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Adams: SEC's basketball coaches as a group are underrated
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You can't argue that the SEC has more successful football coaches than any other conference in the country. Five of the league's coaches have won national titles, and a sixth - Auburn's Tommy Tuberville - coached his team to a 13-0 season in 2004.
SEC basketball coaches can't come close to matching that. But as a group, they're underrated.
In fact, half of the SEC men's basketball coaches - at Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Vanderbilt - would be more attractive on the open market than their football counterparts at the same schools. Here's a school-by-school comparison:
Alabama: No contest. Nick Saban is regarded as one of the best football coaches in the country. Basketball coach Mark Gottfried might be hard-pressed to keep his job.
Arkansas: Another "no contest." Bobby Petrino was successful enough at Louisville to be hired as the Atlanta Falcons, where he had a cup of coffee before taking the head-coaching at Arkansas. John Pelphrey might be a promising young basketball coach, but he's just getting started.
Auburn: Tuberville's name occasionally pops up in conjunction with other prominent college coaching jobs. Basketball coach Jeff Lebo's name popped up for jobs before he went to Auburn, where he is 18-40 in SEC play after three-plus seasons.
Florida: Never mind that football coach Urban Meyer has won a national championship. Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan has won two.
Unlike Donovan, Meyer hasn't even been offered a pro head-coaching job, much less taken one.
Georgia: Football coach Mark Richt, who has never won fewer than eight games in seven seasons at Georgia, would be a hot item on the open market. Basketball coach Dennis Felton, who is 25-49 in SEC play, would have been a hot item on the open market before he signed up with the Bulldogs.
Kentucky: After reviving Kentucky football, Rich Brooks is on the verge of retirement. And although some fans were ready for basketball coach Billy Gillispie to retire after the embarrassing loss to Vanderbilt, he still would be more desirable on the open market.
LSU: Les Miles just won a national title in football. John Brady just got fired in the middle of basketball season.
Mississippi State: Football coach Sylvester Croom finally has begun to make progress in his first head-coaching job. But Rick Stansbury has taken the Bulldogs to four NCAA tournaments in nine years.
Ole Miss: The Rebels made significant progress in football by replacing Ed Orgeron with Houston Nutt. But basketball coach Andy Kennedy was the SEC coach of the year last season in his first year on the job.
It will be easier for the Rebels to keep Nutt than Kennedy, whose name is already being mentioned with the LSU opening.
South Carolina: Even though he's past 60, football coach Steve Spurrier would still have plenty of suitors if he left the Gamecocks. Basketball coach Dave Odom is retiring this season after a disappointing tenure.
Tennessee: Football coach Phillip Fulmer has had a successful 15-year run and won a national championship, but his best days are behind him. Conversely, Bruce Pearl is a fast-rising star on the basketball scene.
UT won't just have to fend off the college competition to keep Pearl. It also has to worry about the NBA, where Pearl's coaching and media appeal would make him so valuable.
Vanderbilt: Duke expressed interest in football coach Bobby Johnson after last season. But despite making progress at Vanderbilt, he has yet to have a winning season.
Basketball coach Kevin Stallings almost made it to the Final Four last season and is winning big again this year.
Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knews.com.
© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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Posted by bsvolfan on February 18, 2008 at 12:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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Posted by anthony on February 18, 2008 at 3:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
john adams is the mouthpiece for the conglomerate. The business is meat, and athletes are his food. He is the same as a cannibal. He talks about people like they are cattle. When will these writers start thinking about something else besides winning and losing. When will they start a movement for positive change.
Posted by pdhuff on February 18, 2008 at 7:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Adams - "Fulmer's best days are behind him". Sir, that's heresy, that's un-defendable, that's.......the truth. Best you get to the bunker now. Take a couple of gallon's of orange koolaid and try to resurrect yourself.
For shame.
Posted by ORANGEASIAN on February 18, 2008 at 7:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Go back to Looseraner.
Posted by brokebackvol on February 18, 2008 at 7:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Sad that there are so few readers who can follow the Vols with any degree of objectivity. Adams is just telling it like it is, and we better hope that UT can hold on to Pearl - this assessment is pretty accurate.
Will Clawson revamp the offense and make Fulmer shine, or is the program going to slide further? Making the SEC Championship game and losing by only a touchdown to Natl Champion LSU is not shameful, but CPF better get back to beating Bama.
Posted by CatScratchFever on February 18, 2008 at 9:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I have read on a few other sites that Indiana will make a strong run at Pearl to replace Sampson. I dont see him leavig for IU as much as I see Pearl in the NBA after a couple more seasons.
Posted by superk on February 18, 2008 at 11:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It's ok. If Pearl were to leave in a couple of years that would just give Kirk Naler more time to prepare to be the coach at UT.
Posted by johnlg00 on February 18, 2008 at 11:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I suppose one should never say "never", but I just don't see CBP aspiring to the NBA. His kind of enthusiasm just won't last through a grueling NBA season. Highly-paid pros won't respond to his hands-on motivation. Besides, after all of the failures of big-name college coaches in the NBA--Pitino and Calipari come immediately to mind--the NBA isn't big on college guys jumping right into head coaching jobs. For another thing, only the bottom-feeding NBA clubs might be willing to take that chance. That means that there is almost no chance that a complete NBA rookie would win any time soon. Of course, CBP may think that with his drive to succeed, he can be one to buck those odds. I surely HOPE not! I am not surprised that lots of college teams would like to have him, though, so we will probably have to fight to keep him, especially if we make it to the Final Four.
Posted by HotlantaVol on February 18, 2008 at 1:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
No way Pearl goes to Indiana. He has too many enemies in that conference after turning in Illinois for alleged recruiting violations while an assistant at Iowa. That would be a tough couple of years for him.
Posted by FWBVol on February 18, 2008 at 2:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't know if Phillip Fulmer's best days are behind him or not, but granted, the last few years haven't been as good as the run during the Manning-Martin era.
I believe UT has played better the last few years and is on the rise again. I know, I have the orange shaded glasses.
I think Adams would have been more accurate to say, "It seems Fulmer's best days are...."
Posted by threehundredbowler on February 18, 2008 at 2:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
You can't always judge a coach by wins and losses.With really good players, even a bad coach could win a few games.A good coach is one that can take not so good players and win some and be competitive in most all others.Useing that thought,I like Bruce Pearl as the best SEC basketball coach.I think Billy Gilispie is the worse at this time considering what he has to work with.In football,well Fulmer has done quiet well with all considered but I would take Spurrier or Meyer as the best followed in order by Sabin,Miles,Richt Tuberville and Fulmer.
Posted by TommyJack on February 18, 2008 at 6:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
300bowler: You'd take Miles over Richt? Interesting. I think Tuberville gets more out of his material than any coach in the SEC. JMO
Posted by Volfan1 on February 18, 2008 at 11:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Adams,
The day you were born, your best days were behind you.
Posted by marinevol on February 19, 2008 at 8:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"Forget the player. Think about the program."
That is a direct quote from Adams' infamous column. That was the advice he had for Coach Fulmer, don't worry about the player, just do what makes you look good. Now, he has the nerve to write another column pretending he knows what it takes to be a good coach or a good leader. Adams, you are an idiot and a loser.
Posted by 55Vol on February 20, 2008 at 8:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
John Adams...you left your best days at LSU. But then, it takes one to know one.
You and Joe Biddle must have been paid by Steve Spurrier to have a mutual admiration society for him. Spurrier is old news. He didn't recruit Tebow...remember?
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