Whos on your coaching Mt. Rushmore?

[storrsroars]

I think JC beats K in total titles if Tate holds on to the ball. Can't change history though and K did have a great career, even if he was JC's bitch when the stakes were highest.

OTOH, the inbounds play made UConn look pretty silly. Laettner virtually inbounded to himself and nobody challenged him.

 

[mauconnfan]

Geno, Pat Summit, Sylvia Hatchell and Muffet McGraw

 

[UConnWingman]

Dean Smith? Both Calhoun and Rupp are way more deserving.

Dean Smith absolutely deserves to be on this list. If anything, take Bob Knight off of it, but not Dean.

 

[mauconnfan]

Dean Smith absolutely deserves to be on this list. If anything, take Bob Knight off of it, but not Dean.

The only thing I will say about Dean Smith, and I respect the man, is give his abundance of talent over years to Jim Calhoun and JC has about 7-8 titles. maybe more. Still an all time great but not sure he's Rushmore for me.

 

[UConnWingman]

Not including Dean Smith on the the Mt. Rushmore of CBB coaches for not winning enough titles is pretty much on the same track as not including Ted Williams on the Mt. Rushmore of baseball for not having won a World Series. The guy was the epitome of head coaches, and if you were to poll the current D1 coaches, I'd guess he'd win "most revered" by a landslide. That's got to speak volumes..

 

[tzznandrew]

Dean Smith absolutely deserves to be on this list. If anything, take Bob Knight off of it, but not Dean.

Eh. 11 Final Fours and 2 titles in 36 years at UNC. He was an innovator and a good game coach, but he had too many teams flame out.

Calhoun, in contrast, had 3 titles, 4 Final Fours in 26 years at UConn. Knight had 3 titles, 5 final fours in 29 years at Indiana.

 

[tzznandrew]

Not including Dean Smith on the the Mt. Rushmore of CBB coaches for not winning enough titles is pretty much on the same track as not including Ted Williams on the Mt. Rushmore of baseball for not having won a World Series. The guy was the epitome of head coaches, and if you were to poll the current D1 coaches, I'd guess he'd win "most revered" by a landslide. That's got to speak volumes..

Ted Williams' job was to hit the baseball. He did that incredibly well.

Dean Smith's job was win titles. He did that very well, but not as well as the 4 others people mentioned.

The HOF can elect unlimited numbers of people. A Mt. Rushmore can only do 4 people. It isn't apples to apples.

 

[caw]

Not including Dean Smith on the the Mt. Rushmore of CBB coaches for not winning enough titles is pretty much on the same track as not including Ted Williams on the Mt. Rushmore of baseball for not having won a World Series. The guy was the epitome of head coaches, and if you were to poll the current D1 coaches, I'd guess he'd win "most revered" by a landslide. That's got to speak volumes..

I guess it all depends on your qualifications for the mountain. There are arguments for K, JC, Knight, Dean to be the four but Wooden and Rupp also are deserving. If he hadn't left for the Celtic stint, Pitino may have had a strong claim as well.

I'm partial to JC, Knight, K and Wooden. Dean would be my fifth because in the end I feel the other four were at least as good all around coaches and they have the championships.

If you are talking cultural importance, Dean would probably replace JC.

 

[raf46]

I think i have to go:

Wooden
Coach K
Dean Smith
Bobby Knight

Just left out
Rupp
Calhoun

Mt Rushmore of coaching.

Jim Calhoun
Bobby Knight
Sam Bender
John Wooden

 

[Calhoun's Court]

My Mt. Rushmore only has one person on it- Jim Calhoun

 

[CallMeBruce]

Not including Dean Smith on the the Mt. Rushmore of CBB coaches for not winning enough titles is pretty much on the same track as not including Ted Williams on the Mt. Rushmore of baseball for not having won a World Series. The guy was the epitome of head coaches, and if you were to poll the current D1 coaches, I'd guess he'd win "most revered" by a landslide. That's got to speak volumes..

How does this comparison make sense? An individual baseball player has a far lesser impact on his team's success than does a college basketball coach. He's responsible for the entire roster, as well as honing their skills and utilizing them properly.

