Origin of Species: The NCAA Basketball Coach

Coaches come in all shapes, sizes, and styles. Oddly enough, these variables aren’t predictive of the results on the court unless the coach is mismatched with the type of player he’s recruiting. Allen Iverson couldn’t have played for Bob Knight. For proof, see how that whole Larry Brown thing worked out for “the Answer”. Practice, man.

Conversely, Steve Alford would have struggled on one of those fast and loose UNLV teams. Not athletically, but in terms of style and system. Tarkanian didn’t hand out staggered screens like they were $500 chips from the Golden Nugget.

I point out the examples of Knight and Tarkanian to provide you with a sizeable range of coaching philosophies on the coaching style continuum. In between these extremes are all sorts of categories. I’ve taken the liberty of dubbing my own “species,” but they’re not written in stone. It's more like a Chuck Darwin's Big Chief Tablet .

Species: Disciplinarian

Phylum : Blue Streak Cusser. Order : Mean S.O.B.

Contemporary Examples: Frank Martin, Ben Howland, Billy Gillispie, and Rick Barnes
Most Famous: Henry Iba, Don Haskins, Robert Montgomery Knight, Gene Keady

Historically, this species of coach is easily identified in the wild by rapid-fire spittle flying from his mouth at officials and players alike. The electronic age has caused the contemporary group to dial down the spit and instead portray an aura of piss and vinegar without spitting or foot stomping. Frank Martin is the exception because they only have one TV station in Manhattan, Kan.

If this coach recruits players with the correct mental makeup and toughness, he can make teams with above-average talent great. If the players can translate this coaching toughness properly, these teams will guard and rebound like no other. Later in the year, defending and rebounding skills will seem innate after dozens of football-physicality types of practices.

Offensively, the disciplinarian must have a system, great guard play, or coach in the pre-shot clock era to truly be elite. So much energy is spent on the defensive end that creative offensive play is bogged down by lack of practice time and fear of making mistakes. Also, scoring before completing three passes hurts street cred with your coach.

Species: Chameleon

Phylum : Screamer. Order : Recruiter

Contemporary Examples: John Calipari, Jim Calhoun, Thad Matta, Bob Huggins
Most Famous: Denny Crum, Bobby Cremins, Lou Carneseca

These guys are closely related to the disciplinarian, but they’ll adjust their system to fit the talent they recruit so well. They’re flexible animals but they don’t put up with a lot bullcrap from players and officials alike. If they don’t recruit well, which is rare, they miss tournaments completely. But if they can land the kind of talented players they’re usually after, watch out, because they do a good job of handling the prima donna while still coaching him up.

Species: The Players’ Coach

Phylum : Recruiter. Order : Artist

Contemporary Examples: Jim Boeheim, Billy Donovan, Roy Williams, Bruce Pearl, Rick Pitino
Most Famous: Jerry Tarkanian, Jim Valvano, Al McGuire

These guys love basketball for the beauty of the game. You get the feeling that they appreciate the art of the sport more than the winning at times, which is a good news-bad news deal. If they have talented players, these coaches are rewarded with a free and loose style of basketball that’s impossible to defend. Their players feed off the freedom.

If the talent is lacking, their teams are exposed as being undisciplined and foolish. But even when they’re not at full strength from a talent standpoint, these teams can jump up and bite a more talented team simply because they have the green light and that particular night it never turns yellow or red.

Since these coaches put a premium on offense, they often resort to gimmicks on defense to cover warts. Valvano was renowned for junking up his defense with box-and-one or triangle-and-two. Hell, he’d foul even while up one or in a tie game for the sole purpose of getting the last shot. Too bad he didn’t always get to face Phi Slamma Jamma.

Tarkanian had the Amoeba Zone, Boeheim has the active 2-3, and both Rick Pitino and Bruce Pearl like to press. Roy Williams revolutionized the secondary break after defensive stops. These guys are artists and want to see the beautiful game, with defense being an afterthought or a precursor to scoring.

Species: The Statesmen

Phylum : The Teachers. Order : Recruiter

Contemporary Examples: Mike Krzyzewski, Bill Self
Most Famous: John Thompson, John Wooden, Dean Smith

The Statesmen will recruit, teach, and build a program that competes for a national championship most years. They can X and O with the best of them, but there is always a teaching quality that allows them to connect with their players which allows them to enjoy a consistent level of success.

Team chemistry is rarely an issue, while a talent issue is even less likely. Quite frankly, these guys are the Greek gods of the sport, sitting atop Mount Olympus, looking down on the college basketball world with knowing smiles.

They always seem to land all the top players (UNC), get all the calls (Kansas), and have all the luck (Duke). But more than anything these coaches are the total package and the face of college basketball. There's a reason everyone is jealous.

But they are just one of the many faces of the sport and an example of the multiple ways coaches can have success. This is the time of year we find out which species is the king of the jungle.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

~ Charles Darwin (huge Northern Iowa fan)

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Kevin writes the leading college hoops blog  March To March

Follow him on Twitter:   @MarchToMarch