College Basketball: Ranking the Coaches in the Pac-12

In its first year post-realignment, the once-mighty Pac-12 has fallen on some hard times on the basketball court. One of the places that situation has been most apparent is on the bench, where fewer than half of the league’s head coaches have won an NCAA tournament game with their current school.

Former NBA power forward Larry Krystkowiak is making his Utah debut this season, just in time to take the Utes into the Pac-12. With only two years of head coaching experience, he’s got his work cut out for him guiding a talent-poor team.

Here's a closer look at where Krystkowiak ranks among the dozen head coaches in the first season of Pac-12 basketball.

Image from stormingthefloor.net

12. Craig Robinson, Oregon State

Craig Robinson leads the Pac-12 in impressive relatives—President Obama is his brother-in-law—but his coaching resume doesn’t have the same sizzle.

Robinson has been a Division I head coach for five seasons without winning more than 19 games in any of them.

Even more damning, Robinson has posted just one winning record in conference play (an 11-3 mark in Ivy League competition when he was still at Brown).

He’s got this year’s Beavers off to an encouraging start, but if he doesn’t make at least an NIT soon, he’s likely to find himself out of a job.

11. Johnny Dawkins, Stanford

A longtime assistant at Duke—his alma mater—Johnny Dawkins hasn’t found nearly as much success in his first head coaching gig.

Dawkins is in his fourth season with the Cardinal but has posted only a single winning record and no NCAA or NIT appearances to date.

With the Pac-12 having a down year, Dawkins is in a great position to turn the Cardinal program around.

After a solid 13-3 start, Stanford is looking like a serious contender for its first conference championship in eight years. 

10. Tad Boyle, Colorado

Tad Boyle made his debut with the Buffaloes last season, and—thanks largely to having inherited lottery-pick G Alec Burks—he took them to a 24-14 record and a spot in the NIT semifinals.

Leading them to success in their new conference, however, will be a different beast altogether.

Boyle’s previous head coaching gig came at Northern Colorado, where he had just one winning season before taking the Buffaloes job. He’s got a long way to go before he justifies Colorado’s confidence in him.

9. Kevin O’Neill, USC

Kevin O’Neill, in his third season with the Trojans, has a long and remarkably unsuccessful coaching history.

Counting USC, he’s led five schools for 14 seasons but has only two 20-win campaigns and two NCAA tournament victories (all at Marquette in the early ‘90s) to show for his trouble.

O’Neill’s Trojans snuck into the NCAA tournament last year only to get pasted by Virginia Commonwealth in the first round.

With little hope for the injury-ravaged 2011-12 squad, he may wear out his welcome in L.A. sooner rather than later.

8. Larry Krystkowiak, Utah

After a brief stint at his alma mater—Montana—several years ago, Larry Krystkowiak is making his return to college coaching this season.

He picked about as tough a job as he could’ve found, leading Utah from the Mountain West into the much bigger pond of the Pac-12.

Krystkowiak took the Grizzlies to a pair of NCAA tournaments, but he won’t be replicating that feat anytime soon with the Utes.

Unless he proves to be an exceptional recruiter, Utah looks to be doomed to several years as an also-ran in its new conference (regardless of Krystkowiak’s solid X’s-and-O’s capabilities).

Image (still) from stormingthefloor.net

7. Ken Bone, Washington State

Ken Bone doesn’t have a lot of Division I coaching experience, but he’s put in some impressive showings so far. He took over a .500 team from Tony Bennett two seasons ago and led them to a 22-13 record and a trip to the NIT semifinals last year.

Add in his time at Portland State—two NCAA berths in four seasons in the decidedly one-bid Big Sky Conference—and Bone looks like a coach very much on the rise.

The trick will be to keep his momentum going despite the thoroughly lackluster reputation of Cougar basketball as a program.

6. Dana Altman, Oregon

Although Dana Altman’s Oregon debut resulted in a disappointing 21-18 finish and a trip to the lowly CBI tournament, he’s actually one of the more accomplished coaches in the Pac-12.

In 16 seasons at Creighton, Altman led the Blue Jays to seven NCAA tournaments and five more NIT trips.

Precision offense made Altman’s Creighton teams dangerous March Madness foes, but the Ducks have yet to reap many benefits from his guidance.

Still, it’s too early to tell whether he’ll be a bust as a power-conference coach or be able to adapt as fellow Missouri Valley veteran Mark Turgeon has done at Texas A&M and Maryland.

5. Herb Sendek, Arizona State

After an enviable run of five straight NCAA appearances at NC State, Herb Sendek has had a rougher go of it in Tempe.

His Sun Devils have posted three 20-win seasons in five tries, but they made only one appearance in March Madness during that span.

Sendek’s taste for slower-paced offenses hasn’t been the best fit in the freewheeling Pac-12, but his bigger problem has been recruiting. If he can’t get the Sun Devils’ talent level back up, all the strategy in the world won’t help them.

4. Mike Montgomery, Cal

After one of the most successful coaching careers in Stanford history—12 NCAA bids, 10 of them consecutive—Mike Montgomery has gotten off to a solid start with archrival Cal.

Last year’s NIT trip followed a pair of NCAA appearances to open his career in Berkeley.

Montgomery has already shown that he can attract quality players to the Golden Bears with recruits like Allen Crabbe and transfers like Justin Cobbs.

Now, he just has to recapture the postseason touch that helped him guide Stanford to the 1998 Final Four.

3. Lorenzo Romar, Washington

After a pair of disappointing stints at Pepperdine and Saint Louis, Lorenzo Romar has become one of the greatest coaches in the history of his alma mater.

He’s guided Washington to five 20-win seasons (and three Sweet 16 trips) in nine years, and his 200 wins and counting are third-most all-time at the school.

A former point guard, Romar has had particular recruiting success in the backcourt, keeping stars such as Brandon Roy and Nate Robinson in Seattle.

With Tony Wroten looking like the next in that distinguished line, Romar should have the Huskies contending in the Pac-12 for years to come.

2. Sean Miller, Arizona

The conference’s defending Coach of the Year, Sean Miller, earned his stripes with a 30-8 finish and a run to the Elite Eight last March.

He also has the odd distinction of being the first coach (in three tries) to last more than a year in Tucson after Lute Olson’s retirement.

Miller, who took Xavier to four straight NCAA tournaments before arriving at Arizona, has won nine games in the Big Dance in seven seasons as a head coach.

With his track record and the recruiting cachet of the Wildcats program, Miller looks to be well on his way to becoming a mainstay in the conference.

1. Ben Howland, UCLA

The calls for Ben Howland’s head after this season’s dismal showing by UCLA are perhaps unsurprising, but decidedly unfair to the Pac-12’s best coach.

Howland led UCLA to three consecutive Final Fours from 2006-08—meaning he's made more such appearances than all other Pac-12 coaches combined.

Howland’s usually impenetrable defense has struggled this season, but it’s hard to imagine the Bruins being down for long. Don’t be surprised if UCLA adds another NCAA trip to Howland’s nine career bids as early as 2013.