Give your take (strengths & weaknesses) on Rutgers coaches since 2000. How do they stack up to each other?
Bannon
Waters
Hill
Rice
Jordan
Pikiell
Bannon
Waters
Hill
Rice
Jordan
Pikiell
Rutgers basketball coaches over the years
- Thread starter cubuffsdoug
- Start date
I won't rate Pickle since he is too new.
1. Bannon- came very close to getting it done at RU. He was so close to getting Troy Murphy and Jason Williams here. Naked FTs and other off court issues (affair with assistant coach's wife, etc) ruined him.
2. Waters- good coach, not a great recruiter. Could have kept us around 500.
3. Rice- also could have won here if not for his demons.
4. Hill/Jordan- both absolute disasters. Ruined our program.
1. Bannon- came very close to getting it done at RU. He was so close to getting Troy Murphy and Jason Williams here. Naked FTs and other off court issues (affair with assistant coach's wife, etc) ruined him.
2. Waters- good coach, not a great recruiter. Could have kept us around 500.
3. Rice- also could have won here if not for his demons.
4. Hill/Jordan- both absolute disasters. Ruined our program.
Ok, from my perspective:
Bannon - Was never a fan of his, reminded me of a used car salesman. But had some success. Self destructed
Waters - Good man, good coach, too loyal to his previous staff.
Hill - Good recruiter, not a good head coach, remember seeing him giving a speech to his team at a practice, while he was reading off a paper, the team was looking around not paying any attention to him.
Rice - Good basketball coach, if he didn't have that well known flaw I believe he would have recruited better and might have succeeded.
Jordan - Good and respected person, a legend at Rutgers. Did not let his staff help him nearly enough. Appeared to not have the energy required to succeed at this level. Will always be a fav of mine for what he did as a player.
Pikiell - so far so good. Put together a very good staff, lets them coach the players. Grade can not be given until he recruits and gets all his type of players in.
Bannon - Was never a fan of his, reminded me of a used car salesman. But had some success. Self destructed
Waters - Good man, good coach, too loyal to his previous staff.
Hill - Good recruiter, not a good head coach, remember seeing him giving a speech to his team at a practice, while he was reading off a paper, the team was looking around not paying any attention to him.
Rice - Good basketball coach, if he didn't have that well known flaw I believe he would have recruited better and might have succeeded.
Jordan - Good and respected person, a legend at Rutgers. Did not let his staff help him nearly enough. Appeared to not have the energy required to succeed at this level. Will always be a fav of mine for what he did as a player.
Pikiell - so far so good. Put together a very good staff, lets them coach the players. Grade can not be given until he recruits and gets all his type of players in.
Bannon - Decent coach that was ruined by recruiting near-misses and off the court BS.
Waters - A very good coach, but not a great recruiter.
Hill - Good recruiter. Awful coach.
Jordan - Really bad coach.
Rice - Potentially great coach ruined by a Bobby Knight bully complex.
Waters - A very good coach, but not a great recruiter.
Hill - Good recruiter. Awful coach.
Jordan - Really bad coach.
Rice - Potentially great coach ruined by a Bobby Knight bully complex.
Waters - Best of the bunch, but would never have won big
Bannon - Could have had a solid career - disaster off court
Rice - Probably the most talented coach we had - not suited to coach in this day and age
Hill - Not at all head coach, could recruit
Jordan - A disaster on every level as a college coach
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Pikiell - a terrific pedigree and great start -- with a solid coaching staff and facilities on the way, he is setup to compete down the road
Bannon - Could have had a solid career - disaster off court
Rice - Probably the most talented coach we had - not suited to coach in this day and age
Hill - Not at all head coach, could recruit
Jordan - A disaster on every level as a college coach
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Pikiell - a terrific pedigree and great start -- with a solid coaching staff and facilities on the way, he is setup to compete down the road
Bannon - will always be "the what could've been" guy to me. Came so close to getting it done. Best recruiter by far. Beyond marquee recruits like Dahntay Jones, Todd Billet, and Herve Lamizana, by and large the other guys he brought in all could play. There were no Harry Goods or Justin Goodes. And he came so, so close to landing studs Jason Williams and Troy Murphy. Unfortunately he apparently couldn't keep enough of the players happy and his poor off court judgment did him in. In some ways he reminded me of Mike Rice the way he coached with a chip on his shoulder as the 8th choice or whatever from Rider while our biggest rival hired Duke's Tommy Amaker.
