SportingNews Top 50 Coaches: Pop Makes the Cut at 49

[senorglory]

Pop squeaks in at 49 on the Sporting News top 50 coaches of all time.

http://www.sportingnews.com/college-basketball/article/2009-07-29/sporting-news-50-greatest-coaches-all-time

[anonoftheinternets]

Pop squeaks in at 49 on the Sporting News top 50 coaches of all time.

http://www.sportingnews.com/college-basketball/article/2009-07-29/sporting-news-50-greatest-coaches-all-time

wow 3.2 rating for the article ... guess few felt it was a good list ...

[senorglory]

Other NBA coaches on the list:

#4 Phil Jackson
#6 Red Auerbach
#30 Pat Riley
#45 Chuck Daly
#49 Gregg Popovich

[Kermit]

Geno on the list is hilarious.

[Dave McNulla]

how does chuck daily get on the list? he's not the fourth best nba coach of all time.

[Dr Cox]

not a bad list, pop should be a little higher

[Kermit]

how does chuck daily get on the list? he's not the fourth best nba coach of all time.

He's dead. List makers love dead people. If Pop were to die tomorrow, he'd move up twenty places.

[samikeyp]

They got the #1 guy spot on.

[Ditty]

o i thought it was of basketball coaches

if so he should be in the top 10

and top 5 of nba coaches

[Muser]

Wow, not being a homer but Pop should be a bit higher than 49...

[anonoftheinternets]

Wow, not being a homer but Pop should be a bit higher than 49...

same with riley ...

[TDomination]

could someone post the complete list. The website is not loading for me here at work. Thanks!

[Sisk]

He's dead. List makers love dead people. If Pop were to die tomorrow, he'd move up twenty places.

completely true

[baseline bum]

how does chuck daily get on the list? he's not the fourth best nba coach of all time.

Daly and the Bad Boys revolutionized the game by giving it some balls. Pre Bad Boys the NBA was about running and shooting jump shots. He won 2 titles and came seconds from a third playing a style that no one else was doing.

[weebo]

Saw the list--can't say I much agree with Pop's ranking. He is easily top 30 overall (just look at his winning percentage, .675). In terms of NBA ranking, third behind Phil and Red, but ahead of Riles.

[CubanMustGo]

Meh, the BaseBallNews doesn't cover the NBA for shit, is anyone really surprised they'd get Pop wrong?

[Sisk]

could someone post the complete list. The website is not loading for me here at work. Thanks!

1. John Wooden, college basketball

No. 2 Vince Lombardi
2. Vince Lombardi, NFL
3. Bear Bryant, college football
4. Phil Jackson, NBA
5. Don Shula, NFL
6. Red Auerbach, NBA
7. Scotty Bowman, NHL
8. Dean Smith, college basketball
9. Casey Stengel, MLB
10. Knute Rockne, college football
11. Pat Summitt, women's college basketball

No. 13 Joe Paterno
12. Paul Brown, NFL
13. Joe Paterno, college football
14. George Halas, NFL
15. Chuck Noll, NFL
16. Bob Knight, college basketball
17. Joe Gibbs, NFL
18. Tom Landry, NFL
19. Mike Krzyzewski, college basketball
20. Bill Belichick, NFL
21. Adolph Rupp, college basketball

No. 19 Mike Krzyzewski
22. Joe McCarthy, MLB
23. Eddie Robinson, college football
24. Bobby Bowden, college football
25. John McGraw, MLB
26. Bill Walsh, NFL
27. Woody Hayes, college football
28. Connie Mack, MLB
29. Bud Wilkinson, college football
30. Pat Riley, NBA
31. Pete Newell, college basketball

No. 30 Pat Riley
32. Joe Torre, MLB
33. Bill Parcells, NFL
34. Tom Osborne, college football
35. Walter Alston, MLB
36. Bo Schembechler, college football
37. Toe Blake, NHL
38. Sparky Anderson, MLB
39. Al Arbour, NHL
40. Amos Alonzo Stagg, college football
41. Tony La Russa, MLB

No. 41 Tony La Russa
42. Geno Auriemma, women's college basketball
43. Dick Irvin, NHL
44. Ara Parseghian, college football
45. Chuck Daly, NBA
46. Bobby Cox, MLB
47. Hank Iba, college basketball
48. Tommy Lasorda, MLB
49. Gregg Popovich, NBA
50. Herb Brooks, NHL

[Libri]

could someone post the complete list. The website is not loading for me here at work. Thanks!

edit: already posted

[jag]

Daly and the Bad Boys revolutionized the game by giving it some balls. Pre Bad Boys the NBA was about running and shooting jump shots. He won 2 titles and came seconds from a third playing a style that no one else was doing.

