Yea or nay: Prominent men's coaches in line to potentially follow Jay Wright into Basketball Hall of Fame
With the news of Wright's forthcoming induction, an in-or-out evaluation of 12 big names in college basketball
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By Matt Norlander
Villanova coach Jay Wright will be part of the 2021 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class. The honor, announced Sunday, became a strong possibility the second Kris Jenkins won the 2016 national title -- and then an inevitability when Wright coached VU to its second championship in three years in 2018.
When his enshrinement becomes official in September, Wright will join Jim Boeheim, John Calipari, Tom Izzo, Mike Krzyzewski, Rick Pitino, Bill Self and Jim Calhoun (who's coaching at Division III Saint Joseph) and become the eighth active Division I men's basketball coach in the Hall.
How many more active coaches will we get in the coming few years? Scanning the landscape, there are a couple of no-brainers, and then it seems like we could be waiting a while before another active coach gets a call from the Hall. In 2017 the Hall of Fame amended its criteria of eligibility for coaches. They must either be retired for three full seasons or, if still active, have put in 25 years worth of coaching (as an assistant or a head coach) and be 60 years old. (I was told Wright, 59, was already on the ballot when this rule changed, so he was grandfathered in.)
Who should, or will, be next? I homed in on 12 pragmatic candidates still in the game. (Recently retired Lon Kruger and maybe-retired John Beilein also have interesting arguments.)
Big win totals, lofty win percentages, national titles and/or Final Four appearances are what get you under consideration. I'm attempting to predict the future here by taking what these coaches have done and combining that with a (unavoidably foggy) forecast of how I think their careers will finish. Here are the active coaches -- with the strongest résumés at present -- in alphabetical order.
(And if we're going to use Wright as a recent coach for a baseline comparison, here are his vitals: 612 wins; has won 69% of his games; a 30-14 NCAA Tournament record; 10 regular-season and six conference tournament titles; two-time national coach of the year; and, of course, two national titles and three Final Four appearances.)
Dana Altman
Record: 690-352 | National titles: 0 | Final Fours: 1
Altman is 10 wins away from 700, which is a number that gets Division I coaches at least into the conversation about the Hall of Fame. Altman has been a head coach since 1989. He's won 66% of his games in a 30-plus-year career, with the majority of those games coming as coach of Creighton and Oregon. Altman's won nine league tournament titles and seven regular-season championships. The Ducks made the 2017 Final Four, which came a few years after Altman kept his job despite multiple former players being accused of sexual assault. Altman's been to 14 NCAA Tournaments and holds a decent 15-14 record. His teams have reached at least the Sweet 16 in five of those 14 appearances.Prediction -- Out: Oregon continues to be a top-three program in the Pac-12, but without a national title or a couple more trips to the Final Four, can't see him being inducted.
Rick Barnes
Record: 727-386 | National titles: 0 | Final Fours: 1
Barnes, 66, is the second-winningest coach on the list, having won 65% of his games in a 34-year career that began at George Mason then ascended with stops at Providence, Clemson, Texas and, for the past six seasons, Tennessee. Barnes has been good-not-great in full over the course of his career. One Final Four in 24 NCAA Tournaments and a 24-24 record in the Big Dance. His hit rate for the second weekend is OK: seven Sweet-16-or-better trips in 24 appearances. He has four regular-season titles and just one conference tournament title.Prediction -- Out: Being that we're talking about the Hall of Fame and not the Hall of Longevity, it seems like he'll finish his career proudly, but shy of immortality.
Tony Bennett
Record: 364-136 | National titles: 1 | Final Fours: 1
Winning a national championship goes a long way toward HOF consideration. Bennett doing it at Virginia, getting the school its first title in men's basketball, carries even more weight. Bennett has won 73% of his games in his 15 years, the first three coming at Washington State. (He has the best win percentage in Cougars and Wahoos basketball history.) Bennett's made the Sweet 16 or beyond four times. Most impressive is how Virginia has become the bully of the ACC. Virginia's won four regular-season titles and two ACC tourney titles under Bennett, who also is a two-time national coach of the year recipient.Prediction -- In: I don't know if he's a coaching lifer, but the 51-year-old's got at least another decade. At this trajectory it's easy to see how Bennett's story ends in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Mike Brey
Record: 547-300 | National titles: 0 | Final Fours: 0
The winningest coach in Notre Dame history and someone who's won a laudable 65% of his games. Brey has three apiece when it comes to conference tournament crowns and regular-season titles. He's made 14 NCAA Tournaments, with three trips Sweet 16 or beyond. No Final Fours, though, and a slump as of late.Prediction -- Out: He's seemingly got a few years left before enjoying retirement, and on the whole Brey's quality career falls short of Hall-worthy. Question is, does he get to coach up one more really good team before putting the clipboard down?
Scott Drew
Record: 392-226 | National titles: 1 | Final Fours: 1
At 50, he's the youngest coach on this list. And being eight wins away from 400, Drew has a healthy chance -- if he wants to stay in the coaching game for another 15 years -- of flirting with 800 wins. He lorded over one of the greatest program rebuilds in history, and that will go a long way. He's won 63% of his games and has Baylor operating as a top-10 program. Drew's been to nine NCAA Tournaments and holds a 17-8 record, advancing to the Sweet 16 or beyond five times. Regular-season champs: twice. Bookended, in fact: his first year at Valpo and this past season with BU.Prediction -- In: Plenty of road to go, but one national title at Baylor is like winning three at UNC. The only way Drew's case really takes a hit is if he suddenly stops getting his teams to the NCAA Tournament. That seems unlikely, though I'd recommend one more Final Four run just to clinch the case.
Mark Few
Record: 630-124 | National titles: 0 | Final Fours: 2
He's almost there, but at 58, has two more years before being eligible. Though Few is yet to win a national title, his eventual induction seems inevitable. (As I wrote four years ago, Gonzaga's near-championship in 2017 was the last piece of evidence Few needed to cement his credentials.) Few has made the NCAA Tournament every year of his career, which is a record for any men's Division I coach with at least 10 years of experience. Few's done it 21 consecutive tournaments, plus made two title games in addition to being a two-time national coach of the year. His .836 winning percentage is No. 1 all time in men's D-I, and he's the only coach ever to win at least eight conference titles in a row in separate streaks.Prediction -- In: In, in, in. What he turned Gonzaga into has no parallel in college athletics. It's a model every mid-major will aspire to for the next 100 years. Few will be in the Hall by 2025 at the latest.