Jay Bilas Top 10 coaches

[Eric15]

Just curious...why Knight over Boeheim?

Believe me I don’t like speaking positively of Knight, but I guess the primary reason is the 3 titles vs 1 (which I know was based on a difference of one single jump shot).

 

[orangepassion]

My Top 10:
1. Coach K
2. Wooden
3. Dean Smith
4. Bob Knight
5. Adolph Rupp
6. Roy Williams
7. Calhoun
8. Boeheim
9. Izzo
10. Pitino

You forgot Clarence Gaines

 

[Cusefan69]

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Jay Wright has 3 Final Fours and 2 NCs in that timeframe.
Billy Donovan has 4 Final Fours and 2 NCs in that timeframe.

I would take both over Izzo.
Boeheim is a top 10 coach of alltime as well.
Same for Pitino.

Bilas list sucks but it’s generating debate.

Agreed on the list from Bilas. Agreed that JB is top ten. What are you adding to the equation such that you think Jay and BD are better? To me 8 final fours in 25 years shows a long term sustained level of program success that I think is similar to JB if you were just to use wins as a metric. Please note my asking why Jay/BD is not me saying that they suck. They are both great coaches. To me when you start looking at the differences say between rank 8 to15, the degree of separation gets pretty small. Meaning JB for example could be 7, 8, 9, 10 or 11 and I would not greatly dispute any of those slots depending on criteria and weighting of various data points.

 

[Scott11]

Few over JB, Pitino, Wright and Crum is embarrassing.
Did Coach K bring Few to the Olympic team? No he didn’t.

 

[bpo57]

Jay Bilas has gone from my favorite college hoops analyst to a person I don’t care what he says.

The list is subjective but it’s not a great list.

As you so elegantly put it a few weeks ago, Jay Bilas enjoys the smell of his own farts.

 

[bpo57]

My Top 10:
1. Coach K
2. Wooden
3. Dean Smith
4. Bob Knight
5. Adolph Rupp
6. Roy Williams
7. Calhoun
8. Boeheim
9. Izzo
10. Pitino

That's a good list but Wooden belongs #1. Think Secretariat and the Belmont. Not even close.

 

[Day2]

Boeheim and Pitino absolutely belong. Choices 9 and 10 were asinine.

I’d push for Chaney too, though I guess you can use some of those guy’s NC or NCs to justify taking them over Chaney. But personally I don’t think anybody on that list would’ve won an NC at Temple, or even come any closer than he did.

We all know Bilas is just mad at Boeheim.

Look into Gaines before saying he was an asinine pick. A few weeks ago, my friend and I were thinking about how to rename the regions for the tournament. One idea was to name them after coaches. Here’s who we came up with:

West - Wooden
Midwest - Naismith or Allen
East - Thompson or Chaney
South - Gaines or John McClendon

 

[skurey]

Only Syracuse fans would have JB ahead of Izzo.

 

[OrangeDW]

Look into Gaines before saying he was an asinine pick. A few weeks ago, my friend and I were thinking about how to rename the regions for the tournament. One idea was to name them after coaches. Here’s who we came up with:

West - Wooden
Midwest - Naismith or Allen
East - Thompson or Chaney
South - Gaines or John McClendon

Will do. My take right now though is it’s just a different level of ball

Theres D-2 and D-3 coaches that are/were incredible but how do you compare them to guys who coached a different level of ball?

Seems like a weird pick when your other 9 are all guys (well, not Few) that coached at the highest level of D-1 and won titles.

 

[OrangeDW]

Only Syracuse fans would have JB ahead of Izzo.

Maybe. We might be the only ones aware that Boeheim beats Izzo almost every single time though, so that makes it hard for us to go the other way.

 

[IthacaMatt]

1000 wins and you get this from Bilas? Nonsense.
View attachment 199556

Boeheim went out of his way to keep that beef going with Jay Bilas, even after that game. Remember? Well, Jay does.

 

[CU44SE]

Izzo - 71.7% winning percentage, 23 out of 25 years in the tournament (not counting 26 year due to covid and no tournament), 23 straight years in tournament. He has 1 championship, 8 final fours, 10 regular season championships and 6 tournament championships.

jimmy- 72.6% winning percentage, 34 out of 44 years made the tournament (again not counting 45 years due to covid), 1 championship, 5 final fours, 10 big east championships, 5 tournament championships

Head to head, Jim obviously has the advantage 5-1. But, the only other advantage Jim has over Izzo is the winning percentage. And Michigan state always seems to play one of the hardest non conference schedules. Not sure if that had always been the case so by all accounts you would have to put izzo above Jim on one of these lists.

 

[OrangeCrush22]

We have the most insane fanbase imaginable. For the better part of the last 24 months, you guys have been throwing hate and vitriol at Boeheim. Can't coach, can't recruit, lazy, out of touch, plays favorites, doesn't care about winning...

Then he doesn't get listed as one of the best of all time and y'all flip your lids in outrage.

Honestly there is nothing more syracusian/upstate NY than this type of attitude. We can trash our things but others can’t.

 

[OrangeDW]

Boeheim went out of his way to keep that beef going with Jay Bilas, even after that game. Remember? Well, Jay does.

Yup. Pretty corny on Jay’s part too.

 

[CU44SE]

Mark few is one of the top coaches in today’s game, I might say one of the top 5 coaches at this time But 2 things.

1- That doesn’t make him one of the 10 greatest at of all time.