 

[boog204]

Dean Smith absolutely deserves to be on this list. If anything, take Bob Knight off of it, but not Dean.

Knight was an incredible coach... Three titles and usually he did not get the best talent b/c many could not or would not play for him. The game passed him by near the end but him and JC are very, very similar. Knight was clearly more of a bully, but both were fiery, stubborn, and usually got their way.

 

[huskyblooz]

Dean Smith absolutely deserves to be on this list. If anything, take Bob Knight off of it, but not Dean.

Watch Michael Jordan's last game and tell me Dean is better than Knight.

 

[CTBasketball]

Wooden
Coach K
Knight
Calhoun

Dean Smith's legacy will soon be tainted. He needs to be left off. Same for Boeheim, even though he shouldn't even be in the discussion.

 

[UConnWingman]

How does this comparison make sense? An individual baseball player has a far lesser impact on his team's success than does a college basketball coach. He's responsible for the entire roster, as well as honing their skills and utilizing them properly.

You guys need some perspective. If Dean Smith isn't on the Mt Rushmore of coaches, A) it means this site has some pretty shortsighted people, and B) I'm glad you guys didn't vote on the actual Rushmore. You'd probably find a reason to knock off Teddy Roosevelt.

Wooden
Smith

Then you can have some guys below them. Redesign the thing, but Smith deserves way more credit than you're giving him.

 

[CallMeBruce]

You guys need some perspective. If Dean Smith isn't on the Mt Rushmore of coaches, A) it means this site has some pretty shortsighted people, and B) I'm glad you guys didn't vote on the actual Rushmore. You'd probably find a reason to knock off Teddy Roosevelt.

Wooden
Smith

Then you can have some guys below them. Redesign the thing, but Smith deserves way more credit than you're giving him.

I wasn't even commenting on Smith being on there, but there are certainly arguments to be made for at least four other guys being above him. I was just point out how stupid your comparison to Ted Williams was.

 

[UConnWingman]

Watch Michael Jordan's last game and tell me Dean is better than Knight.

If you're going to judge a career that Dean Smith had down to one game...Then let's pull up the video on the halftime speech where Bob Knight shoved a bunch of toilet paper full of excrement into a player's face. Knight was a psycho, period.

 

[SubbaBub]

If you're going all time, it's

Naismith
Allen
Wooden
K

If you are talking the Modern Era (post 1976), it's

K
Knight
Calhoun
Smith

If you are talking the 64+ tournament Era (post 1984) and you should unless you are one of those people who wax poetic about the dead ball era in baseball, it's:

K
Calhoun
Pitino
Smith (for now) Izzo is next up if he wins another title.

 

[CallMeBruce]

LOL @ Naismith. Wasn't he the only coach in KU history to have a losing record?

 

[UConnWingman]

I wasn't even commenting on Smith being on there, but there are certainly arguments to be made for at least four other guys being above him. I was just point out how stupid your comparison to Ted Williams was.

Stupid? People were shortchanging Dean for not having won enough titles. Kind of you know, how people erroneously cite Ted Williams (or Ernie Banks) for never having won a WS. It's a lame argument when you're pointing out the overall effectiveness of a coach/athlete. Dean Smith won 3 titles. He took them to the FF 11 times. But there's more to coaching than winning titles. There's what he brought to the game. The Four Corners offense which basically caused the NCAA to go to a shot clock, The way his players, after scoring, point to the guy who passed them the ball (which even the NBA picked up), the quick huddle of teammates prior to free throws, etc. These are things Smith brought. He transcended the game.

I love me some Calhoun...but yeah, he's not Dean Smith.

By the way, Dean Smith graduated something absurd - something like 95% of his players. And in his will, everybody who ever played for him was gifted $200 to go have a good night out.

 

[ctchamps]

Hard to think Wooden when dissing Geno. Both dominated/dominate when the rest of their bb world lacked/lack a multitude of competitive teams. Same with Rupp!

Speaking of Dean Smith, it will be interesting to watch how the NCAA dances around his legacy given the information that they have regarding when the scandal of bogus classes began. They will minimize this aspect and the media will as well. We need our heroes not to have warts.

