hoopscoop.com ranks college coaches

I saw this on http://www.cbssports.com/collegebask.../post/18115828[ (I don't get why they don't put links in) about a website called www.hoopscooponline.com that ranks college coaches, some very interesting opinions, and criteria. I kind of wonder about the rankings though. Is Calhoun the 2nd best coach in the country? Should Tony Bennett (UVA) rank ahead of M. Gottfried (NC State)? The up and coming coaches and asst. coach rankings are also somewhat surprising.

http://www.hoopscooponline.com/membe...kings-2012.asp

Just putting this up for conversation, and to see what people think about the Duke coach rankings. I know this means very little in the grand scheme of things.

Seeing how this website is based out of Kentucky, I shouldn't be shocked calipari is #3. Others that jump out as being overrated are Drew at #16 and Brey at #17. I would actually rank both Beilein and Bennett ahead of Drew.

Can't believe Turgeon is even on this list right now.

Wow, I had forgotten how few active coaches there are with titles. It would seem like a decent list, if heavily weighted for recent performance, if it wasn't for Huggins being ranked 9. Calipari shouldn't be ranked that high, even ignoring the whole 2 of his 3 final fours being vacated, but regardless of how people feel about him, he's top 10 if you ignore the NCAA issues. I'm amazed how low Steve Fisher (38) is ranked, given that he's one of 10 active coaches with a title (interim HC in the 1989 NCAA tournament). If you're going to ignore his vacated final fours, you have to ignore Calipari's as well. But really, the biggest mistake has to be Bob Huggins at 9. I'm a Huggy Bear fan, but I can't put his two final fours ahead of Tubby Smith or Billy Donovan with a straight face and would probably put him behind Ben Howland and Thad Matta as well.

Not sure if this ranking is just the opinion of the writer or any canvassing was involved.Or most likely, one man's interpretation based of the coaches' record of achievement.

Good to see Coach K deservedly ranked #1.

It would be instructive and fun to see sub-categories grading (not ranking by number) coaches separately for things like: in-game coaching; program management/administration; recruiting; leadership; integrity; and comparing the ratio of "stuff" (the real thing) to "fluff" (fast talker, empty suit, ratio of substance to b.s.), etc. Would surely knock numbers 2-5 (Calhoun, Calipari, Williams, and Pitino) down the list. .

Also good to see our great staff of assistants ranked highly...Wojo 6th, Capel 9th, and Collins 22nd. Is Wojo actually obectively considered a more talented coach than Collins?

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Originally Posted by SmartDevil

Not sure if this ranking is just the opinion of the writer or any canvassing was involved.Or most likely, one man's interpretation based of the coaches' record of achievement.

Good to see Coach K deservedly ranked #1.

It would be instructive and fun to see sub-categories grading (not ranking by number) coaches separately by category for: in-game coaching; program management/administration; recruiting; leadership; integrity; and comparing "stuff" (the real thing) to "fluff" (fast talker, empty suit, ratio of substance to b.s.), etc. Would surely knock numbers 2-5 (Calhoun, Calipari, Williams, and Pitino) down the list. .

Also good to see our great staff of assistants ranked highly...Wojo 6th, Capel 9th, and Collins 22nd. Is Wojo actually obectively considered a more talented coach than Collins?

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He's widely considered to be one of the best coaches in the country for developing post players. ;)

Sorry; couldn't resist.

Bill Self should be ranked higher than 6. This guy can flat out coach. I think that he is as good a coach as there is in college basketball.

To low: Rick Pitino, Bill Self, Tom Izzo, Shaka Smart, and possibly Brad Stevens

To High: Roy Williams, Jim Calhoun, Sean Millier, and Mark Turgeon

Izzo and Smart seem totally wrong to me but hey I am no expert. Brad Stevens is appropriate (I would put him from 10 to 15th) as is Billy Donovan. I am fine with Cals ranking but would rather see him another 2 or 3 spots down and Roy should IMO be farther down than 10 a well as Calhoun.

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Originally Posted by SmartDevil

Also good to see our great staff of assistants ranked highly...Wojo 6th, Capel 9th, and Collins 22nd. Is Wojo actually obectively considered a more talented coach than Collins?

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Originally Posted by ArkieDukie

He's widely considered to be one of the best coaches in the country for developing post players. ;)

Sorry; couldn't resist.

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Not only is Wojo ahead of Chris Collins, but he's slightly ahead of Jeff Capel, who certainly has had success (and failure) as a head coach. That's somewhat surprising, but maybe the difference between #6 and #9 is not significant, falling into the "toss up" or "coin flip" category.

I didn't see an approach discussed that explained the rankings. I think most of us could put together a spreadsheet and develop a scheme where coaches get so many points for wins, for Final Fours and for National Championships, so it is instructive to look at deviations from that norm.

Lower than expected --

• Tom Izzo at no. 8 despite 6 FFs and 1 NC. I would put Izzo at #2 -- he brings it year-in and year-out and he passes the character test with flying colors.
• Billy Donovan at no. 10 despite 3 and 2. Donovan at no. 10 is probably fair, in that his major accomplishments were with one group of players, although he did have a FF run in 2000 (which we painfully remember).
• Brad Stevens at no. 13 despite two FFs. Brad Stevens should probably be ranked higher, although the overall ranking suggests a lot of weight given to longevity. It raises an interesting question: do major accomplishments at a school in a lesser conference deserve higher weight?
• Ben Howland at no. 25 despite three FFs. Well, let's agree that, given the problems at UCLA, we should be surprised that Howland is anywhere in the Top 50.

Higher than expected:

• John Calipari at #3 despite only one FF (not the three in the table) and no NCs. No question he is the hot coach with the right platform and the right marketing message for the one-and-done era, but I wouldn't put him in the top ten because of the cheating that occurred on his watch.
• Bill Self at no. 6 ahead of the more credentialed Boeheim, Izzo and Donovan. This morning it looks like a good ranking.
• Bob Huggins at no. 9 without a NC and just two FF appearances. I think there is too much debris in his wake to justify a higher than merited ranking.
• Bo Ryan at no. 11 without a FF appearance. OK, if you say that positions 11 through 20 are all pretty much the same.
• Tubby Smith at no. 14? Not on my list.
• Sean Miller, Scott Drew and Mike Brey in the top 20 without ever reaching a FF? I'm OK with all three, I think.

My other objection is Jim Calhoun at #2. Calhoun gets credit for building a program from scratch and for turning four FF appearances into three NCs. But the down years are really down and the problems around the program are way too high to give him this ranking.

My top five would be --

Krzyzewski
Izzo
R. Williams
Pitino
Self

sagegrouse

My top five would be --

Krzyzewski
Izzo
Pitino
Self
Calipari