Continuing my series on luck. Let’s investigate if “luck” has anything to do with good “coaching”. Do our opinions about “good in-game” coaches line up with how lucky they’ve been over the past four seasons? The Top and Bottom 10 Coaches in Luck over the past four seasons (minimum 3 seasons).
Top 10:
- Jeff Jones
- Matthew Driscoll
- Horace Broadnax
- Greg Kampe
- Rob Jeter
- Jim Woolridge
- Tom Pecora
- Clifford Reed Jr.
- Gregory Ivory
- Tommy Dempsey
Jeff Jones used to be a major conference coach, but he’s now the head man at American. Greg Kampe is the head coach of Oakland and typically thought of as a guy that’s pretty hard to game plan against. I’m surprised that Rob Jeter and Tom Pecora both made this list. Though Tommy Dempsey’s inclusion isn’t that surprising.
Bottom 10:
- James Green
- Saul Phillips
- Milan Brown
- Anthony Grant
- Matt Doherty
- Brad Brownell
- Tom Crean
- Paul Hewitt
- Kevin O’Neill
- Rick Barnes
Actually, I think we might be on to something with the bottom list. Though I think people would argue that Tom Crean, Anthony Grant and Brad Brownell are strong in-game coaches. On the other hand, Matt Doherty, Paul Hewitt, Kevin O’Neill and Rick Barnes certainly aren’t.
The rankings of some other notable coaches (Note: There are 314 qualifying coaches):
- Mark Turgeon – 14th
- Tommy Amaker – 19th
- Mike Krzyzewksi – 29th
- Bill Self – 41st
- Jim Boeheim – 45th
- Tom Izzo – 51st
- Brad Stevens – 77th
- Mark Few – 89th
- Roy Williams – 92nd
- John Calipari – 101st
- Shaka Smart – 111th
- Thad Matta – 120th
- Tubby Smith – 193rd
- Jamie Dixon – 194th
- Jim Calhoun – 203rd
- Bo Ryan – 248th
- Ben Howland – 251st
- Buzz Williams – 257th
- Bruce Weber – 271st
- Billy Donovan – 291st
- Frank Haith – 296th
- Oliver Purnell – 298th
I’m a little surprised to see Bo Ryan and Buzz Williams so far down the list, but the rest isn’t terribly shocking. Wonder if there is anything to this?
One correction: Greg Kampe is the head coach at Oakland University, not WMU.
That’s totally what I meant. Fixed.