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Rank the Head Coaches in your conference

Noahtogo24

Well-Known Member
Jan 6, 2015
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Titles says it all- for Big Ten, only going to do top 13 since MD has an interim head coach (Turge is gone!!!)

  1. Izzo
  2. Painter
  3. Greg Gard
  4. Chris Holtmann
  5. Brad Underwood
  6. Howard
  7. Fran McCaffery
  8. Steve Pikiell
  9. Chris Collins
  10. Mike Woodson
  11. Micah Shrewsberry
  12. Ben Johnson
  13. Hoiberg (success at Iowa State yes, but has been awful at Nebraska)
 
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1 John Calipari
2 Bruce Pearl
3 Eric Musselman
4 Rick Barnes
5 Nate Oates
6 Will Wade
7 Buzz Williams
8 Ben Howland
9 Mike White
10 Frank Martin
11 Tom Crean
12 Cuonzo Martin
13 Kermit Davis
14 Jerry Stackhouse
 
Titles says it all- for Big Ten, only going to do top 13 since MD has an interim head coach (Turge is gone!!!)

  1. Izzo
  2. Painter
  3. Greg Gard
  4. Chris Holtmann
  5. Brad Underwood
  6. Howard
  7. Fran McCaffery
  8. Steve Pikiell
  9. Chris Collins
  10. Mike Woodson
  11. Micah Shrewsberry
  12. Ben Johnson
  13. Hoiberg (success at Iowa State yes, but has been awful at Nebraska)
Agree with this but switch Underwood and Holtmann and Pikiell and McCaffery. Maybe Woodson above Collins, even.

I’m fine with Gard above Underwood as a coach, but I think Underwood has done a more impressive program build thus far, simply because of what he walked into. Also, he really has done a great job this year dealing with all the missed games and adversity and offseason departures to have Illinois in first place in mid-February.
 
Agree with this but switch Underwood and Holtmann and Pikiell and McCaffery. Maybe Woodson above Collins, even.

I’m fine with Gard above Underwood as a coach, but I think Underwood has done a more impressive program build thus far, simply because of what he walked into. Also, he really has done a great job this year dealing with all the missed games and adversity and offseason departures to have Illinois in first place in mid-February.
Valid Points

  1. I have Collins over Woodson because Collins has a Ncaa tourney berth, although to be fair, this is Woodson's first year as a college head coach. Also, Northwestern is less than 3 games behind IU in standings, so could catch them,
  2. If, and a big if, PIkiell and Rutgers wins the Big Ten regular season, def moves into the top 6 IMO
  3. Would def move Underwood above Holtmann if Illinois wins the Big Ten regular season.
 
Self
Drew
Adams
Huggins
Weber
Dixon
Beard
Moser
Otzelberger
Boynton
Beard at 7?!!! I just can’t give first year coaches that much credit yet over proven guys….

I’d go given that:

self - 1 natty, played for another, and broke UCLA league record, multiple final fours

Drew - 1 natty plus a couple elite 8’s and now has Baylor competing for champ’s annually

Beard - played for 19 natty and got Texas rolling again playing with passion in year 1

Huggy - 1 final four and has had WVU relevant for a decade plus

Adam’s - best first year coach in the country by a mile because we’re seeing he was brains behind beard

Weber - 2 two league titles, one elite 8. Kstate has sucked since Dean Wade’s 2019 season tho

Dixon - crushed it at Pitt and has TCU a football school playing good bball since arrival

Boynton - many will say their 2021 success was only due to Cade but boynton still got him there. This year a bad sample size given their BS tourney ban. Nothing to play for

Otz - year 1 a monster success for him

Moser - got the final four for Loyola but not sold yet on a bigger stage in a top dog league
 
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1 John Calipari
2 Bruce Pearl
3 Eric Musselman
4 Rick Barnes
5 Nate Oates
6 Will Wade
7 Buzz Williams
8 Ben Howland
9 Mike White
10 Frank Martin
11 Tom Crean
12 Cuonzo Martin
13 Kermit Davis
14 Jerry Stackhouse

I'd switch Musselman and Barnes. 6 through 8 could go in any order IMO. Move Kermit up a few. Cuonzo Martin is dead last to me in the SEC.
 
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I'd switch Musselman and Barnes. 6 through 8 could go in any order IMO. Move Kermit up a few. Cuonzo Martin is dead last to me in the SEC.

Maybe…. My thought process was, the order i’d pick them to run kentucky. And id give the reigns to musselman before ever considering barnes.

The only ones id really consider for that are the top 3.

Kermit Davis might be better. Ole Miss is a really tough gig.

It was difficult once i got to guys like howland, martin and crean. because they were at one time decent coaches. they all have final fours. martin has a E8 at Kansas State and a final four at south carolina. howland went to 3 straight at ucla. but neither seem to have been able to do much lately. Mississippi State has gone nowhere under Howland. Crean has been an utter disaster at georgia. And martin has just completely fallen off.

So many once really good coaches just seem to come to the SEC to die.

Buzz Williams was pretty good at marquette and va tech. i think he could be next.
 
images
 
Beard at 7?!!! I just can’t give first year coaches that much credit yet over proven guys….

