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http://espn.go.com/ncb/notebook/_/page/ ... 50-coaches

ESPN's Top 50 College Hoops Coaches: Nos. 50-25 - June 2, 2014

No. 46: John Thompson III, Georgetown

No. 43: Chris Mack, Xavier

No. 41: Ed Cooley, Providence

(No. 38: Buzz Williams, Virginia Tech)

Some big names missed our list of top 50 coaches. Here are the 25 names who just missed, listed in alphabetical order.

• Dana Altman, Oregon
• Tim Cluess, Iona
• Tom Crean, Indiana
• Keith Dambrot, Akron
• Johnny Dawkins, Stanford
• Fran Dunphy, Temple
• Leonard Hamilton, Florida State
• Ben Jacobson, Northern Iowa
• Derek Kellogg, Massachusetts
• Larry Krystowiak, Utah
• Mike Lonergan, George Washington
• Cuonzo Martin, California
• Chris Mooney, Richmond
• Craig Neal, New Mexico
• Matt Painter, Purdue
• Dave Paulsen, Bucknell
• Bruce Pearl, Auburn
• Steve Prohm, Murray State
• Dave Rose, BYU
• Herb Sendek, Arizona State
• Kevin Stallings, Vanderbilt
• Andy Toole, Robert Morris
• Brad Underwood, Stephen F. Austin
• Brian Wardle, Wisconsin-Green Bay
• Michael White, Louisiana Tech

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http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketba ... -surprises

Top Coaches: Biggest Surprises - June 2, 2014

John Thompson III (No. 46): Georgetown struggled in the new Big East last season. After losing key pieces from the previous season, the Hoyas finished seventh in league play. Plus, the 2012-13 Georgetown team lost in a major upset to Florida Gulf Coast in the Big Dance. But the program also has won or shared three Big East championships and reached the Final Four in 2007 and the Sweet 16 in 2006 under JTIII. Those achievements seem ancient now, though; Thompson has amassed a 2-5 record in the NCAA tournament since that Final Four appearance. That’s why JTIII barely cracked the top 50 in these rankings. But again, he has a résumé that surpasses what some of the coaches ranked ahead of him have.

It's important to note that the article states:

"Which coaches are doing the best job right now?

We've been thinking about that question this offseason, looking for the best way to quantify the answer. Luckily, we've got ESPN Forecast. Last week, we asked a panel of nearly 100 ESPN writers, editors, broadcasters and researchers to rate college basketball coaches on all aspects of running a program, on a scale of 1-10. (The crucial distinction here is that the prompt was not career-oriented. This isn't about legacy. It's all about the present.)"

McDermott #23

No. ??: Jay Wright, Villanova

No. 23: Greg McDermott, Creighton http://espn.go.com/ncb/notebook/_/page/ ... -mcdermott

No. 41: Ed Cooley, Providence

No. 43: Chris Mack, Xavier

No. 46: John Thompson III, Georgetown

We could well be waiting a week or longer for ESPN's 'Jay Wright' article.

It look like half of the BE coaches made ESPN's Top 75 list.

Fieldhouse Flyer wrote:

No. ??: Jay Wright, Villanova

No. 23: Greg McDermott, Creighton http://espn.go.com/ncb/notebook/_/page/ ... -mcdermott

No. 41: Ed Cooley, Providence

No. 43: Chris Mack, Xavier

No. 46: John Thompson III, Georgetown

We could well be waiting a week or longer for ESPN's 'Jay Wright' article.

It look like half of the BE coaches made ESPN's Top 75 list.

https://espn.go.com/ncb/notebook/_/page ... jay-wright

#19 for Jay.

Thanks, Gumby.

We haven't seen ESPN's TOP 18 yet, but I'm sure that I would put Jay Wright ahead of some of them.

Quietly, Wright’s sense of purpose has led to a pretty nice resume. In 19 years as a head coach at Hofstra and Villanova, he’s reached 10 NCAA tournaments; at Nova he’s eight for 12, including the 2009 Final Four.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketb ... -your-team

CBS Sports' Top 24 College Hoops Coaches

College basketball coaches draft: Who would you pick to lead your team?

Gary Parrish | June 24, 2014 - 7:31 PM ET

So our friends at ESPN launched a series a few weeks back in which they're ranking college basketball coaches in an attempt to determine who's best, and it's been fun to watch unfold but difficult at times to understand because -- and I write this with all due respect -- the rankings, in certain places, just don't make much sense.

Supposedly, credentials don't matter.

It's all about the present.

And yet multiple coaches who haven't accomplished anything notable in years and are hardly on an upward trajectory are ranked ahead of other coaches who currently run nationally relevant programs and/or have careers undeniably on the rise, and I was tempted to do what amounts to an offseason Poll Attacks but decided against it because I wouldn't even know whom to attack. That's because the ESPN rankings are the result of a survey taken by nearly 100 staffers, which means it's impossible to tie any questionable ranking to any one person ... although my guess, from past experiences, is that my pal Jeff Goodman is almost certainly responsible for the majority of the silliness.

Either way, it got me thinking.

How should "best coach" be defined?

Obviously, reasonable minds can disagree on that.

But here's the way I would go about trying to identify the "best" coach:

If you could pick any man to run your college basketball program for the next five years, and you don't have to worry about that man retiring or changing jobs, which man would you pick? Forget credentials. Forget records and recent results. Only look forward. You can pick any man to run your program for the next five years. Which man would you pick?

With that in mind, I roped in some of my colleagues here at CBSSports.com and suggested we have a fun little draft in which we select coaches with the guidance above in mind, and I requested that everybody explain their choices so that you'd know whom to call stupid if something stupid popped up. Gregg Doyel picked first because he's the baldest. What followed was a four-round "snake draft." Here's the result ...


16. Jay Wright
Team: Villanova
Drafted by: Jon Rothstein

Why him? There's not many coaches in America who handle all the different aspects of a program better than Wright. He's great with the media, terrific with alumni, and has proven that he can sustain a national program. Another thing about Wright? He might be the most underrated defensive coach in college basketball. Year after year, people praise Villanova because of its elite guard play, but where the Wildcats really separate themselves is with the way they guard people. After a 13-19 season two years ago, Villanova is back as a Top 10 program and looks primed to stay there. -- Rothstein