SPRINGFIELD, MA – The Naismith Hall of Fame inducted Bill Self of Kansas this weekend. There are no arguments about his credentials. Self has won a national championship, been to eight Sweet 16s and won 13 consecutive Big 12 regular season championships.
But I have a problem with coaches, who have a different standard for induction than players, who need to be retired before they can be considered. There are seven active college coaches – Self, Tom Izzo, Rick Pitino, John Calipari, Jim Boeheim, Roy Williams and Mike Krzyzewski in Springfield. All of them belong.
But by voting them in before they were 65 or retired, the Hall wound up by-passing many older deserving coaches like Rollie Massimino of Villanova, Eddie Sutton of Oklahoma State, Rick Majerus of Utah and Lefty Driesell of Maryland for induction. Majerus and Massimino, who was a finalist last year, have since passed away.
The Hall is running out of deserving college coaching candidates to induct.
If Billy Donovan, who won back to back national championships at Florida in 2006 and 2008, was still in the SEC, he would have been a slam dunk. Donovan has since gone to coach with the NBA Oklahoma City Thunder. Brad Stevens of the Celtics, who coached Butler to a pair of Final Fours in 2010 and 2011, would have eventually also been a lock if he had stayed put.
So what college coaches are next in line?
Bo Ryan, Wisconsin. Ryan had a career record of 747-223 record from 1984 through 2015. He took Wisconsin to 13 straight NCAA tournaments from the time he arrived in Madison in 2002, advancing to two Final Fours in his final two years in 2014-2015. He won four Big Ten championships and never finished lower than fourth in the regular season. His work at Wisconsin-Platteville as just as impressive. He won four Division III national championships there, developing a strong reputation as a fundamental sound teacher who constantly got his teams to over achieve.
Mark Few, Gonzaga. He has elevated the Zags from a perceived mid-major to a perennial national power since he became head coach in 1999, coaching his West Coast team to an NCAA championship appearance in 2017, 2 Elite Eights, 7 Sweet 16s, 18 straight NCAA tournaments, 16 WCAC regular season championships and 14 WCAC tournament titles. He has a 508-113 career record (.817) and was selected 2017 AP national coach of the year.
Jay Wright, Villanova. Wright has dominated the new Big East, winning the first three regular season championships since the league became an all basketball conference. He is a two-time national coach of the Year who coached Villanova to a national championship in 2016, a Final Four in 2009. He has been a regular in the NCAA tournament since arriving at Villanova in 2002, making the field in 11 of the last 12 years and His team was ranked No. 1 in the final regular season polls. He has a 368-161 (.703) record at Villanova and has won 508 games overall if you include his time at Hofstra.
