5 Most Overrated Coaches in College Basketball

By (Contributor) on December 13, 2011

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Before anyone gets too angry, you should all be relieved to know that Coach K will not be featured anywhere in this list of the most overrated coaches.

All kidding aside, who gets more credit than they deserve? Whose stats make them look better than they actually are? Who are the most overrated coaches in College Basketball?

 

Warning Notice: Recruiting abilities are not judged in this list. Only X's and O's. 

Honorable Mentions:

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Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Jay Wright Villanova: It's all about what you are doing lately and Wright hasn't done much other than disappoint.

Bruce Weber Illinois: See above.

Scott Drew Baylor: No real offense is ever run at Baylor, just street ball.

5. Roy Williams

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I know I may catch some slack for this but come on, not many have had elite talent on their roster like Roy Williams. Every year the guy brings in another group of 5 and 4 star recruits and his results, to me, are sub par. 

Roy Williams has been graced with not just good college and NBA players but great ones. Paul Pierce, Kirk Hinrich, Nick Collison, Drew Gooden, Raef LaFrentz, Greg Ostertag, Scott Pollard all dominated the college game, and at the very least are decent pros. They are just from his tenure at Kansas! What did Williams do with all that talent? He didn't win an NCAA championship then moved to the University of North Carolina.

While he finally got his NCAA championships at UNC, he did it with some of the best college basketball players of all time. Tyler Hansborough, Ty Lawson, Raymond Felton, and Sean May all come to mind. 

The fact that in the 2009-2010 Roy Williams, with a team with players like Ed Davis and John Henson couldn't even make the tournament shows his inabilities as a coach.

4. Frank Martin

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Christian Petersen/Getty Images

This overrated-ness for me is just about a lack of results. Frank Martin's best finish when it matters is the elite 8, tons of coaches have done that, yet Martin is a household name.

He also has had his fair share of elite college basketball talent at Kansas State with Michael Beasley, Bill Walker, Cartier Martin, and Jacob Pullen.

Frank Martin has never ran an offense or a defense. His style of basketball is high-level street ball. Martin cares more about yelling at officials and his players than actually being a productive coach and that is where is fame comes from.

The results just don't add up with the talent and hype. 

3. Steve Fisher

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Steve Fisher gets way to much credit for the little that he has done. Fisher's story starts with the infamous "Fab 5" at the University of Michigan. Sadly, we all know how that story ends but all the blame has been unfairly placed on Chris Webber. There is no excuse that Chris Webber did not know how many timeouts the team had left Fisher should have reminded his team. The catastrophe should have been avoided. In general, failing to win a championship with arguably the greatest players ever assembled on one team is downright embarrassing. 

To make matters worse, Fisher also destroyed Michigan's program when he left. 

Fast-forward to today: The general sentiment is that because Fisher brought San Diego State to the sweet sixteen that he must be a great coach. Not so fast. He did it with Kawhi Leonard, a truly elite player, on his roster.

2. Ben Howland

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Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

No one epitomizes doing nothing with a plethora of talent like Ben Howland. Trevor Ariza, Ryan Hollins, Jordan Farmar, Aaron Afflalo, Russell Westbrook, Mbah a Moute, Kevin Love, Jrue Holiday, Darren Collinson and Tyler Honeycutt have all been a part of stacked UCLA teams under Howland's tutelage. 

All haven't won an NCAA championship! The furthest they got was to the championship game with a team that included Farmar, Collison, Afflalo, Hollins, and Mbah a Moute. If your college basketball team has 5 future NBA players, and you can't win it all...Well you fill in the blank.

 

UCLA's style of play always seems to lack intensity and that is a reflection of the coach.

Nothing shows Howland's true colors more than the 2009-2010 season. Tyler Honeycutt was the best incoming freshman heading to UCLA with 4 other 4 star players. The team also already had Malcolm Lee a current Timberwolves player and past Pac-10 1st team player. What did Howland do with this talent? Went 14-18 and didn't even make the NIT. 

Shaka Smart brought a team of nobodies to the NCAA final 4, while Howland had 2 future NBA players and couldn't make ANY tournament and Howland is consistently ranked as one of the best coaches in the nation. Ha.

1. John Calipari

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Andy Lyons/Getty Images

No one does less with more than good old John Calipari. This ringless wonder has only made it to the Final Four or better three times in his 19-year college basketball career.

Oh, and has he ever had talent. Marcus Camby, John Wall, Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, Dajuan Wagner, Brandon Knight and Demarcus Cousins are just the Calipari players to be drafted in the Top 10 of the NBA draft!

This is basketball. One or two elite players should bring a ring, Calipari has managed to fail time and time again. To make matters worse, he destroys the programs with his questionable ethics and leaves teams struggling to rebuild. 

Calipari is also a bad game manager that gives his players way too much freedom. He lets his stars rule and lets his players do whatever they please. His teams are poor at the foul line and he struggles with end of game situations (example Memphis vs. Kansas).

Calipari can go down as the greatest recruiter of all time, and that's okay, but as a coach, it's not even close. Coaches dream about the kind of talent Calipari has had and done so little with. Kentucky won't win a NCAA Championship with Calipari around. 

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