We're writing slowly, not for your benefit but ours, because typing these logic-defying words isn't easy:
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| Jim Boeheim has one of the most expansive, and underrated, coaching trees in the game today.(AP) |
There. Whew. That was tough. And North Carolina fans, wipe that smirk off your face because ...
Nebraska's Barry Collier ... has a stronger coaching tree ... than North Carolina's Roy Williams.
It's crazy. Krzyzewski is one of the most successful coaches of all time, his three national titles at Duke behind only John Wooden and Adolph Rupp. Gillen has won three NCAA Tournament games in the past decade.
The Collier-Williams thing is confounding, too. Collier has been to three NCAA Tournaments, going 0-3. Williams has been to four Final Fours. Williams' .804 winning percentage is No. 1 among active coaches. In three-plus seasons at Nebraska, Collier is at .471.
Then again, who would have thought George Mason's Jim Larranaga ... has a better coaching tree ... than Arizona's Lute Olson or Connecticut's Jim Calhoun?
Some things just aren't going to make sense -- Bobby Knight's two-tone, multidirectional eyebrows come to mind -- and the whole business of coaching trees is just one of those things. Speaking of Knight, his coaching tree also is multihued. He gets credit for Krzyzewski, but Knight also spawned Dave Bliss of Baylor, quite possibly the most vile coach in the history of college basketball.
For you, gentle reader, we've taken an ax and split some of the game's most prominent coaching trees into three forests: the good, the bad and the ugly.
The Good
Jim Boeheim, Syracuse: Without 1/10th the credit, Boeheim's tree is every bit as vibrant as the hallowed tree of ex-North Carolina coach Dean Smith. Louisville's Rick Pitino, Providence's Tim Welsh, Seton Hall's Louis Orr and Iowa State's Wayne Morgan learned from Boeheim. So did Ralph Willard, who stumbled at Pittsburgh but has turned Holy Cross into a Patriot League power. All five, plus Boeheim, could go to the 2004 NCAA Tournament.
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| Rick Pitino started as one of Jim Boeheim's branches, only to begin a nice tree of his own.(AP) |
Pete Gillen, Virginia: Gillen's assistants are faring better than Gillen -- which explains why Gillen's winning percentage has shrunk from Xavier to Providence to Virginia. Along the way, he lost Skip Prosser to Wake Forest, Orr to Boeheim's staff at Syracuse, Bobby Gonzalez to Manhattan and Tom Herrion to College of Charleston.
Tom Izzo, Michigan State: Izzo's tree might be a sapling, but it's one fat sapling. Nine years a head coach, and already Izzo has sent Tom Crean to Marquette, Stan Heath to Kent State (now Arkansas), Brian Gregory to Dayton, Stan Joplin to Toledo and Mike Garland to Cleveland State.
Gary Williams, Maryland: A pair of former Williams assistants are thriving in the NBA, Randy Ayers (at Ohio State) as coach of the 76ers and Ed Tapscott (at American) as general manager of the Bobcats. Williams also employed Texas' Rick Barnes, Penn's Fran Dunphy, La Salle's Billy Hahn and former coach Fran Fraschilla.
Barry Collier, Nebraska: Collier's tree looked sturdier last season, when Todd Lickliter was winning 27 games at Butler and Thad Matta was winning 26 at Xavier. This season, those programs are a combined 19-18, but still. ... Former Collier assistants also are second-year coaches at Oregon State (Jay John) and Prairie View A&M (Jerry Francis).
Mike Montgomery, Stanford: Collier came from somewhere -- here. Montgomery also has placed ex-assistants at Oregon (Ernie Kent), Nevada (Trent Johnson), Rice (Willis Wilson) and Old Dominion (Blaine Taylor). And ex-Monty assistant Stew Morrill has made Utah State the best program you don't know.
Bobby Knight, Texas Tech: After Krzyzewski, Knight's most successful college protégé is Mike Davis, which must gall Knight to no end. Others include Bowling Green's Dan Dakich, Army's Jim Crews and Bob Weltlich, formerly of Ole Miss, Texas (fired), Florida International (fired) and South Alabama (fired). Additionally, Iowa's Steve Alford and NBA-types Randy Wittman, Quinn Buckner, Isiah Thomas, Butch Carter and Glen Grunwald played for Knight at Indiana.
Eddie Sutton, Oklahoma State: Sutton churned out program-builders Leonard Hamilton (Oklahoma State, Miami, Florida State) and Rob Evans (Ole Miss and Arizona State) -- plus Kansas' Bill Self and Purdue's Gene Keady.
Jim Larranaga, George Mason: This dude's a kingmaker. When he was at Bowling Green from 1986-97, his assistants included Arkansas' Heath, Prairie View's Francis, St. Bonaventure's Anthony Solomon, Evansville's Steve Merfeld and Longwood's Mike Gillian, whose program is moving from Division II to Division I. Larranaga also employed former coaches at Michigan (Brian Ellerbe), Virginia Tech (Ricky Stokes) and Cal Poly (Jeff Schneider), plus NBA assistants Marc Iavaroni and Jim Powell.
The Bad
Jim Calhoun: For a guy with an NCAA title and 650-plus victories in 32 years, Calhoun doesn't have much of a tree. His highest-profile offshoots are second-year DePaul coach Dave Leitao and Karl Hobbs of George Washington. Calhoun's strongest limbs have grown in smaller environments: Glen Miller at Brown, Howie Dickenman at Central Connecticut State and longtime Holy Cross winner George Blaney, who returned to Calhoun's side after three tough years at Seton Hall.
Roy Williams Compared to ol' Roy, Calhoun is growing a rain forest. Williams' three most well-known assistants were fired or forced out (Jerry Green at Tennessee, Steve Robinson at Florida State, Matt Doherty at North Carolina). His most successful former assistants have been the remarkable Kevin Stallings at Vanderbilt and steady Mark Turgeon at Wichita State. Neil Dougherty is in Year 2 at Texas Christian.
The Ugly
Mike Krzyzewski, Duke: The NCAA is checking two branches -- Missouri's Quin Snyder and Fairfield's Tim O'Toole -- for rot, while Coach K's tree has been whittled by firings at Washington (Bob Bender) and William & Mary (Chuck Swenson). Tommy Amaker (Michigan), Mike Dement (SMU) and David Henderson (Delaware) have won more than they have lost, but not much more. The thickest branch is Notre Dame's Mike Brey, who first worked under Morgan Wootten at DeMatha High.
Lute Olson: One ex-assistant was murdered (Ricky Byrdsong), another retired to fight cancer (Scott Thompson), and three were fired (Byrdsong by Northwestern, Thompson by Wichita State, Ken Burmeister by Loyola-Chicago). Olson's most successful offshoot is Louisiana-Lafayette's Jessie Evans, who is 122-77. That's impressive for Evans but not for Olson, who seemingly should have at least one marquee college branch after 31 years, 700 victories and five Final Fours.
Olson does have Phil Johnson at San Jose State and a piece of Oregon State's Jay John, but his sturdiest limb is Kevin O'Neill -- who took a strange college path (Marquette to Tennessee to Northwestern) before becoming an NBA assistant. Today, he coaches the Raptors.
