordy, you bring up an interesting point here-“coach” as opposed to recruiter. To win, you need a stronger component of talent than raw coaching skills. So while Doug can certainly coach, why can’t he recruit? Whereas few coaches I loathe-Holly, Brenda and Joanne P, all can recruit and better teams than Doug.
So while many here on this thread don’t want to credit the most important skill of getting great prospects, even Geno says that is clearly the key to winning.
My own top 5 are Geno, Muffet, Tara, Dawn, Kim and yes, Brenda as 6. Anyone who wants to put another person within that group better have a title as province or multiple Final Fours.
Up and comers are Graves, Rueck, Close and Aston. Though, Aston and Vic may be pretty close in age so to call her an up and comer is a stretch.

Frankly Mulkey, Aston, Warlick and Walz have proven to be better recruiters than Dawn or Brenda, and certainly better at keeping them. Kim as a coach to me is questionable. Having one of if not the transcendental WCBB players, meaning Griner (with Sims to help), and only winning one championship is damning to me. Brenda winning hers because Walz was and is such a great recruiter is damning as well.

The truth is for recruiting in any sport location of the school is half the battle. For Mulkey, Aston, Frese, Schaefer, Walz, Tara and Dawn the locations of their schools being so near to the talent they recruit has helped them. Doug couldn't recruit for years because of where DePaul is located and his facilities were at best second tier. Now that Doug has the facilities let's hope he can draw from the South and Midwest. Vic to me is a gentleman, He is a very good and extremely likeable coach, but coaches are graded on results, not potential or likability. Because he beat UConn in the FF doesn't make him a great coach. Get back to me when he consistently does well with far less or wins a championship.

 

[nwhoopfan]

For Mulkey, Aston, Frese, Schaefer, Walz, Tara and Dawn the locations of their schools being so near to the talent they recruit has helped them.

Don't know about any of the others, but Tara casts a wide net when it comes to recruiting. They've had plenty of players from California over the years, but draw in players from all over the country routinely. I'd say the school's reputation in academics and athletics aids them in recruiting more than the fact they are in California.

 

[nwhoopfan]

A few years ago Lindsay Gottlieb probably would've been getting some mentions in this thread, but Cal has kinda fallen off a cliff the last 2 years (combined 10-26 record in conference). That up and coming young coach label can quickly be removed if you don't continue to deliver results.

 

[TerpWomenFan]

IMHO, (which obviously doesn't mean a heck of a lot) here are my, in order, 22 top WCBB coaches:
1. Geno Auriemma, UCONN Geno is really #1 to #10
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Doug Bruno, DePaul Constantly does more with less
3. Vic Schaefer, Miss St. Has taken Miss St. from average to highly competitive in short amount of time
4. Tara Vanderveer, Stanford Usually can come up with a game plan that makes her team comprtitive
5. Mike Carey, WVU He gets good athletes/BB players to go to WVU and makes TOUGH/GOOD teams
6. Jeff Walz, L'ville Brenda Frese owes her NC title to Jeff, outsmarted Kim Mulkey
7. Gary Blair, TX A&M Has been very good at 3 schools
8. Sue Semrau, FSU Has made FSU one of the top programs
9. Sheri Coale, OKLA Geno thinks she's a great coach, 'nuff for me
10. Jose Fernandez, SoFla Brings in parts from all over and is highly competitive
11. Karen Aston, TX Has added the pieces to the puzzle now we'll see the results?
12.Charli Turner Thorne, Ariz. St. Always has players coming at ya
13. Kelly Graves, Oregon Had a great program at Gonzaga, has brought same toughness to Oregon
14. Casey Close, UCLA One of the bright young minds in WCBB
15. Scott Rueck, Oregon St. Also one of the bright minds in WCBB
16. Kim Mulkey, Baylor Could only win one title with legend B. Griner
17. Bill Fennelly, IA St. Gets players that fit his system year-in-&-year-out and is competitive
18. Matthew Mitchell KY Has to reprove himself after a bunch of players & coaches jumped ship
19. Kevin Borseth, Green Bay Always competitive at a mid level school
20. The Muffett ND For 4-5 years had the best WBB team in USA and couldn't win a championship
21. Dawn Staley SoCar Her only title came because Miss St. played Giant Killer, jury still out
22. Brenda Frese, MD It's amazing her players are awake to play the game after her locker room talks