Do you feel he was a better coach than pop? What about Riley?

[Galileo]

Where is Curly Lambeau?

He won 6 NFL championships is a very small market, even more than Lombardi did.

[ohmwrecker]

Popovich is a better coach than Daly. Pop and Riles are about even.

[ambchang]

how does chuck daily get on the list? he's not the fourth best nba coach of all time.

Yeah, he wasn’t 4th best, he was the best.
People saw the two rings and thought that he was nothing special. The truth is that he took a group of players and coached them towards a style that allows them to win games.
When he joined the team, the Pistons were a high scoring team averaging 117.1 ppg and allowing 113.5 ppg, you see both those numbers dropping year over year as Chuck Daly realized that he is never going to outscore the Lakers and the Celtics, and the way to a championship was to defend them. By the time they won their 1st championship, the Pistons were averaging 106.6 ppg and allowing only 100.8 ppg, they manage to lower those even further the next year.
The bad boy Pistons were largely credited with turning a high scoring era of basketball into a complex defensive league. His defensive rotations were top notch, and the way he spaced the floor on offense, using players like Thomas, Dumars, Aguirre, Laimbeer and Vinnie Johnson was nothing short of amazing.
Coaches like Pat Riley, Popovich, and Larry Brown were able to look at their team and cater to the talents, maximizing the strength of everyone within a system, but none of them were able to do it with the talent level as Chuck Daly did. Chuck Daly made teams thought that they, too, could win a championship against the big boys with lesser talent.
Phil Jackson on the other hand, is a very good handler of egos, and he has this demeanor about him that commands the respect of the superstars. However, it is widely known that he is not as much a great coach as he was a great manager.

[howbouthemspurs]

Pop should be in the top 20

[spursfaninla]

it would be nice to hear their justification....phil arguably had MUCH more talent that Pop had to work with, as did Red...

Riley as well. Pop did the most with only 1 "great" player on this team.

[bigfan]

I have no real problems with the list other than Ill never be a fan of Jackson until he coaches the Memphis Grizzlies or the Toronto Craptors and makes them a winner. I could coach a winning team with MJ or Kobe.

[texbound]

I stopped looking at it when I saw that Bill Belichick was rated 6 spots higher than Bill Walsh. I'm not a Walsh fan, but I think he was certainly better than Belichick. Pop certainly should be rated a little higher though.

[SpurCharger]

Pop got Jewed! he should Definately be top 30........

[K-State Spur]

They got the #1 guy spot on.

except they made no mention of the car keys that came with a UCLA scholarship.

wooden may not have invented it, but he perfected the coach turning a blind eye to the dirty side of recruiting but holding himself to a higher moral standard so long as he didn't get personally involved.

[SonOfAGun]

Guess you have to suck dick in this society to be fully appreciated.

Pop @ 49 is a joke.

[Supreme_Being]

Where the hell is Herb Brooks?!

[Supreme_Being]

Oh yeah. Herb Brooks >>> The 49 coaches in there.

Alright, so I exaggerated a bit.

[Steve-O-Matic]

Augie Garrdio should be on that list.

[exstatic]

Daly and the Bad Boys revolutionized the game by giving it some balls. Pre Bad Boys the NBA was about running and shooting jump shots. He won 2 titles and came seconds from a third playing a style that no one else was doing.

He was also selected to coach the Dream Team.

[buttsR4rebounding]

Joe Pa >>> Bear Bryant

That's for sure. How is Paterno not the top college football coach...most wins, most bowl victories, longest tenure at one school, one of the highest graduation rates for students...2nd only to Notre Dame...IMHO not even close.

