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I invite you to look for yourself. The evidence is pretty much irrefutable. Coaches are constantly adapting, evolving, modifying, consulting, and experimenting. The things that work with one group of players don't with a different one, the recruiting pitches that convert some fail to persuade others, and the philosophies that were progressive when you first started become antiquated by the time you can brag about them. It's the ultimate life simulation because it's so all-encompassing. Coaches don't describe coaches as bad coaches for the same reason therapists don't describe patients as being bad at living.
The thing about coaching a college basketball team is that your employment status at any given time is strongly contingent on pure luck. Variables such as whether your players are good can strongly influence how people feel about you as a coach or even a person. Then there's experience. Coach K is a great coach. He was not a great coach at 25 and hopefully he will not be a great coach at 95. Plausible explanations for this evolution include measures of his authority, diplomacy, emotional state, processing speed, and organization. All of these traits are perpetually in flux and all of them are motivated by our interactions with other people.
Suffice to say, when a coach does not perform to his fullest potential, it's worth re-examining whether the operation at large - which can trickle from the president to the AD to the fans - has played a role in accelerating the demise of its investment. For many of the programs headlining the second weekend of the tournament, resisting the urge to pursue a quick fix during times of uncertainty proved invaluable to maximizing the reach of the team and the school. Loyalty, in their case, did not entail the mindless repetition of erroneous practice. Instead, it induced the painful refinements of systems, allowing the successes of prior years to be re-discovered as easily as the pitfalls were avoided. The caliber of supervision afforded to these coaches yielded a level of stability that is simply not viable at institutions where the coach is unsupported:
Leonard Hamilton - Four straight years without a tournament appearance (2012-16) to the Elite Eight at age 69.
Bruce Weber - Two straight years without a postseason appearance (2014-16) back to the Elite Eight at age 61.
Peter Moser - Finished 10th, 7th, 10th, 6th, 8th, and 5th in his league before breaking through to the Elite Eight at age 49.
Bob Huggins - 30-35 at West Virginia from 2012-14 before righting the ship and taking his program to three sweet sixteens in four years.
Jim Boeheim - Went four straight years without making a tournament game, including missing altogether in 2007 and 2008, before beginning an all-time great run the next year at age 63.
John Beilein - Won only two tournament games in his first five years at Michigan before breaking through in 2013 at age 60.
Matt Painter - Missed the tournament for two straight years from 2012-14 before before punching his second straight sweet sixteen bid this season at age 47.
Jay Wright - Lost 45 games from 2010-13 before losing just 21 over the next five seasons.
Danny Hurley - TBD
If he turns out to be Buzz Williams, I'm OK with that. That's the point. Buzz Williams isn't anything but a good coach at the age of 45. Asking for more can be tricky.
The thing about coaching a college basketball team is that your employment status at any given time is strongly contingent on pure luck. Variables such as whether your players are good can strongly influence how people feel about you as a coach or even a person. Then there's experience. Coach K is a great coach. He was not a great coach at 25 and hopefully he will not be a great coach at 95. Plausible explanations for this evolution include measures of his authority, diplomacy, emotional state, processing speed, and organization. All of these traits are perpetually in flux and all of them are motivated by our interactions with other people.
Suffice to say, when a coach does not perform to his fullest potential, it's worth re-examining whether the operation at large - which can trickle from the president to the AD to the fans - has played a role in accelerating the demise of its investment. For many of the programs headlining the second weekend of the tournament, resisting the urge to pursue a quick fix during times of uncertainty proved invaluable to maximizing the reach of the team and the school. Loyalty, in their case, did not entail the mindless repetition of erroneous practice. Instead, it induced the painful refinements of systems, allowing the successes of prior years to be re-discovered as easily as the pitfalls were avoided. The caliber of supervision afforded to these coaches yielded a level of stability that is simply not viable at institutions where the coach is unsupported:
Leonard Hamilton - Four straight years without a tournament appearance (2012-16) to the Elite Eight at age 69.
Bruce Weber - Two straight years without a postseason appearance (2014-16) back to the Elite Eight at age 61.
Peter Moser - Finished 10th, 7th, 10th, 6th, 8th, and 5th in his league before breaking through to the Elite Eight at age 49.
Bob Huggins - 30-35 at West Virginia from 2012-14 before righting the ship and taking his program to three sweet sixteens in four years.
Jim Boeheim - Went four straight years without making a tournament game, including missing altogether in 2007 and 2008, before beginning an all-time great run the next year at age 63.
John Beilein - Won only two tournament games in his first five years at Michigan before breaking through in 2013 at age 60.
Matt Painter - Missed the tournament for two straight years from 2012-14 before before punching his second straight sweet sixteen bid this season at age 47.
Jay Wright - Lost 45 games from 2010-13 before losing just 21 over the next five seasons.
Danny Hurley - TBD
If he turns out to be Buzz Williams, I'm OK with that. That's the point. Buzz Williams isn't anything but a good coach at the age of 45. Asking for more can be tricky.