This is the worst list I've ever scene. Muffet at #20 is a joke. The reason why she didn't win a championship is because UConn won 4 of them during her best period. Also it doesn't help that her players keep getting injured. (Unlike UConn in Stewart's four years except for the period with Morgan Tuck). I think you penalize coaches for what they haven't done instead of what they have done and that is wrong.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

This is the worst list I've ever scene. Muffet at #20 is a joke. The reason why she didn't win a championship is because UConn won 4 of them during her best period. Also it doesn't help that her players keep getting injured. (Unlike UConn in Stewart's four years except for the period with Morgan Tuck). I think you penalize coaches for what they haven't done instead of what they have done and that is wrong.

TerpWomenFan- - -The period of time I'm talking about is where ND beat UCONN 7 out of 8 times and made it to the Finals 2x only to lose to TX A&M, Baylor! The Muffett's best period was with Diggins and McBride! PreStewart & MoJeff!
The Muffett IMHO is over-rated! She is a great recruiter though!

 

[Fairfield Fan]

The best coaches other than those on the UConn coaching staff are:

Walz at Louisville
McGraw at Notre Dame
the Oregon coach is showing he's got a real talent, which is only going to come into sharper focus as time goes by
Don't look now, but the erstwhile St John's coach has got her Michigan team ranked in the Top 25. She made big waves at St John's, and showing it wasn't a fluke at Michigan

There are great recruiting coaches- Texas, Baylor, South Carolina, Maryland- but their not bench coaches. Their teams do not display coaching genius.

So after this group, it's lots of other good but not great coaches.

 

[rugbymate]

Am surprised no one has mentioned Courtney Banghart of Princeton. Her winning percentage is 70% plus. I suspect that she could do very well coaching a perennial powerhouse but one can understand spending ones life coaching the kind of kids Princeton attracts.

 

[bballnut90]

TerpWomenFan- - -The period of time I'm talking about is where ND beat UCONN 7 out of 8 times and made it to the Finals 2x only to lose to TX A&M, Baylor! The Muffett's best period was with Diggins and McBride! PreStewart & MoJeff!
The Muffett IMHO is over-rated! She is a great recruiter though!

All of this is just wrong.

2011 they had just sophomore Diggins and were not expected to make the Final Four, let alone beat UCONN and compete for a title. They massively overachieved that year. No McBride during the NCAAs.

2012 they faced Baylor’s immensely dominant Griner led team who finished undefeated. No one expected them to compete with Baylor, let alone beat Baylor.

You do realize that from 2012-2016 (when Muffett’s had her 5 best teams), 4 of the 5 years had teams who are widely regarded as 4 of the most dominant best teams of all time, and the other one was 2013 when Stewart took over.

You can’t knock Muffett for not winning but then give Tara a free pass for going home without a title from 2008-2012 when she had more talented players and faced easier competition. Or put her below Walz or Coale who’ve had ample talent but struggle developing players and finding consistent results year in and year out.

Muffett has never had the caliber of players that Geno cycles through his program every year. Most of her kids are in the 15-30 range coming out of high school where Geno almost always has a roster with multiple #1 recruits and other top 10 players. Yet she still consistently coaches Notre Dame to be a top 3-4 team year in and year out. This year they almost beat an immensely loaded UCONN team on the road while ND’s only top tier recruit is Shepard.

 

[Vowelguy]

All of this is just wrong.

I didn't have the effort to correct the severely misinformed - since it surely won't matter - but thanks for fighting the good fight.

 

[JordyG]

Don't know about any of the others, but Tara casts a wide net when it comes to recruiting. They've had plenty of players from California over the years, but draw in players from all over the country routinely. I'd say the school's reputation in academics and athletics aids them in recruiting more than the fact they are in California.

But the truth is, all CBB coaches cast a wide net. That's a given. No one recruits exclusively by region. Doing that is a short road to failure. That doesn't negate the fact that many colleges has an advantage regionally. It also doesn't negate the fact that Tara is at the top of my list of great coaches.