Gary Waters - didn't think much of him at the time because, to me, recruiting has always been by far the most important job of the coach. At least at home, Waters seemed to get the most out of our talent but with the exception of Douby and JUCO Jerome Coleman his recruiting was totally subpar. He brought in a few decent guys but a lot of the classes were stocked with guys that just couldn't play. The NIT run in 2014 was fueled by Douby but Bannon recruits Lamizana and Shields were indispensable seniors. He was an honorable man and while good character should be a given for a leader of young men, I guess it really isn't. To a degree Bannon was undermined by Mulcahy but Waters certainly was although I don't think Mulcahy was necessarily wrong in thinking Waters needed help recruiting.
Fred Hill - good recruiter, just not cut out to be a leader. Surprising considering how long his father had been a head coach of two different sports but just didn't get the leadership genes I guess. Had never been a head coach and it showed. Job was too big for him. Although he was justifiably emotional at the time, I just remember at his opening presser how inarticulate he seemed and unable to express a vision. Not what I had been used to with Wenzel, Bannon, and Waters for all of their faults as program leaders.
Mike Rice - son of a fiery coach who in that environment maybe never emotionally grew up (amateur psychiatrist alert!). By no means do I think he is a monster in the Bobby Knight mold that he has been portrayed. His yelling and screaming I always thought was done with a wink and a twinkle in his eye. He was just a hyper guy and not everyone got him maybe. His first year, those unheralded guys bought in and they competed much more than they had a right to. After his one excellent recruiting class, it was harder for the new and leftover guys to buy in and his act seemed to be wearing thin. After that Mack, Jack, Carter class, recruiting appeared to be really nosediving and I really think that he was on the path to getting fired by the end of the next season.
Eddie Jordan - was a great healing pick but he was really way too far removed from the college game and with a lame duck staff for one year to hold the fort and other staffing decisions he really sealed his own fate. Needed a strong college staff to help him but he did it his way and it was unmitigated disaster. Injuries last year just made it absurdly painful for everyone.
Gary Waters - didn't think much of him at the time because, to me, recruiting has always been by far the most important job of the coach. At least at home, Waters seemed to get the most out of our talent but with the exception of Douby and JUCO Jerome Coleman his recruiting was totally subpar. He brought in a few decent guys but a lot of the classes were stocked with guys that just couldn't play. The NIT run in 2014 was fueled by Douby but Bannon recruits Lamizana and Shields were indispensable seniors. He was an honorable man and while good character should be a given for a leader of young men, I guess it really isn't. To a degree Bannon was undermined by Mulcahy but Waters certainly was although I don't think Mulcahy was necessarily wrong in thinking Waters needed help recruiting.
Fred Hill - good recruiter, just not cut out to be a leader. Surprising considering how long his father had been a head coach of two different sports but just didn't get the leadership genes I guess. Had never been a head coach and it showed. Job was too big for him. Although he was justifiably emotional at the time, I just remember at his opening presser how inarticulate he seemed and unable to express a vision. Not what I had been used to with Wenzel, Bannon, and Waters for all of their faults as program leaders.
Mike Rice - son of a fiery coach who in that environment maybe never emotionally grew up (amateur psychiatrist alert!). By no means do I think he is a monster in the Bobby Knight mold that he has been portrayed. His yelling and screaming I always thought was done with a wink and a twinkle in his eye. He was just a hyper guy and not everyone got him maybe. His first year, those unheralded guys bought in and they competed much more than they had a right to. After his one excellent recruiting class, it was harder for the new and leftover guys to buy in and his act seemed to be wearing thin. After that Mack, Jack, Carter class, recruiting appeared to be really nosediving and I really think that he was on the path to getting fired by the end of the next season.
