Who is the best coach?

[SWC75]

ESPN Sportswriters are debating whether Mike Krzyzewski or Rick Pitino is the best coach in college basketball. (Sigh...)

The argument for Pitino is that he's had success at several places. The argument for Coach K is that he's coached several different kinds of teams. And of course he hs more wins and championships. He was also credited with "adjusting to the one and done era".

William Rhoden said that if he had to have a coach fro an under-talented team he'd choose Coach K. if he had to have a coach for a really talented team he'd choose Pitino. (I'd choose the opposite.) He also said that if both suddenly have to coach somewhere else, he'd pick Coach to be a success sooner. (Again, I'd pick the opposite.)

Who would you pick as the best coach in college basketball?

 

[iommi]

Geno.

(K if we are excluding women's hoops)

How could you not say K? He has 5 rings.

 

[CousCuse]

Jim Boeheim is the best coach without a doubt. Would K, who has done everything JB has been targeted for and more, have survived 1 let alone 2 NCAA witch hunts. Pitino, please. Had the recruiting trajectory that Syracuse was on in the 80's not been pulled down by smears and sanctions, how many more wins and final fours and NC's would Jim have? Some stat genius could probably create an algorithm to give an accurate estimation, I would just say he would have the most outside of Wooden.

 

[two3zone]

Jim Boeheim is the best coach without a doubt. Would K, who has done everything JB has been targeted for and more, have survived 1 let alone 2 NCAA witch hunts. Pitino, please. Had the recruiting trajectory that Syracuse was on in the 80's not been pulled down by smears and sanctions, how many more wins and final fours and NC's would Jim have? Some stat genius could probably create an algorithm to give an accurate estimation, I would just say he would have the most outside of Wooden.

Are they witch hunts when they actually find things? The first investigation brought up a lot of bad things.

 

[Trueblue25]

Jay Wright's gotta be up there. Doesn't have the recruiting UL/Duke/Kansas/UNC has and still has a ring and is looking to add some more hardware to the case.

Pitino and K can kick rocks.

 

[CousCuse]

Are they witch hunts when they actually find things? The first investigation brought up a lot of bad things.

Were these things that were uncovered being done by the other schools? I say absolutely beyond a shadow of a doubt. So why were SU and JB singled out?

 

[Cuse House]

I would argue K is not the best coach. He is a great recruiter and has had the best players for decades. I always lean towards coaches who do less with more.

Here is a plug for JB. I believe JB is up there because he typically wins with guys who top schools don't prioritize. Some of our best teams were built around players who weren't sought after that much out of high school. That 09-10 team was built around two local kids, a 3 star in Arinze and Scoop/Jackson out of Neuman Goretti who were both top 100 but not top 50 players. Jackson was #51.

Of course Wes Johnson was not his recruit, but the majority of that team was molded by JB. He put the pieces together and they played like a team. Probably the most unselfish team we've had was that 09-10 team. K is a great coach, but if you give any coach 5 top 25 players every year, they would figure out how to win a ton of games regardless of their ability.

I believe if we don't look at just wins, JB and others like Izzo are above K slightly in overall coaching ability.

 

[Eric15]

Jim Boeheim is the best coach without a doubt.

 

[djorange1989]

Were these things that were uncovered being done by the other schools? I say absolutely beyond a shadow of a doubt. So why were SU and JB singled out?

The Post Standard and Raw Recruits pretty much forced the NCAA to go after us in the early 90s and let's not kid ourselves our program deserved it. The second time was weak on the NCAAs part.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Best coach or best recruiter? Give me Pitino to win one game against anyone. If he didn't leave for the NBA multiple times he would have more titles.

 

[Edfromsodus]

Jim Boeheim.

 

[djorange1989]

K has won five titles and been to 12 Final Fours. This shouldn't even be debated.

 

[Scooch]

I hate Duke as much as the next guy but K has 12 final fours and 5 national titles. Of course he's the best coach. Especially if you consider coaching to be all aspects of program management.

There's nothing preordained about winning like he has at Duke. It's a small private school in North Carolina. K has built the biggest brand in college hoops. It's remarkable.

 

[Cuse House]

K has won five titles and been to 12 Final Fours. This shouldn't even be debated.

Best players.

 

[Cuse House]

Are we talking recruiting or coaching? They aren't the same thing. K has had the best players.

 

[Scooch]

Best players.

Why is this supposed to be a knock against him? Who brings those players to campus?

 

[Scooch]

Were these things that were uncovered being done by the other schools? I say absolutely beyond a shadow of a doubt. So why were SU and JB singled out?

I'd say sucking at cheating is a knock against him.

 

[Eric15]

Are we talking recruiting or coaching? They aren't the same thing. K has had the best players.

Recruiting is a component of coaching.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I don't think it's debatable that Pitino is the best defensive basketball coach of all time.

 

[Eric15]

That 09-10 team was built around two local kids, a 3 star in Arinze and Scoop/Jackson out of Neuman Goretti who were both top 100 but not top 50 players. Jackson was #51.

Duke won the national title in 2010, and they did it entirely with 4-year program guys like Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith, the Plumlees, etc.

 

[Scooch]

The Post Standard and Raw Recruits pretty much forced the NCAA to go after us in the early 90s and let's not kid ourselves our program deserved it. The second time was weak on the NCAAs part.

Weak, but also entirely avoidable on our part.

 

[Cuse House]

Recruiting is a component of coaching.

Not true. From Merriam-Webster the definition of coach is "one who instructs or trains <an acting coach> <a birth coach>; especially : one who instructs players in the fundamentals of a sport and directs team strategy <a football coach> <a pitching coach> <a gymnastics coach>."

Recruiting is a separate thing from the X's and O's and in game management.

 

[Brooky03]

K is the best.

 

[djorange1989]

Best players.

The same was said about JB in the late 80s and early 90s and we didn't win one title. K gets the best kids now because he has won so damn much. Like the guy or not K is the best. I think Pitino is the second best, and a good point was made above that he would have more titles if he hadn't gone to the NBA twice

 

[Brooky03]

Geno.