I’d go given that:

self - 1 natty, played for another, and broke UCLA league record, multiple final fours

Drew - 1 natty plus a couple elite 8’s and now has Baylor competing for champ’s annually

Beard - played for 19 natty and got Texas rolling again playing with passion in year 1

Huggy - 1 final four and has had WVU relevant for a decade plus

Adam’s - best first year coach in the country by a mile because we’re seeing he was brains behind beard

Weber - 2 two league titles, one elite 8. Kstate has sucked since Dean Wade’s 2019 season tho

Dixon - crushed it at Pitt and has TCU a football school playing good bball since arrival

Boynton - many will say their 2021 success was only due to Cade but boynton still got him there. This year a bad sample size given their BS tourney ban. Nothing to play for

Otz - year 1 a monster success for him

Moser - got the final four for Loyola but not sold yet on a bigger stage in a top dog league
I was ranking based on how I perceive their coaching ability. If it were based on accomplishments as a HC, Adams would be at the bottom.

Weber’s a tough one to place. He hasn’t had a ton of success since that great Illinois team, but he consistently seems to do more than expected. This year, for example, they lost basically everybody from an awful team yet they’re on the bubble. He gets a lot out of his talent and they’re usually fundamentally sound. He just doesn’t get talent. And when he does start to build something solid, the top players transfer.
 
Howard took over a program from a very good coach. Pikes ahead of him.
 
1 Cal
2 Not Pearl
3 Not Pearl
4 Not Pearl
5 Not Pearl
6 Not Pearl
7 Not Pearl
8 Not Pearl
9 Not Pearl
10 Not Pearl
11 Not Pearl
12 Not Pearl
13 Not Pearl
14 Pearl
Barnes has more than 3 letters aside from that carry on.
 
LOL, there’s no way you didn’t have Beard #1 on this list 8 months ago. Did he suddenly forget how to coach?

I didn't have Beard #1. Bill Self has won a National Championship. Scott Drew now has one so that moves him above Beard. Bob Huggins has gone to the Final 4 twice to Chris Beard's one time. Bruce Weber got to the National Title game as well.

Adams so far is:
1-1 vs Self (loss coming in 2OT @Kansas)
2-0 vs Drew
2-0 vs Huggins
2-0 vs Beard
 
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Titles says it all- for Big Ten, only going to do top 13 since MD has an interim head coach (Turge is gone!!!)

  1. Izzo
  2. Painter
  3. Greg Gard
  4. Chris Holtmann
  5. Brad Underwood
  6. Howard
  7. Fran McCaffery
  8. Steve Pikiell
  9. Chris Collins
  10. Mike Woodson
  11. Micah Shrewsberry
  12. Ben Johnson
  13. Hoiberg (success at Iowa State yes, but has been awful at Nebraska)
I'd put Hoiberg and Collins at the bottom in their own tier. Since Collins made the tourney 5 years ago, he is 24-69 in B1G play. That is horrific.

Next tier would be the newbies.
 
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Tier 1
Self
Drew
Tier 2
Adams
Beard
Huggs
Tier 3
Weber
Tier 4
Otz
Dixon
Boyton
 
1 John Calipari
2 Bruce Pearl
3 Eric Musselman
4 Rick Barnes
5 Nate Oates
6 Will Wade
7 Buzz Williams
8 Ben Howland
9 Mike White
10 Frank Martin
11 Tom Crean
12 Cuonzo Martin
13 Kermit Davis
14 Jerry Stackhouse

I think I’d have Cuonzo above Crean, but this is a pretty darn good list.
 
Cal
Pearl
Muss
Barnes
Oats
Howland
Williams
Wade
White Martin
Not white Martin
Crean
Davis
Stackhouse
 
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Titles says it all- for Big Ten, only going to do top 13 since MD has an interim head coach (Turge is gone!!!)

  1. Izzo
  2. Painter
  3. Greg Gard
  4. Chris Holtmann
  5. Brad Underwood
  6. Howard
  7. Fran McCaffery
  8. Steve Pikiell
  9. Chris Collins
  10. Mike Woodson
  11. Micah Shrewsberry
  12. Ben Johnson
  13. Hoiberg (success at Iowa State yes, but has been awful at Nebraska)
Gard and Holtmann over Underwood

Yoikes.
 
1 John Calipari
2 Bruce Pearl
3 Eric Musselman
4 Rick Barnes
5 Nate Oates
6 Will Wade
7 Buzz Williams
8 Ben Howland
9 Mike White
10 Frank Martin
11 Tom Crean
12 Cuonzo Martin
13 Kermit Davis
14 Jerry Stackhouse

Put the top half of coaches listed ITT at KY and KY would still be at or near the top of the SEC year in and out.

Calipari just happens to be the coach. Has nothing to do with his coaching abilities, it's just that KY is a powerhouse program and it recruits itself.
 
Put the top half of coaches listed ITT at KY and KY would still be at or near the top of the SEC year in and out.

Calipari just happens to be the coach. Has nothing to do with his coaching abilities, it's just that KY is a powerhouse program and it recruits itself.
A year ago they’d have ranked him at the bottom. 🤣
 
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Well, he’s either a great coach or he’s not. A shitty year 3 decades in shouldn’t drastically change anyone’s opinion of his coaching acumen.

I guess a lot of people rank only in terms of accomplishments, but that’s just an exercise in adding up wins and final fours.
It's not always comprehensive for me. Scouting, recruiting, and assembling a team to do what you want them to do is part of coaching. Failure to do that effectively is worth some criticism and a deduction on that particular season's coaching acumen. Overall it wouldn't change my opinion of the big picture, but Cal shoulders a large part of the blame for the debacle that was last season. It's not like the talent wasn't there. Talent alone doesn't win you basketball games though, ask Penny Hardaway.
 
K
Tony Bennett
Leonard Hamilton
Mike Brey
Steve Forbes
Jim Boeheim
Jim Larranaga
Josh Pastner
Mike Young
Earl Grant
Kevin Keatts
Jeff Capel
Hubert Davis
Brad Brownell

I didn't rank a Louisville coach.
 
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