Eddie Jordan - was a great healing pick but he was really way too far removed from the college game and with a lame duck staff for one year to hold the fort and other staffing decisions he really sealed his own fate. Needed a strong college staff to help him but he did it his way and it was unmitigated disaster. Injuries last year just made it absurdly painful for everyone.
After the initial euphoria and tourney appearances, his tenure nosedived into an endless parade of hopeless losing seasons.
Mike is about 1000% a better coach than Fred Hill.
Did you know Van Gundy was in charge of the offense and Eddie Jordan ran the defense.
I think Van Gundy was on staff one year. And all coaches' success is due to good or great players. In one year Wenzel turned around a team that was every bit as bad as last year's.
TOM YOUNG: Best of the bunch. But still he had no stomach for recruiting.
CRAIG LITTLEPAGE: Bad coach, worst recruiter ever.
BOB WENZEL: Good coach, lazy recruiter like Young.
KEVIN BANNON: Good recruiter. Decent coach, but preferred iron man rotation with no bench.
GARY WATERS: Good coach, uneven recruiter with pattern of good year bad year.
FRED HILL: Great recruiter, bad coach.
MIKE RICE: Average coach and recruiter. Overstressed defense, fouled too much. Awful offense except when star player was on.
EDDIE JORDAN: I credit him for Sanders, Johnson, and Laurent, but the coaching was Littlepage quality, except for a few backdoor cuts and out of bounds plays.
STEVE PIKIEL: Too early to go overboard. But his use of the bench, emphasis on defense, and rebounding, sets him apart thus far. Love the shot selection on offense.
CRAIG LITTLEPAGE: Bad coach, worst recruiter ever.
BOB WENZEL: Good coach, lazy recruiter like Young.
KEVIN BANNON: Good recruiter. Decent coach, but preferred iron man rotation with no bench.
GARY WATERS: Good coach, uneven recruiter with pattern of good year bad year.
FRED HILL: Great recruiter, bad coach.
MIKE RICE: Average coach and recruiter. Overstressed defense, fouled too much. Awful offense except when star player was on.
EDDIE JORDAN: I credit him for Sanders, Johnson, and Laurent, but the coaching was Littlepage quality, except for a few backdoor cuts and out of bounds plays.
STEVE PIKIEL: Too early to go overboard. But his use of the bench, emphasis on defense, and rebounding, sets him apart thus far. Love the shot selection on offense.
I thought Rice was on the cusp of turning the corner. I hated bannon. He played the most basic vanilla basketball including a defense that never pressed even when we were down 10 with 5 minutes to go. Could never understand that philosophy. We were going nowhere under him. Waters couldn't get it done here. He had Quincy Douby and that was it. I think his recruiting was on par with Bannons which was mediocre. Wenzel was great. Towards the end of his tenure, the recruiting fell off the map.
I think Pikell will be the best. I just feel it. His defense and rebounding so far is nothing short of off the charts. I was a Mike Rice guy but I like Steve's coaching style the best. You win with defense, rebounding and hitting your free throws and this team is nailing all three.
We will win some surprise games this year. Not sure it's enough for post season but it will be close.
I think Pikell will be the best. I just feel it. His defense and rebounding so far is nothing short of off the charts. I was a Mike Rice guy but I like Steve's coaching style the best. You win with defense, rebounding and hitting your free throws and this team is nailing all three.
We will win some surprise games this year. Not sure it's enough for post season but it will be close.
Excellent, concise (!) summary especially about Rice. Forgot how frustrating the non-stop fouling of his teams was. Getting in a guy's grill to the point you are fouling constantly is not good defense. Also, in retrospect, could be right about Bannon's rotation. Maybe led to the departure of a guy with ability like Flores who led the nation in scoring at Manhattan and made an NBA roster for a short time and the lack of development of a guy like Alvydys Tenys who, for anybody that saw him play in his legendary exhibition game debut, had a lot more ability than was ever displayed in real games.
The thing that most of the previous coaches have in common is a general lack of player development. I hope that changes with the current coach.
