Originally Posted by
sagegrouse
The top college coaches are in enviable positions. High income, deities on their campus who really (if they behave sensibly) don't have bosses in the conventional sense. The tenure of these top few extend for decades. You know them -- K, Roy, Self, Calipari, Boeheim, (soon to be) Tony Bennett, and Jay Wright. It's not clear there are more than these -- Mark Few maybe, but West Coast Conference is not a big player and Spokane is a long way away from anywhere.
The NBA top coaches also have good deals, but there are many fewer in that top echelon. Part of the problem is the Pat Riley Axiom: "After a few years, the players quit listening to you, and it's time to move on." That's an NBA, not a college, problem. Then there is the "bosses problem" -- GM, team president, owners change from time to time and the new guy or gal may want to make changes. Compare with college -- a new AD or chancellor at KU is not gonna fire Bill Self. In the past 75 years in the NBA, there are only five coaches who have won more than two championships: Phil Jackson, Auerbach, Popovich, Riley and George Mikan's coach John Kundla (yep, I had to look him up). It is really hard to become an established NBA coach -- less so if you go to the right college position.
Now, would I personally leave a relatively secure position at an NBA franchise to return to college. Probably not, but the top college coaching gigs are really good jobs.
Kindly,
Sage
'And I strongly disagree with the notion that Duke is a "4ish" program. Duke is the best known amateur team in the entire world -- thanks to its distinctive branding (there is, despite what Odom says, an advantage in not being named for a state) and chiefly to Coach K as the highly successful Team USA coach'