JC
Pitino
Izzo
Knight

 

[SubbaBub]

I love me some Calhoun...but yeah, he's not Dean Smith.

By the way, Dean Smith graduated something absurd - something like 95% of his players. And in his will, everybody who ever played for him was gifted $200 to go have a good night out.

Smith was a great man and contributor to the game most of his work is pre 1985. His two titles are now in question as is that graduation rate. I don't care about how his estate was settled.

If its just about coaching, Calhoun matched and exceeded Smith in many areas without the benefit of being an early actor or being part of the Naismith-Allen line.

If a Final Four meant winning 2 games in an era when there wasn't nearly the competition is equal to winning today, then I find fault with that analysis. Rupp isn't worth considering for these reasons.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Stupid? People were shortchanging Dean for not having won enough titles. Kind of you know, how people erroneously cite Ted Williams (or Ernie Banks) for never having won a WS. It's a lame argument when you're pointing out the overall effectiveness of a coach/athlete. Dean Smith won 3 titles. He took them to the FF 11 times. But there's more to coaching than winning titles. There's what he brought to the game. The Four Corners offense which basically caused the NCAA to go to a shot clock, The way his players, after scoring, point to the guy who passed them the ball (which even the NBA picked up), the quick huddle of teammates prior to free throws, etc. These are things Smith brought. He transcended the game.

I love me some Calhoun...but yeah, he's not Dean Smith.

By the way, Dean Smith graduated something absurd - something like 95% of his players. And in his will, everybody who ever played for him was gifted $200 to go have a good night out.

Do you seriously not understand how much less control a left fielder has over a baseball team's ability to win championships than a head coach does over a college basketball team's ability to win championships? Williams didn't win because his teammates weren't as good as DiMaggio's and Mantle's, and the Yankees were loaded for most of his career. What was stopping Smith? He recruited all the players, developed them, and coached the games. If the team doesn't win, that's 100% on him.

That he was a nice guy who graduated players means very little in terms of ranking him as a basketball coach.

 

[UConnWingman]

Calhoun was a fantastic coach, who took a sleeping giant all the way to the top. But don't kid yourself: if it wasn't Calhoun, it would've been somebody else. Connecticut was just itching to explode onto the scene as a member of the Big East, while being a couple hours from the media capital of the world. Hell, if you could ask coach Calhoun himself, he'd just say "I'm just flattered to have my name mentioned in the same sentence as Dean Smith's".

 

[Gurleyman]

Stupid? People were shortchanging Dean for not having won enough titles. Kind of you know, how people erroneously cite Ted Williams (or Ernie Banks) for never having won a WS. It's a lame argument when you're pointing out the overall effectiveness of a coach/athlete. Dean Smith won 3 titles. He took them to the FF 11 times. But there's more to coaching than winning titles. There's what he brought to the game. The Four Corners offense which basically caused the NCAA to go to a shot clock, The way his players, after scoring, point to the guy who passed them the ball (which even the NBA picked up), the quick huddle of teammates prior to free throws, etc. These are things Smith brought. He transcended the game. I love me some Calhoun...but yeah, he's not Dean Smith. By the way, Dean Smith graduated something absurd - something like 95% of his players. And in his will, everybody who ever played for him was gifted $200 to go have a good night out.

You aren't seriously bringing up academics as a feather in Dean Smith's cap are you? Been following the news lately? All that crap started under him - and who knows what he might have getting away with before that.

To me, there are arguments for and against him as a coach. For long term consistent excellence, he's up there with the best. Maybe deserving of the top four. UNC was a top 10 team for the better part of 20 years. That's hard to do. For achieving what he should with the teams he had, his resume comes up a little short. I thought about Bobby Cox as a comparison - had the best team in baseball for a decade and won once - but that's selling him short since Cox gets little respect. Maybe Don Shula is better - did get to the winning circle twice (consecutively) but came up short for 12 years with Marino and is probably behind some combination of Lombardi, Noll, Belichick, Parcells, Landry and Walsh.

Smith's two titles are remembered more for what the other guys did (Brown to Worthy, Webber timeout) than what UNC did, fairly or unfairly. But that makes it hard to consider either of those wins a signature coaching achievement.