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Best coaches in sports to maximize bottom-barrel talent (1 Viewer)

Doug B

Doug B

Footballguy
If you're in one of the major pro or college sports, and your team's collection of talent is consistently outclassed by your opponents ... who are the best coaches to at least get your squad to approach mediocrity?

What coaches, throughout sports history have been the best at, well ... doing the most with the least?

- In the NBA: you've got 20-win talent at best. But is there anybody out there who's got a good shot at taking those guys and squeezing out, say. 35 wins? Maybe an #8 seed in the East or something?

- In the NFL: your squad has has lost 10+ games for a decade. Your franchise is spinning its wheels. What coaches are or have been best at getting 7-9 seasons out of dogmeat rosters?

And so on. Thinking mostly of NFl, MLB, NBA, NHL, and NCAA football and basketball. But if people can talk about coaches from other sports, feel free.

I figure Larry Brown will be a popular choice for the NBA. Who else is out there?

 
Mike Keenan in hockey but only for 2 seasons before the team decides to kill him in the locker room.

Parcells will get bottom of the barrel talent to believe it can win for a while.

 
For years, Barry Trotz worked wonders with little talent on the Nashville Predators and is now taking an above-average Washington Capitals team to new heights.

 
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Schottenheimer is another Parcells type who can seemingly win 8 games with anything. The 8-8 season he got out of the least talented Redskins roster I have ever seen was a minor miracle.

Maybe Rick Carlyle for the NBA or Brad Stevens for the NBA. In college b-ball,I suppose Tony Bennett comes to mind. As a UVA law grad I feel like a ******* because I don't enjoy watching UVA play, but its effective.

 
dutch said:
Mike Keenan in hockey but only for 2 seasons before the team decides to kill him in the locker room.
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I think Keenan inherited pretty good teams wherever he went, but he does build them up as a unit before they hate him.

 
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Ramsay Hunt Experience said:
zamboni said:
For years, Barry Trotz worked wonders with little talent on the Nashville Predators and is now taking an above-average Washington Capitals team to new heights.
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Sadly, blowing 3-1 series leads really doesn't constitute "new heights" for the Caps.
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Not over yet, and I say that as a nervous Rangers diehard.

No matter what the outcome is, the Caps are better than under Dale Hunter/Adam Oates/etc - even got Ovechkin to realize there is another end of the ice.

 
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Eephus said:
Tony Pulis
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At this point, Diego Simeone would seem to be a likely candidate. Atletico is certainly not bottom of the barrel talent, but he certainly has routinely competing with much more talented sides. Before this year, people might have said Klopp but he's actually had very good talent.

 
Long Ball Larry said:
For one season be able to get something decent, or try to turn the program around?
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Either can be an instersting discussion. Only one season, though -- no roster improvements over time.

From movies, think of what Joe Brown was faced with in Major League. Or Coach Dale in Hoosiers (though it's high school ball).

 
Ramsay Hunt Experience said:
Eephus said:
Tony Pulis
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At this point, Diego Simeone would seem to be a likely candidate. Atletico is certainly not bottom of the barrel talent, but he certainly has routinely competing with much more talented sides. Before this year, people might have said Klopp but he's actually had very good talent.
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I feel like there's a host of guys who move from team to team at the bottom of the EPL- but yeah, Pulis definitely jumped to mind. and Simeone is a decent one for getting the most out of decent, but not great talent (couldn't really call his teams bottom barrel talent).

how about Bora Milutinavic?

 
Ramsay Hunt Experience said:
Schottenheimer is another Parcells type who can seemingly win 8 games with anything. The 8-8 season he got out of the least talented Redskins roster I have ever seen was a minor miracle.
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Give Schotty a new expansion team and he will get within a game of 0.500. Give him the 1995 Cowboys and he will go 8-8 or maybe 9-7.

He can make chicken salad out of chicken ####, but he also makes hamburger out of filet mignon.

Sadly, baby Schottenheimer only knows how to suck the life out of an offense. Nepotism is neat.

 
Ramsay Hunt Experience said:
Maybe Rick Carlyle for the NBA or Brad Stevens for the NBA. In college b-ball,I suppose Tony Bennett comes to mind. As a UVA law grad I feel like a ******* because I don't enjoy watching UVA play, but its effective.
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For a while in the NBA, it seemed like the answers were Mike Fratello and Lenny Wilkens. But Larry Brown somehow got Sterling's Wonders into the NBA playoffs in the middle of their the Clippers' three-decade slumber. And now Brown gets a lot of accolades for winning an NBA title "without a star".

 
Buck Showalter should probably get some consideration.

He did a great job building up the Yankees from their disastrous late '80s/early '90s period but got bounced right before they went on their dynasty run with Torre. Also helped bring the Orioles back to respectability.

 
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Also think the football coach at Oklahoma State has done an outstanding job. Hard to play second fiddle to OU, even with T.Boone's money. All the money in the world can't upgrade Stillwater as a town. Yet OSU is seemingly competitive every year.

 
zamboni said:
Buck Showalter should probably get some consideration.

He did a great job building up the Yankees from their disastrous late '80s/early '90s period but got bounced right before they went on their dynasty run with Torre. Also helped bring the Orioles back to respectability.
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Rangers went on their playoff run after Buck was let go too....seems like Ron Washington inherited a team on the upswing IIRC.

 
Mike Pettine managed to find his way to 7 wins with the cesspool of talent and circus sideshow organization that was the Cleveland Browns in 2014. Not much of a track record in just one season, but I tip my hat to him.

Rove! said:
Belichick
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I think he is more of the type to take mediocre talent and have them perform at an elite level...also a commendable coaching feat.

 
General Malaise said:
zamboni said:
Buck Showalter should probably get some consideration.

He did a great job building up the Yankees from their disastrous late '80s/early '90s period but got bounced right before they went on their dynasty run with Torre. Also helped bring the Orioles back to respectability.
Click to expand...
Rangers went on their playoff run after Buck was let go too....seems like Ron Washington inherited a team on the upswing IIRC.
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Good call - and also the Diamondbacks. Guy does a good job building up teams but doesn't get along with management and never gets to reap the benefits.

 
And I know he is probably overrated and perhaps we have tired of his antics, but Rex Ryan taking the Jets to two AFC Championship games with Mark Sanchez has to be one of the better coaching achievements in NFL history. Yeah, the defense was loaded, but he was the chef that put that together and was able to win in the playoffs where it is very hard to win.

 
General Malaise said:
And I know he is probably overrated and perhaps we have tired of his antics, but Rex Ryan taking the Jets to two AFC Championship games with Mark Sanchez has to be one of the better coaching achievements in NFL history. Yeah, the defense was loaded, but he was the chef that put that together and was able to win in the playoffs where it is very hard to win.
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That's why I think the Bills are a team to watch this year.

 
jon_mx said:
John Calipari /thread
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Not with Kentucky. What season(s) were you thinking about?

He had Camby at UMass and Derek Rose at Memphis. But if your point is that those stars were surrounded by intramural guys picked up from the quad, I can follow. Thought Memphis was kind of stacked in 2008, though.

 
General Malaise said:
Also think the football coach at Oklahoma State has done an outstanding job. Hard to play second fiddle to OU, even with T.Boone's money. All the money in the world can't upgrade Stillwater as a town. Yet OSU is seemingly competitive every year.
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Mike Gundy, right?

Is he the kind of guy that can get pretty much any Power 5 team into a bowl in year one?

 
For years Ron Gardenhire. Twins had no money and he had a great farm system but would lose free agents because Twins didn't want to spend.

 
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