Whos on your coaching Mt. Rushmore?

[TheRealKBuks]

If we're going to use wins as our criteria let's go ahead and give Boeheim a spot.

I would like to retract my statement

 

[tzznandrew]

Baseball has 9 players on the field at any one time. You could play the whole game in the outfield and, theoretically, never have the ball get to you. You could hit a home run every at bat, and still have your team lose. It isn't remotely the same as a coach, particularly college basketball where you build the roster.

 

[PcketknfNiels]

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..

Dude's greatest contributions to the game are coaching (stifling?) MJ for 2 years and inventing stalling in basketball.

Rushmore should be: Wooden, K, JC, Knight in that order.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Baseball has 9 players on the field at any one time. You could play the whole game in the outfield and, theoretically, never have the ball get to you. You could hit a home run every at bat, and still have your team lose. It isn't remotely the same as a coach, particularly college basketball where you build the roster.

I don't understand how this is escaping people.

 

[boog204]

Dude's greatest contributions to the game are coaching (stifling?) MJ for 2 years and inventing stalling in basketball.

Rushmore should be: Wooden, K, JC, Knight in that order.

Why JC over Knight? Knight has more wins, same 'ships, a gold medal, and an additional final four. He has the last undefeated team and was an injury away from maybe having back to back undefeated teams. Is is just bias or is there something else you are basing it on? Obviously love JC, he took us to places none of us ever dreamed of, but I can't definitively say that he was better than Knight.

Also on the Dean Smith argument, he won 2 titles and went to 11 final fours. Not sure how that is "not achieving" or "reaching the pinnacle of their profession." If he wins another more title he does jump JC and Knight? Seems ridiculous to me that Dean Smith doesn't make the "Mount Rushmore." During my indoctrination into college bball in the mid 1980s Dean, Knight, and John Thompson were the big 3. Thompson obviously fades out but Knight and Dean were still pretty much the top until the early 90s when they are replaced by Coach K and later JC.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Why JC over Knight? Knight has more wins, same 'ships, a gold medal, and an additional final four. He has the last undefeated team and was an injury away from maybe having back to back undefeated teams. Is is just bias or is there something else you are basing it on? Obviously love JC, he took us to places none of us ever dreamed of, but I can't definitively say that he was better than Knight.

Also on the Dean Smith argument, he won 2 titles and went to 11 final fours. Not sure how that is "not achieving" or "reaching the pinnacle of their profession." If he wins another more title he does jump JC and Knight? Seems ridiculous to me that Dean Smith doesn't make the "Mount Rushmore." During my indoctrination into college bball in the mid 1980s Dean, Knight, and John Thompson were the big 3. Thompson obviously fades out but Knight and Dean were still pretty much the top until the early 90s when they are replaced by Coach K and later JC.

Knight didn't build Indiana; he inherited it from (effectively) Branch McCracken. That's the difference. That he and Calhoun have even comparable accomplishments tells me how much better Calhoun was.

 

[boog204]

Knight didn't build Indiana; he inherited it from (effectively) Branch McCracken. That's the difference. That he and Calhoun have even comparable accomplishments tells me how much better Calhoun was.

Indiana definitely had had success prior to Knight. However, 5 of the 8 previous years they were under .500 under McCracken and others. Knight takes them to a final four in year two, undefeated champions by year 5. This is 10 or so years before I was born so I'm just going on records. Can't argue w/ JCs program building resume.

 

[joober jones]

Tubby Smith, Tubby Smith, Tubby Smith, and Tubby Smith

 

[CallMeBruce]

Indiana definitely had had success prior to Knight. However, 5 of the 8 previous years they were under .500 under McCracken and others. Knight takes them to a final four in year two, undefeated champions by year 5. This is 10 or so years before I was born so I'm just going on records. Can't argue w/ JCs program building resume.

I'm not saying that Knight didn't do anything, but recruiting to Indiana in the 70s was nothing like recruiting to UConn in the late 80s. Indiana had gone through a rough patch, but they were still considered a blueblood program. Also, it's Indiana, the basketballiest basketball state in the country (pre-Calhoun).

 

[Inyatkin]

If you guys wanna be tricky, you can run at em' with a Calhoun.

This will never not be great.

 

[superjohn]

K, Wooden, Calhoun, Knight, Pitino, Dean Smith, Mike Jarvis.

 

[CTBasketball]

This will never not be great.

I'm surprised that only one person found this amusing. It was an all-time WTF call...

 

[PcketknfNiels]

Knight didn't build Indiana; he inherited it from (effectively) Branch McCracken. That's the difference. That he and Calhoun have even comparable accomplishments tells me how much better Calhoun was.

This, and the fact that Calhoun did it all in the 64 team/3 pt era. A lot of Knight's damage came before that and even by the 90s hadn't really been doing that much.

 

[PcketknfNiels]

Why JC over Knight? Knight has more wins, same 'ships, a gold medal, and an additional final four. He has the last undefeated team and was an injury away from maybe having back to back undefeated teams. Is is just bias or is there something else you are basing it on? Obviously love JC, he took us to places none of us ever dreamed of, but I can't definitively say that he was better than Knight.

Also on the Dean Smith argument, he won 2 titles and went to 11 final fours. Not sure how that is "not achieving" or "reaching the pinnacle of their profession." If he wins another more title he does jump JC and Knight? Seems ridiculous to me that Dean Smith doesn't make the "Mount Rushmore." During my indoctrination into college bball in the mid 1980s Dean, Knight, and John Thompson were the big 3. Thompson obviously fades out but Knight and Dean were still pretty much the top until the early 90s when they are replaced by Coach K and later JC.

Also on top of mine/Bruce answer Re: Knight, I kind of need more than 2 titles out of Dean when he had far and away the greatest overall collection of talent ever. I can't imagine it being as difficult as it is to recruit now in his heyday, and with that UNC platform and ridiculous amount of talent he brought in, he really SHOULD have had like 4 titles. He would be my #5 but could you imagine any of Wooden/K/Calhoun/Knight not doing better if in the exact same situation? Him and Knight are essentially contemporaries, but even without considering the talent each had to work with, I'm more impressed by 3 titles and a perfect season than I am by 2 titles and 11 final 4 trips. When you consider that Dean had way more talent to work with than Knight, I can't help but be more impressed by what Knight did.

 

[8893]

I think Calhoun may be better suited to be featured as the coaching Crazy Horse Memorial.

 

[Scottzer]

Calhoun, Thompson, Boeheim, and Mossimino. Sorry, I miss the Big East.

 

[Scottzer]

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..

Isn't Dean like a more beloved version of Calipari? Massive Talent, Many FF's, few titles?