An Informal Poll or What Is Your Guess

[Royals85]

Still a joke at #14. Looks like Mark Few's resume, only hasn't done it as long as Mark

Why do people keep bringing up ancient history in this discussion. ESPN's list is about RIGHT NOW. Not 15 years ago, or 10 years ago, or even 3 or 4 years ago. There are several coaches who have multiple final fours and national championships on their resumes that are listed outside of the top 15 because they've struggled in recent years.

Who's the best at coaching, developing, recruiting, etc. at this moment. If you want to see Marshall ranked high, then this is the way you should want the list to be put together. Marshall makes the top 10 because of what he's accomplished in the last 18 months. Not because of what he did 5-15 years ago.

[ShockerFever]

Why do people keep bringing up ancient history in this discussion. ESPN's list is about RIGHT NOW. Not 15 years ago, or 10 years ago, or even 3 or 4 years ago. There are several coaches who have multiple final fours and national championships on their resume's that are listed outside of the top 15, but they've struggled in recent years.

Who's the best at coaching, developing, recruiting, etc. at this moment. If you want to see Marshall ranked high, then this is the way you should want the list to be put together. Marshall makes the top 10 because of what he's accomplished in the last 18 months. Not because of what he did 5-15 years ago.

Some people have trouble comprehending things. They're too eager to "zing" ya with their vast knowledge, instead of reading things correctly.

[shock]

You aren't keeping up, shock -- Crean has already been identified as not on the list, and Williams (I assume that's "Roy") was #16. Denkinger85 (oops, Royals) has a very plausible list (in alphabetical order, not by rank) and it wouldn't surprise me if he goes 13-for-13 the rest of the way.

Eh, I was on mobile at work while taking a call from mother nature and didn't scroll up to see who had or hadn't been mentioned.

What about Alford and Buzz?

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

Still a joke at #14. Looks like Mark Few's resume, only hasn't done it as long as Mark and has had the advantage of doing it in BCS leagues.

Why do people keep bringing up ancient history in this discussion.

You have a decent general point about the list being "current", not cumulative. However, if we are going to do tie-breakers, I would have to think long term consistency is a factor. Also, you failed to quote the part of my statement where I said Mark Few is doing it without the BCS perks that Tony Bennett has had.

Similar resumes, both have had #1 seeds in the very recent past, Few has more history of success, more impressive given where he is doing it. Advantage Few.

[FlyingWheat]

You have a decent general point about the list being "current", not cumulative. However, if we are going to do tie-breakers, I would have to think long term consistency is a factor. Also, you failed to quote the part of my statement where I said Mark Few is doing it without the BCS perks that Tony Bennett has had.

Similar resumes, both have had #1 seeds in the very recent past, Few has more history of success, more impressive given where he is doing it. Advantage Few.

The metric is supposed to be who is doing the best job of coaching right now. Consistency stretching way back doesn't matters to who is the better coach, but not towards the way this is ranked. But I'm starting to get a bit confused. You could put Bennett ahead of Few if you weight 2014 heavily enough compared to everything else, but if you do that, Bennett is much higher than 12. He was a COY candidate, that's not 12th IMO.

Either way, I'm prepared to be pissed when they put Marshall outside the top 10.

[Royals85]

You have a decent general point about the list being "current", not cumulative. However, if we are going to do tie-breakers, I would have to think long term consistency is a factor. Also, you failed to quote the part of my statement where I said Mark Few is doing it without the BCS perks that Tony Bennett has had.

Similar resumes, both have had #1 seeds in the very recent past, Few has more history of success, more impressive given where he is doing it. Advantage Few.

I personally don't give Few too many bonus points for being outside the BCS. It's his choice to stay outside the BCS. Either he feels he is able to compete at the highest level in his current conference, or competing at the highest level isn't that important to him. I understand he is more likeable because he has stayed at Gonzaga, but it doesn't have much impact on how I, or the 100 experts polled by ESPN, rank him compared to his peers.

You could make the argument that what Bennet accomplished at Virginia in 2014 is more impressive than anything Few has ever done. Few took over a program that was already at a high level. Regular season conf title, conf tournament champ, Elite 8. That's the team he inherited long ago. He does win his conference very consistently, but he faces very little competition.