[SouthTexasRancher]

Pop squeaks in at 49 on the Sporting News top 50 coaches of all time.

http://www.sportingnews.com/college-basketball/article/2009-07-29/sporting-news-50-greatest-coaches-all-time


Screw the Sporting News pollsters. Amazing how they rank certain coaches that were halfass at best, yet would put Pop @ #49 and then leave Jimmy Johnson, who coached 2 Super Bowls Championships with Dallas and also coached the Miami Hurricanes to an undefeated season and the NCAA National Championship in 1987, completely off the list. He was 52-9 at Miami. Not only that but, he and Jerry Jones played on the 1964 Arkansas Razorbacks NCAA National Championship team. If he and Jerry hadn't had their falling out, Johnson would have coached the Cowboys to another 2-3 Super Bowl wins in the 90's.

[EricB]

Fabbs will think its an insult to even have Pop on the list.

[whottt]

Pop is better than Daly was IMHO. The only NBA coaches I rate over Pop are Phil Jackson and Pat Riley. I'm split on Riley and Phil though...Phil's got all those championships but Pat Riley has taken teams that play completely different styles of basketball and made the finals or won championships with them.

He won running with the Lakers, made the finals grinding it out with physical play with the Knicks, and won another title with just bailing wire and a pair of pliers with Miami. It's pretty impressive even if those Laker teams were good enough to win with just about any head coach.

[Blackjack]

No Tarkanian?

[to21]

Other NBA coaches on the list:

#4 Phil Jackson*
#6 Red Auerbach
#30 Pat Riley
#45 Chuck Daly
#49 Gregg Popovich

[Rummpd]

Pop is a far better coach than Coach K and would never have let Greece beat the American team back when without a defensive adjustment. K is a media darling but has also had many teams dissapoint with substantial talent at Duke year after year.

[lefty]

Scotty Bowman is high on the list

Go Habs go

[elbamba]

There are some people I think need to come down because of how long they stayed in the game.
Joe Paterno comes down lower in my opinion because he has only 5 conference champs in over 40 years. Same with Bobby Bowden. There were times where they had great teams but there has also been a lot of inconsistency.

I would have coach K lower but he did coach the team to gold so he deserves his ranking. I don't really know where Pop comes in, the one thing going for pop is that outside his first year where he took over, he has produced one of the most successful teams of all time. However, he probably needs ten more years of winning and 1-2 more championships before moving up.

I was surprised that Larry Brown wasn't on there. Jerry Sloan also deserves a place someone on there towards the back.

[elbamba]

Pop is better than Daly was IMHO. The only NBA coaches I rate over Pop are Phil Jackson and Pat Riley. I'm split on Riley and Phil though...Phil's got all those championships but Pat Riley has taken teams that play completely different styles of basketball and made the finals or won championships with them.

He won running with the Lakers, made the finals grinding it out with physical play with the Knicks, and won another title with just bailing wire and a pair of pliers with Miami. It's pretty impressive even if those Laker teams were good enough to win with just about any head coach.

You forgot Red. He dominated a decade with championships. Although he wasn't the coach, he also put together the following Celtics teams including some of the best in the 80s.

[Spursfan092120]

Curious how Judy Conradt isn't on this list. She's one of only two college basketball coaches (Pat Summit) to have 900 wins....and Pop should DEFINITELY be higher.

[Spursfan092120]

Augie Garrdio should be on that list.
holy shit..didn't even notice he wasn't on there...that's ridiculous..Garrido definitely belongs on there..but then again, so does Judy Conradt. Guess they don't like the University of Texas very much.

[eyeh8u]

its easy to be number one when you pay your college athletes :)

[rjv]

what? no bob hill?

[Dingle Barry]

You have Tony La Russa but not Augie Garrido? This list sucks out loud.

[phxspurfan]

Pop is better than Daly was IMHO. The only NBA coaches I rate over Pop are Phil Jackson and Pat Riley. I'm split on Riley and Phil though...Phil's got all those championships but Pat Riley has taken teams that play completely different styles of basketball and made the finals or won championships with them.

He won running with the Lakers, made the finals grinding it out with physical play with the Knicks, and won another title with just bailing wire and a pair of pliers with Miami. It's pretty impressive even if those Laker teams were good enough to win with just about any head coach.