2- you can’t be on a top 10 list like this and not have at least 1 championship.

 

[dasher]

That's a good list but Wooden belongs #1. Think Secretariat and the Belmont. Not even close.

Which coach is Sham?

 

[Day2]

Will do. My take right now though is it’s just a different level of ball

Theres D-2 and D-3 coaches that are/were incredible but how do you compare them to guys who coached a different level of ball?

Seems like a weird pick when your other 9 are all guys (well, not Few) that coached at the highest level of D-1 and won titles.

He wanted to honor an HBCU coach. And it’s not Gaines’ fault he didn’t get the opportunity to coach at a D-1 school. I mean, he started coaching in 1946...still a year before Jackie Robinson started playing for the Dodgers. He’s like Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell. We know they would have been great MLB players, they just never got the chance.

 

[OrangeDW]

He wanted to honor an HBCU coach. And it’s not Gaines’ fault he didn’t get the opportunity to coach at a D-1 school. I mean, he started coaching in 1946...still a year before Jackie Robinson started playing for the Dodgers. He’s like Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell. We know they would have been great MLB players, they just never got the chance.

Yeah, I can understand and respect that.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

We have the most insane fanbase imaginable. For the better part of the last 24 months, you guys have been throwing hate and vitriol at Boeheim. Can't coach, can't recruit, lazy, out of touch, plays favorites, doesn't care about winning...

Then he doesn't get listed as one of the best of all time and y'all flip your lids in outrage.

Who's the "y'all?" Different people, no?

The list is solid. I don't know about Gaines, but... i don't know about Gaines.
Amazing, this reaction. Bilas was everyone's favorite until he contradicted JB, and now he's a pariah. Amazing, this reaction. JB doesn't get included on a top ten list, and it is asserted that the list needs to be expanded. Bilas should be grilled on his selection? Seriously? Fans can't accept that (maybe) JB is number eleven?
Amazing. If the list was "Top 20" and JB were 11, i have a feeling there wouldn't be this level of ridiculousness (fewer flipped lids).

To be honest, i think Bilas' list is genuine. He may have fondness for JB, but not as much respect for his coaching as a lot of people here previously thought. And i don't think that's all that uncommon among coaches. It's kinda telling to 'ignore' 1,000 wins as a criteria for inclusion on a top 10 list.

 

[Zelda Zonk]

Just curious...why Knight over Boeheim?

Undefeated season, and a National Championship head-to-head over JB?

 

[albanycuse]

Who's the "y'all?" Different people, no?

The list is solid. I don't know about Gaines, but... i don't know about Gaines.
Amazing, this reaction. Bilas was everyone's favorite until he contradicted JB, and now he's a pariah. Amazing, this reaction. JB doesn't get included on a top ten list, and it is asserted that the list needs to be expanded. Bilas should be grilled on his selection? Seriously? Fans can't accept that (maybe) JB is number eleven?
Amazing. If the list was "Top 20" and JB were 11, i have a feeling there wouldn't be this level of ridiculousness (fewer flipped lids).

To be honest, i think Bilas' list is genuine. He may have fondness for JB, but not as much respect for his coaching as a lot of people here previously thought. And i don't think that's all that uncommon among coaches. It's kinda telling to 'ignore' 1,000 wins as a criteria for inclusion on a top 10 list.

The head scratching coaching moments from this year probably dropped him down the list.

 

[Alsacs]

Agreed on the list from Bilas. Agreed that JB is top ten. What are you adding to the equation such that you think Jay and BD are better? To me 8 final fours in 25 years shows a long term sustained level of program success that I think is similar to JB if you were just to use wins as a metric. Please note my asking why Jay/BD is not me saying that they suck. They are both great coaches. To me when you start looking at the differences say between rank 8 to15, the degree of separation gets pretty small. Meaning JB for example could be 7, 8, 9, 10 or 11 and I would not greatly dispute any of those slots depending on criteria and weighting of various data points.

As you said it’s all razor thin in the difference between the last couple listed and those.not.

Mark Few’s inclusion is the craziest.
He js a damn good coach but the entirety of his resume is not the same as other coaches.
I mentioned Billy Donovan and he gets completely forgotten.
1997-2015 at Florida
4 Final Fours, 2 NCs he got to the Elite 8 4 years in a row 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014.

He didn’t stay in college hoops or he could have had more.
To me titles matter a lot in these type of discussions when it’s coaching.


I would have Jim Boeheim over Tom Izzo. I think Boeheim has done more with less.

 

[Eric15]

That's a good list but Wooden belongs #1. Think Secretariat and the Belmont. Not even close.

I just think it's so much harder to win a title today than it was in the 1960s. For the same reason I consider Gregg Popovich for example a better coach than Red Auerbach.

 

[HOFCeluck]

OH NO MY FAVORITE COACH IS NOT ON THE LIST I AM ANGRAAYYYY

 

[bpo57]

I just think it's so much harder to win a title today than it was in the 1960s. For the same reason I consider Gregg Popovich for example a better coach than Red Auerbach.

10 out of 12 is phenomenal. Probably would have been 11 out of 12 if freshmen (Alcindor) were eligible in 1966 and then the Texas Western story might never have happened. They lost in the semifinals in 1974 to NC State in OT. Also had an 88 game winning streak snapped during that year. Easily one of the greatest dynasties in the history of American sports. Also the only guy I'm aware of inducted into the HoF as a coach and a player.