Who Will Be the Coach of the Year

[tornado]

The season is only about 1/3 over and none of the conference races are yet in full swing...

but who looks to be in the running for Coach of the Year?
-Will it be one of the coaches who takes a great team all the way like Roy Williams (North Carolina)?
-Will it be someone who takes a lesser team all the way like maybe Bruce Weber?
-Or how about a guy who turns an obscure team into a surprise team like Keno Davis did last year....maybe Marty Simmons of Evansville?


Well....this writer seems to suggest the award should go to Indiana's Tom Crean (if he wins even 10 games this year, and he has already won five).
"...Tom Crean should be the Coach of the Year if Indiana wins 10 games.
...Tom Crean may be the right guy to turn this around, but can we stop the stupidity of giving coaches extensions before they coach a game?"

Indiana's wins are against....Northwestern State, IUPUI, Cornell, TCU, and Chaminade (D-II).

http://www.1070thefan.com/sterling/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10017219

 

[BradleyBrave]

MVC - Tim Jankovich, ISU
National - Brad Stevens, Butler

 

[tornado]

outside of one recent upset, Mark Few of Gonzaga has done a nice job, as have Bruce Weber and Jamie Dixon...and I can't argue with Stevens.
Others in the hunt might include Northwestern's Bill Carmody who was said to be on the hot seat just a month ago but his team is now 8-2 with losses only to Butler & undefeated Stanford.
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=9830

By the way, how about Johnny Dawkins at Stanford....
He is fresh off the bus, never coached as head coach at any level, and is in his very first year at Stanford -- with a virtual no-name lineup -
after they lost 2 first round draft picks from last season...and much of their scoring and production.
They are 8-0 presently...

and Tubby Smith at Minnesota, who are 10-0 with a win over Louisville.

 

[Braveman]

Fun to talk about- but the writer of that article must be in dire straits if he is writing a column about coach of the year before conference seasons even begin...

Tim Jankovich may be a good coach and the Redbirds unblemished- but lets talk at the midway point of conference seasons and see who on any list done today is faring!

 

[bluedevils1]

My short list in no order - Bruce Weber, John Beilein (Michigan), Dino Gaudio(Wake Forest), Johnny Dawkins(Stanford).

 

[scout4126]

MVC-Jankovich or Simmons
National-Dawkins, Beilein, Carmody, Tubby, or Stevens

 

[bluedevils1]

Nobody is saying Phelps for the MVC, but even though Drake's schedule is pretty weak, I don't think anyone expected them to be 9-3 right now. But we will see in conference play. I would pick Simmons over Jankovich just because Evansville finished dead last the last year and most expected them to stay down there.

 

[Da Coach]

Here is one Jeff Goodman of FoxSports with an article about National Coach of the Year candidates-
http://community.foxsports.com/blog...OACH_OF_YEAR_CANDIDATES_MEYER_GOES_FOR_RECORD

What! No mention of Jank!

Note that of his Top 15 candidates-
4 are from the Big Ten
4 are from the Big East
2 from the SEC
and 1 each from the ACC, Pac-10, Big 12, A-10, and Horizon

So with just 2 midmajor coaches among his top 15, I guess he believes only the BCS boys know how to coach.

 

[Braves4Life]

My short list in no order - Bruce Weber, John Beilein (Michigan), Dino Gaudio(Wake Forest), Johnny Dawkins(Stanford).

I like the way you think bluedevils. If Wake Forest continues to win like they currently are I think Gaudio should be coach of the year -- hands down. No other coach in the country has had to deal with his kind of adversity.

 

[bigdaddystuck]

I know a certain coach who is an ex-NBAer who might just be in the running for MVC Coach of the Year!

I don't think that McKenna really deserves to be even in the discussion. I realize Indiana St. wasn't picked very high, but they only have 3 wins I think?! Not really coach of the year material.

IMO JL is building quite a resume for the award.

 

[JBinPeoria]

I like the way you think bluedevils. If Wake Forest continues to win like they currently are I think Gaudio should be coach of the year -- hands down. No other coach in the country has had to deal with his kind of adversity.

I agree with Braves4Life and think that Dino Gaudio is the current frontrunner for coach of the year. He is correct in saying that Gaudio has led his team through some serious adversity with the death of Skip Prosser. Additionally, recall that this team (currently ranked #4) didn't even make the postseason last year (although they SHOULD have been invited to the NIT IMO). Finally, I like that Gaudio seems to have finally incorporated defense into the Demon Deacon game plan. Historically, lack of defense has been the reason for earlier than expected departures from the ACC and NCAA tournaments.

Go Dino! Coach of the Year! Coach of the Decade! And a very well dressed one at that ;-)!

 

[Braves4Life]

....... Additionally, recall that this team (currently ranked #4) didn't even make the postseason last year (although they SHOULD have been invited to the NIT IMO).

Actually, Wake was invited to CBI but they turned it down feeling that it was demeaning. They were rejected by NIT because they lost 5 of their last 6 games.

They've got a BIG home game Sunday against UNC.

 

[JBinPeoria]

My understanding is that Wake Forest turned down the CBI because they were forced to accept the invitation prior to the NIT pairings being announced. They truly believed that they would be invited to the NIT and decided to put all their eggs in that basket. It may have been somewhat of a business decision as well...as I don't think they would have been able to draw enough fans into The Joel to make the CBI a profitable venture. I seem to remember something about having to guarantee a certain level of attendance or having to attain a certain level of attendance to break even. There's no way that they would have hit the numbers they needed with NCAA regionals going on in Raleigh and Charlotte at about the same time.

But by no means did they reject an invitation to the CBI because it was "demeaning". I think they were surprised and disappointed they were not invited to the NIT. But when they learned that news, the CBI train had left the station. And it's too bad too...I really wanted to see a Bradley-Wake Forest matchup. They were very similar teams last year and it would have been a great game with the advantage going to Bradley because of the experience and desire of our senior leaders.