Contrast that with Bennet. Virginia had only made the NCAA Tournament 2 times in the last 12 years before he arrived. 1 regular season conf title in the prior 14 years. They hadn't won the post season conf tournament since the mid 70's. He has to compete with programs like Syracuse, Duke, & UNC, yet still won the conference by 2 games and won the post season tournament as well. The only reason he isn't top 10 is because it's only 1 year of excellence. If he can follow it up next year (like Marshall did), he'll easily be in the top 10.

[shockmonster]

Why do people keep bringing up ancient history in this discussion. ESPN's list is about RIGHT NOW. Not 15 years ago, or 10 years ago, or even 3 or 4 years ago. There are several coaches who have multiple final fours and national championships on their resumes that are listed outside of the top 15 because they've struggled in recent years.

Who's the best at coaching, developing, recruiting, etc. at this moment. If you want to see Marshall ranked high, then this is the way you should want the list to be put together. Marshall makes the top 10 because of what he's accomplished in the last 18 months. Not because of what he did 5-15 years ago.

If this is all that is important, then Gregg should be in the Top 3.

[WSUwatcher]

Eh, I was on mobile at work while taking a call from mother nature and didn't scroll up to see who had or hadn't been mentioned.

What about Alford and Buzz?

Good names, but #36 and #38 already. Here's the reference for you:

http://espn.go.com/ncb/notebook/_/page/top50coaches50-25/top-50-coaches

[ShockTalk]

If we're looking at last year only, let's just rank the coaches based on how their team finished and be done with it.

If not, are we looking at 2 years, 3 years?

Bennett:2014 - #1 seed, lost round of 16, 2013 - NIT, 2012 - #10 seed, lost round 64

Few : 2014 - #8 seed, lost round of 32, 2013 - #1 seed, lost R32, 2012 - #7 seed, lost R32

Throwing conference finishes out (unfair because VA plays in the ACC), as #1 seeds, Few loses because he lost one round earlier than Bennett. Few's other 2 years in the post season clearly beats Bennett.

Few didn't get his seeding all 3 years based on how he finished in conference, he got it based on how he compared with the field as an at-large. Nor did Bennett get penalized by only being in the NIT and getting a 10 seeding because he was in the ACC. I don't care whether you look at 2 years or 3, Few beats Bennett. If Bennett has another strong year, I may think differently.

Bennett should have the advantage of recruiting $s and conference affiliation and did less.

[60Shock]

Certainly not having a favorite in this race, I'm just not too sure how I would rate any coach who:

1. has virturally won more games every year than the year before at his present coaching job.

2. has made the NCAA tournament the last three consecutive years.

3. has a a Final Four in the last two years.

4. won more consecutive games during the 2013/14 season than any coach in NCAA Division 1 history

5. was the 2013/14 Coach of the Year.

[ShockerPhi]

Shaka Smart comes in at #13

[Jamar Howard 4 President]

I thought we were being told that this was all about the here and now? Funny how Shaka gets to ride the wave of a 2 week run to the Final 4 back in 2011 while Mark Few gets very little credit for an entire season that led to having the number 1 team in the country on selection Sunday in 2013.

Once again, the curse of WSU’s “23 points in 9 possessions” strikes again and history is forever altered.

[WuShock16]

I thought we were being told that this was all about the here and now? Funny how Shaka gets to ride the wave of a 2 week run to the Final 4 back in 2011 while Mark Few gets very little credit for an entire season that led to having the number 1 team in the country on selection Sunday in 2013.

Once again, the curse of WSU’s “23 points in 9 possessions” strikes again and history is forever altered.

Even more painful...if a ref swallows a whistle in Wichita, Shaka never has that two-week run, and it could have been us with the surprising run to the Final Four in 2011.

[ShockerPhi]

Shaka and his Rams have stayed in the NCAA's ever since his Final Four run. And last year they were a 5 seed (got knocked in the first round, yes, but it happened to us too). I may not like Shaka all that much as a person, but I think he deserves a ranking around the top 15. And Mark Few isn't too far behind at all, so I don't think it matters that much.

[ShockerFever]

Agreed, Phi. It's all semantics. Having one guy at 13 and another at 18 or whatever is a pretty minute difference. They're both quality coaches.