This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
Duke had a good run (including an appearance in the championship game) under Bill Foster immediately before Krzyzewski arrived. They also had a lot of success during the 60s with Art Heyman and Jeff Mullins as the stars.
I was wondering why UCLA wasn't in this pole. Wooden is long gone & if you can work a Final Four or a couple of Elite 8's, you could pretty much write your own ticket
There is definitely more travel for games in the NBA, but some of that is offset by travel for recruiting in college. I assume overall there is still more for the NBA than college, but it's much closer than is implied by comparing the volume of games.
Duke is currently 4th in all-time CBB wins behind UK, KU, and UNC. If Duke had never hired Krzyzewski but maintained their pre-K winning percentage over those years with different coaches, they would be 5th in all-time CBB wins.What a lot of people perceive as Duke's history before and during Krzyzewski is actually a lot closer to UConn's history before and during Calhoun. Hard to argue UConn fell off a cliff after Calhoun retired, and there was a lot more evidence to suggest it would happen in Storrs than what might happen in Durham.
Because UCLA hasn't been relevant for a long time and I no longer consider them an upper crust program. They won 10 of their 11 titles between 1964 and 1975 and their last almost 20 years ago. If anything I should have included Kansas instead of Duke if I was only going to list 3.
this sentiment (or similar) has been expressed several times in this thread. but consider the facts...
I just thought you were looking for the best job. Did not see any recent history of being 'upper crust' qualifier attached to this question. You string a couple good years together at UCLA, and you will be king. Alford is in a great position, and he is probably just a better than average coach at this point.
Duke is IMO the more interesting question since the person taking the job would presumably be replacing a legend many consider to be the greatest coach in the sport's history. We know KU is a stable gig - since Dr. Naismith first organized the program in 1898, there have been only eight KU men's basketball head coaches, three fewer than the number of Popes we've had over the same time-frame.
Well, I decided to only list 3 from college and 3 from the pros, so you could say it was difficult choosing which teams to pick.
Well, it could still happen, I think now it's a matter of how long UConn leadership can fend off the NBA's overtures for Ollie. He's getting his contract reworked this year of course, and he has family in the CT area, so maybe they can hang on to him and get things stable. But if he were to jump, and maybe they get a decom from someone like Daniel Hamilton, I think they could still just slip into the doldrums if the next coach isn't the right one, even with two good, stabilizing years from Ollie (getting 20 wins out of a team depleted by transfers and with no playoffs to play for was nearly as impressive as this year). They don't have the Big East buoying them anymore.
Ben Howland's Bruin teams made consecutive Final Fours but he was never loved in Westwood.
Well, it is New York and the really the only reason I included them. Plus, they do have some tradition, however faint it might be today.
That's the problem, very little security. Hell, all the big star on the team has to say to the owner or GM is that I can't play for that guy and you're out. NBA players don't listen to NBA coaches most of the time IMO.
True, but those major college jobs aren't much safer. Top players come and go in 1 year and never get to develop them.
That may just become 2 years very soon and would make someone like Calipari even stronger. People complained about his one and dones, but wait until they get a load of his two and dones, LOL. Those complaining about one and done should probably be careful for what they wish for.
.Probably. But it might also cause some too recruits to go elsewhere to get more playing time. He can only play 5 at a time. But you would think have some of those guys for two years would be really good.
Sure didn't affect his current group of studs. I don't see any of them leaving. That will be a scary team next year with 3 seven footers and 5 over 6' 10", to go along with some very good freshman coming in (Lyles, Towns, Ulis, and Booker). UK probably won't start one freshman next year, so that's what the one and done critiques have been yelling for, so now they are going to get it. That team will go very deep with Harrison, Harrison, Cauley-Stein, Marcus Lee, Dakari Johnson, Poythress, Hawkins, Booker, Ulis, Towns, Lyles (Freshman), and Willis. I probably missed someone.
The same thing that happened to UNC with Doherty could happen to any of these programs. The question is, if it happens to Duke, who is Duke's equivalent to Roy Williams to come in behind the next coach and quickly right the ship? Anything could happen, but the Williams situation was very unusual.
Doherty only had one year of head coaching experience before getting hired at Chapel Hill. Krzyzewski's coaching tree has some guys who have already been successful at other NCAA programs (Amaker, Dawkins, Brey) with Chris Collins and Steve Wojciechowski starting off at Northwestern and Marquette respectively.
Roy's bona fides were already established when he came back to UNC. Dawkins has done a worse job at Stanford than the two guys who preceded him (Johnson and Montgomery), Amaker's turned around Harvard, but a lot of that has to be attributed to Harvard lowering their academic standards to get better players, it's difficult to really assess how well he's done given how much more firepower he has.
Good Posting Judge said:
Doherty only had one year of head coaching experience (16-13 record) before going to Chapel Hill. He was hired based on a NIT run and his rugged good looks.Good Posting Judge said:
Exactly my point. The Roy Williams situation was unusual, if not unprecedented. He was already a known, elite coach with strong ties to UNC. Duke doesn't have that. No program really has that.
As a State fan, I'd be thrilled if Coach K's successor is any of these Duke alums named here, as opposed to someone like Brad Stevens.
ETA: And the Doherty situation just illustrates how difficult it can be to identify the right young up and coming alum coach. He had been an assistant at UNC and Kansas and my recollection is that he was highly regarded as a head coaching candidate. No different than Collins right now, and arguably better than Amaker, Dawkins, and Brey, who have shown that their likely ceiling is well below the Coach K/Williams level.
