I’m not going to do any ridiculously early prognostications for BE basketball until closer to the NBA draft. At that time, while still stupidly early, at least I’ll know which juniors are jumping and which are coming back to school. Instead, I’ll do something even more subjective and speculative: ranking the 16 coaches in the Big East.

Obviously it is mostly subjective, but there are some variables such as accomplishments, recruiting/player development, reputation, potential and pedigree that can factor into it. Especially in some cases. It comes down to these questions: How would you feel if this guy was the head coach of your team? Would you like your chances of winning with him? How would you like to face a team where he is the head coach?

The top 4 are reasonably set to me. They have the extended resumes that makes them hard to unseat from their perches by the other 12 for at least 3 or 4 more years at best. After that, it starts getting harder.

1. Jim Calhoun, UConn — 2 National Championships, 2 Final Fours, 6 Elite Eights,10 Sweet Sixteens. Has won the BE regular season 8 times and the BE Tournament 6 times. Built UConn from a program with a modest rep (at best) to one of the best, top programs in the country. Even before coming to UConn, he actually made Northeastern relevant in the Boston area. Excellent recruiter. His teams always seem to improve as the season continues. Just voted into the basketball hall of fame.
2. Rick Pitino, Louisville — You could argue that he should simply be tied at #1 with Calhoun and I wouldn’t put up much of a fight. Still, there has to be a second place and in my list, it’s Rick. Pitino has won everywhere in college. He has taken 3 teams to the Final Four. 1 National Championship, 2 Championship Games, 5 Final Fours, 7 Elite Eights. He may annoy you (or just me), but you can’t really argue with the success.
3. Jim Boeheim, Syracuse — The Grand Master of the Big East. Elected to the basketball hall of fame this year. Has a National Championship. Over 700 wins in 29 seasons at Syracuse. The fact that his teams have historically underachieved keeps him out of the discussion for the top spot. He’s a solid #3.
4. Bob Huggins, Cinci — Call him “Thuggins” (Lee) or “Huggy Bear” (My wife and many other Cinci alum), but you have to give him his due. You may not like the man, the style, the kind of players or the graduation rates. Fact is he’s been to the Final Four. He’s been in the NCAA 14 straight years, he’s won the C-USA regular season 10 times and the conference tourney 8 times. The team has underachieved in the NCAA, but you’re reasonably certain of getting there each year.
5. Tom Crean, Marquette — In only 6 years as head coach, he has rebuilt Marquette, gotten them into the Final Four, and is at the top of every school’s wish list when there’s a coaching vacancy. He has been consistently good at recruiting and has a solid track record for developing the players — Wade and Deiner.
6. John Beilein, WVU — Prior to the start of this season I thought that Beilein was one of the better coaches in the Big East. He made me look good. Beilein is a basketball lifer who has slowly and steadily climbed the college basketball coaching ranks to this point. His teams play precise, smart basketball. A very good game coach. The players improve each season and during the season. Because of where he’s been, he’s never had the best talent, and it will be interesting to see if he can finally land some of the better talent after this season, and if he can use it.
7. Jay Wright, Villanova — What a difference a year makes. Last year, he would have been down near the bottom. His team was inconsistent, selfish, and just gave games away despite the talent. It seemed that his success at Hofstra was simply because his talent was so much greater than the rest of the conference, but in the BE he was exposed. He could recruit, but coaching appeared non-existent. Now ‘Nova was a phantom call from the Final Four. He showed he could game plan and adjust in game this season.
8. Jamie Dixon, Pitt — Took a tumble in his second season as a head coach. Last year he was BE Coach of the Year. He is one of the better recruiters in the conference. His coaching flaws, though, were exposed. He had a difficult time managing his bench and using substitutions. All too often the team would come out flat and completely out-of-sorts to start the game, and it seemed to get worse as the season wore on. In-game adjustments were inconsistent, to be kind. Player and team development was definitely called into question as there was no improvement on this team from the beginning to the end of the season. Lots of questions.
9. Mike Brey, ND — He has the resume and pedigree. A key assistant for Mike Krzyzewski at Duke from 1987-95. He spent 5 successful years at Delaware, before taking over at ND. Everyone raves about the players he recruits, and expects big things. It’s been downhill, though. In his first season with Matt Doherty’s players (and whoever was the coach before him), ND finished first in the BE West Division and made the NCAA Tournament. His second season, second in the BE West and again in the NCAA. Third year, third in the BE West, but did make the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA. His 4th year, the team was 9-7 in the BE and went to the NIT. This past season, again middle of the pack and the team just showed no heart in the last couple weeks of the season. Losing to Rutgers in the BE Tournament and rolling over at home to start the NIT.
10. Tim Welsh, Providence — 7 seasons at Providence. He has 4 winning seasons and 3 losing. His record is 115-99 (.537), but in the BE it is 53-61 (.465). In both the NCAA and NIT Tournaments, Providence has one win. I wouldn’t exactly put him on the hot list.
11. John Thompson III, Georgetown — I severely underestimated him. He took a very thin team that looked weaker than the team that was hideous last year, and had them play great basketball most of the season. The lack of depth took its toll as the team visibly wore down by the end of the season. The coaching doesn’t seem a question, just getting talent and depth.
12. Norm Roberts, St. John’s — This is probably too high for a 1st year head coach who’s team finished 9-18 and second last in the Big East. But I really like what Norm Roberts has done in his first year. His squad was the thinnest and least talented in the Big East with all of the problems and scandals from the Mike Jarvis error. Still they finished out of the basement, which was a surprise. He has quickly mended fences with the area high schools, and despite the potential for NCAA sanctions has landed a very good recruiting class (including beating Pitt for a couple of guys). He spent 7 seasons before this apprenticing under Kansas Coach Bill Self.
13. Louis Orr, Seton Hall — Major tumble. He was the 2003 BE Coach of the Year, and even won a first round game against Arizona last season. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year, but this team just quit. You had numerous player suspensions. A coach who couldn’t get through to his own players. A complete mess of a season, and recruiting has not been very good.
14. Gary Waters, Rutgers — Backers of RU inevitably invoke the idea of a sleeping giant. If the best the giant can do is runner-up in the NIT, then there is a problem. Waters attracted interest from Ohio State over the previous summer, but the RU AD wouldn’t even let them talk. Now Waters is on the warm, if not hot seat. The team could only manage 2 conference wins. Bad team, no cohesion and less than impressive recruiting. The team has hired ace recruiter and the son of the RU baseball coach, Frank Hill, Jr. away from Villanova. Assuming the recruiting picks up, Waters will have even less excuses.
15. Robert McCullum, USF — Honestly, I don’t know if McCullum deserves this rank or not. I know nothing about the guy or the team. He had one season as a head coach at Western Michigan, where he went 20-11. He was an assistant to Lon Kruger at Florida and Illinois for a decade. In his 2 seasons at USF the team is 21-36. He did double their win total from his first year (7) to his second (14).
16. ????????, DePaul — No head coach at this time.