It rarely happens that elite bball programs have to/do hire coaches who have already proven to be elite. Some posters are complaining that IU is clearly not a top program b/c of who they hired as a coach and the lack of long-term success/elite status of Archie. (By elite, let's say the top 10 or so programs based on basketball heritage, fan interest, recruiting base, arenas/resources, etc. Clearly, IU has not been a top program in the last 20 years, but it is a top 10 program based on those factors.) In some cases, elite programs have been successful hiring coaches who were not considered to be elite at the time. In other cases, they whiffed on the hiring.
Let's look at the programs:
UNC: Life after Roy: hired Daugherty and Gunderson (or whatever) - neither of these worked out, but UNC was/is clearly elite at the time of those hirings. Got their man in Roy who was proven to be an elite coach from an elite program. The only reason he made the move from an elite program b/c UNC was his school and that was his dream job.
Kansas: I would say Self was elite by the time he was hired (even though some may argue his success at Illinois was for too short of a period...he certainly was not elite 4 years earlier when he was at Tulsa). Before Self, an unknown assistant by the name of Roy Williams. This was Roy's first head coaching gig outside of high school bball and golf. Kansas was clearly an elite program when Roy was hired.
Kentucky. Pitino was clearly elite when UK hired him. Calipari, not sure if he was elite at the time of UK's hiring. Was a good hire. Certainly had pretty good success at UMass and Memphis (we won't go into reasons for the success). Before Calipari, Gillespie was not elite. (Gillespie was a solid coach but obviously had personal problems.) Tubby, etc.
UCLA: Hired a variety of coaches over the last 30 years. None were considered elite at the time of hiring. Howland was considered a solid hire at the time. UCLA was still elite.
Michigan St. Hired some non-proven assistant named Izzo.
Az: hired a non-elite coach in Sean Miller.
Duke: hired an unknown that people now call Coach K.
IU: hired an unproven Bobby Knight. Then, made several non-elite hirings (which obviously did not work out.)
Other examples of where coaches, although unproven at major colleges at the time, had success at their schools: Donovan at Florida, Self at Illinois, Larry Brown at UCLA, Wooden at UCLA, Keady at Purdue, Lefty at Md, Calhoun at UCONN...
Let's look at the programs:
UNC: Life after Roy: hired Daugherty and Gunderson (or whatever) - neither of these worked out, but UNC was/is clearly elite at the time of those hirings. Got their man in Roy who was proven to be an elite coach from an elite program. The only reason he made the move from an elite program b/c UNC was his school and that was his dream job.
Kansas: I would say Self was elite by the time he was hired (even though some may argue his success at Illinois was for too short of a period...he certainly was not elite 4 years earlier when he was at Tulsa). Before Self, an unknown assistant by the name of Roy Williams. This was Roy's first head coaching gig outside of high school bball and golf. Kansas was clearly an elite program when Roy was hired.
Kentucky. Pitino was clearly elite when UK hired him. Calipari, not sure if he was elite at the time of UK's hiring. Was a good hire. Certainly had pretty good success at UMass and Memphis (we won't go into reasons for the success). Before Calipari, Gillespie was not elite. (Gillespie was a solid coach but obviously had personal problems.) Tubby, etc.
UCLA: Hired a variety of coaches over the last 30 years. None were considered elite at the time of hiring. Howland was considered a solid hire at the time. UCLA was still elite.
Michigan St. Hired some non-proven assistant named Izzo.
Az: hired a non-elite coach in Sean Miller.
Duke: hired an unknown that people now call Coach K.
IU: hired an unproven Bobby Knight. Then, made several non-elite hirings (which obviously did not work out.)
Other examples of where coaches, although unproven at major colleges at the time, had success at their schools: Donovan at Florida, Self at Illinois, Larry Brown at UCLA, Wooden at UCLA, Keady at Purdue, Lefty at Md, Calhoun at UCONN...