 

[Dabber]

IMHO, (which obviously doesn't mean a heck of a lot) here are my, in order, 22 top WCBB coaches:
1. Geno Auriemma, UCONN Geno is really #1 to #10
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Doug Bruno, DePaul Constantly does more with less
3. Vic Schaefer, Miss St. Has taken Miss St. from average to highly competitive in short amount of time
4. Tara Vanderveer, Stanford Usually can come up with a game plan that makes her team comprtitive
5. Mike Carey, WVU He gets good athletes/BB players to go to WVU and makes TOUGH/GOOD teams
6. Jeff Walz, L'ville Brenda Frese owes her NC title to Jeff, outsmarted Kim Mulkey
7. Gary Blair, TX A&M Has been very good at 3 schools
8. Sue Semrau, FSU Has made FSU one of the top programs
9. Sheri Coale, OKLA Geno thinks she's a great coach, 'nuff for me
10. Jose Fernandez, SoFla Brings in parts from all over and is highly competitive
11. Karen Aston, TX Has added the pieces to the puzzle now we'll see the results?
12.Charli Turner Thorne, Ariz. St. Always has players coming at ya
13. Kelly Graves, Oregon Had a great program at Gonzaga, has brought same toughness to Oregon
14. Casey Close, UCLA One of the bright young minds in WCBB
15. Scott Rueck, Oregon St. Also one of the bright minds in WCBB
16. Kim Mulkey, Baylor Could only win one title with legend B. Griner
17. Bill Fennelly, IA St. Gets players that fit his system year-in-&-year-out and is competitive
18. Matthew Mitchell KY Has to reprove himself after a bunch of players & coaches jumped ship
19. Kevin Borseth, Green Bay Always competitive at a mid level school
20. The Muffett ND For 4-5 years had the best WBB team in USA and couldn't win a championship
21. Dawn Staley SoCar Her only title came because Miss St. played Giant Killer, jury still out
22. Brenda Frese, MD It's amazing her players are awake to play the game after her locker room talks

IMHO, (which obviously doesn't mean a heck of a lot) here are my, in order, 22 top WCBB coaches:
1. Geno Auriemma, UCONN Geno is really #1 to #10
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Doug Bruno, DePaul Constantly does more with less
3. Vic Schaefer, Miss St. Has taken Miss St. from average to highly competitive in short amount of time
4. Tara Vanderveer, Stanford Usually can come up with a game plan that makes her team comprtitive
5. Mike Carey, WVU He gets good athletes/BB players to go to WVU and makes TOUGH/GOOD teams
6. Jeff Walz, L'ville Brenda Frese owes her NC title to Jeff, outsmarted Kim Mulkey
7. Gary Blair, TX A&M Has been very good at 3 schools
8. Sue Semrau, FSU Has made FSU one of the top programs
9. Sheri Coale, OKLA Geno thinks she's a great coach, 'nuff for me
10. Jose Fernandez, SoFla Brings in parts from all over and is highly competitive
11. Karen Aston, TX Has added the pieces to the puzzle now we'll see the results?
12.Charli Turner Thorne, Ariz. St. Always has players coming at ya
13. Kelly Graves, Oregon Had a great program at Gonzaga, has brought same toughness to Oregon
14. Casey Close, UCLA One of the bright young minds in WCBB
15. Scott Rueck, Oregon St. Also one of the bright minds in WCBB
16. Kim Mulkey, Baylor Could only win one title with legend B. Griner
17. Bill Fennelly, IA St. Gets players that fit his system year-in-&-year-out and is competitive
18. Matthew Mitchell KY Has to reprove himself after a bunch of players & coaches jumped ship
19. Kevin Borseth, Green Bay Always competitive at a mid level school
20. The Muffett ND For 4-5 years had the best WBB team in USA and couldn't win a championship
21. Dawn Staley SoCar Her only title came because Miss St. played Giant Killer, jury still out
22. Brenda Frese, MD It's amazing her players are awake to play the game after her locker room talks

 

[Dabber]

Sooooooooo,........ no Dawn??????