You're forgetting Jerry Sloan there bud.

[phxspurfan]

Xs and Os, Pat Riley >>>>
>>>>
>>> Popovich.


Oh and heres another list that massively overrates Bobby Knight.

[phxspurfan]

Oh and FrontRunning Bobby Bowden and Joe Torre are on this list. yay. Didn't want to forget them.

How about some love for Mack Brown?

[ohmwrecker]

You're forgetting Jerry Sloan there bud.

Jerry Sloan has 0 championships.

[ohmwrecker]

Oh and FrontRunning Bobby Bowden and Joe Torre are on this list. yay. Didn't want to forget them.

How about some love for Mack Brown?

Mac Brown is a great recruiter, not a great coach.

[lefty]

Jerry Sloan has 0 championships.
Damn you Michael Jordan

[whottt]

You forgot Red. He dominated a decade with championships.

I didn't forget him, I just don't think he was as good as Riley, Jackson or Pop.

And yeah he was so good his championship teams continued winning championships when he stepped down as coach.





Although he wasn't the coach, he also put together the following Celtics teams including some of the best in the 80s.

Well, he was able to strongarm smaller market teams and raid them of talent and draftees due to the league rules at that time....stuff he wouldn't be able to do if he were coaching today.

I don't think he's as good as the other 3 I mentioned. I think those 3 are better than he is which is why I mentioned them and not him.

[whottt]

You're forgetting Jerry Sloan there bud.

No I'm not, I don't think he's as good as Phil, Riley or Pop.

He's not.

The other coaches won around 1 of the greatest players, he had two for his entire career and couldn't ever win. In fact they usually choked....and repeated choking comes back to the coach.

[whottt]

Damn you Michael Jordan


Yeah, Sloan only had Stockton and Malone together for 15 y ears or so...it's not like he ever had the talent to win a championship.

[buujness]

Mac Brown is a great recruiter, not a great coach.
Recruiting is part of being a college coach. And believe you me, Mack Brown is a better preparation/development coach than a lot of people give him credit for. There are plenty of great recruiters that aren't the coaches that Mack is. Ron Zook comes to mind immediately. He's a fantastic recruiter (Urban Meyer's first national title was won with Zook's players), but he can't develop or prepare worth a shit. I just find it rediculous when people give the world of credit to Pete Carroll/Bob Stoops/Jim Tressel and then call dismiss Mack Brown as a "decent" or "pretty good" coach.

That being said, I don't think he deserves to be on the list for Top 50 coaches ever. I do think Augie Garrido and Jody Conradt deserve it though, it's just that their sports aren't nearly as covered (Geno Auriemma and Pat Summitt are exceptions, because they are highly recognizable, despite their sport's relative obscurity).

[Chucho]

Mac Brown?!?! pfftttt..maybe if this list was limited to college football. He'd be in the top half of the forties.

The most ridiculous ranking is Bob Knight rated so high and Jimmy Johnson not being on the list makes it invalid. Absolutely absurd.

[elbamba]

Mac Brown?!?! pfftttt..maybe if this list was limited to college football. He'd be in the top half of the forties.

The most ridiculous ranking is Bob Knight rated so high and Jimmy Johnson not being on the list makes it invalid. Absolutely absurd.

You are right about Jimmy Johnson, he won in college and in the nfl

[ambchang]

Yeah, Sloan only had Stockton and Malone together for 15 y ears or so...it's not like he ever had the talent to win a championship.

Stockton actually performed relatively well during the playoffs. It was Malone who kept choking time and time again.

It's destiny, a person as revolting as Malone does not ever deserve a championship.

Back to the topic, Sloan, probably not as good a coach as Riley, Jackson or Pop, was still one of the best ever seen. His system allowed maximized the strengths of Stockton and Malone, and made them all time greats (I am convinced that either of the two would have been only regular all-stars under most other coaches). After those two retired/try to coattail to a championship, Sloan kept the Jazz afloat for a year, building around AK47, and then kept the winning going once they landed Deron Williams.

His X and Os are top-notch, always prepares his teams well. Not his fault that the supposedly greatest player he ever coached was a choker who can't deliver during crunch time.