NC State fans do not want to admit it. UNC fans would rather throw up in their mouths rather than acknowledge it.
I’m sorry guys, but Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski is the best college basketball coach of all time – and outside of Bob Knight it’s not even close.
A lot of fans would scoff at that statement. After all, what about the likes of Henry Iba, Adolph Rupp (racist bastard), Dean Smith, Knight and most of all John Wooden?
Most of those coaches – namely Iba, Rupp and Wooden – have one thing in common: they coached during a time when college basketball was on a far different landscape. There was not a competitive balance in college basketball as it is today. When the University of Kentucky (Rupp) and UCLA (Wooden) were winning those championships, there were little resistance among other college basketball programs. Plus, many colleges didn’t recruit black players during that time.
Coach K built a behemoth of a program at Duke that, outside of his first three turbulent years, has stood the test of time. He’s won games and conference titles in the ’80s, the ’90s, and 2000s. Speaking of titles, he’s won four NCAA titles (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010) to go with 12 ACC regular season titles and 13 ACC tournament titles. And judging from the recruits he brings in, that train is going to continue until he decides to call it a career.
Here are some more accolades for you: Coach K is a five-time ACC coach of the year and a three-time college coach of the year.
Again, I understand that Wooden won more titles, but that was during a different time in college basketball. I’ll take Coach K over ANY coach if I need to win a game.
Categories: college basketball, sports story
There is no doubt that Coach K is one of the all-time greatest *sports* coaches of all time, let alone college basketball coaches. I have a good friend who went to Duke and he said that the energy around campus when he was present was insane. And this is a guy who doesn’t like ANY sports AT ALL (my friend I mean).
I concede that Wooden was part of a different era in college b-ball, but he is a legend in his own right. I don’t think that just because it was a different kind of game and player that it somehow detracts from his amazing accomplishments. He also had his Pyramid of Success or whatever it was called, which was like a general life plan, and I really dig that about him – he was old school and had a style all his own. I’m sure Coach K does too!
Oh no doubt!
Mad props to John Wooden for what he did at UCLA. No one will ever match his 10+ titles as well as his 80+ game winning streak. Those will stand the test of time. The fact is that college basketball was far different in his prime than it is today. While the sport was on the radar back then, it is a financial and competitive behemoth today…