Against All Odds: Can Bobby Hurley Win More Games as Coach Than Player?

Bobby Hurley Jr., who won more than 4/5 of his games as an All-American playmaker with Duke in the early 1990s (119-26, .821), assumes control of the Buffalo coaching position with an impressive pedigree including playing under his famous father in high school and all-time winningest DI coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Blue Devils.

But the odds are overwhelmingly against Hurley compiling a higher winning percentage as a coach than he did as a player. Indiana's Branch McCracken is the only one of the first 47 All-Americans who became major-college mentors to compile a higher winning percentage as a coach.

All-American (School; Winning Mark as Player) Coaching Career Summary (Winning Mark at DI Level)
*Steve Alford (Indiana; .724) SW Missouri State/Iowa/New Mexico (.663)
*Tommy Amaker (Duke; .783) Seton Hall/Michigan/Harvard (.586)
Forrest "Whitey" Baccus (SMU; .580) Southern Methodist (.437)
Alfred "Butch" Beard (Louisville; .783) Howard/Morgan State (.326)
Henry Bibby (UCLA; .967) Southern California (.526)
Charles "Tub" Bradley (Wyoming; .616) Loyola Marymount (.244)
Gary Brokaw (Notre Dame; .746) Iona (.493)
Bob Calihan (Detroit; .714) Detroit (.559)
Ernie Calverley (Rhode Island State; .807) Rhode Island (.552)
Tom Churchill (Oklahoma; .725) New Mexico (.627)
Jimmy Collins (New Mexico State; .841) Illinois-Chicago (.512)
Bob Cousy (Holy Cross; .839) Boston College (.750)
Howie Dallmar (Stanford/Penn; .714) Penn/Stanford (.534)
*Johnny Dawkins (Duke; .714) Stanford (.560)
Clyde Drexler (Houston; .794) Houston (.328)
Larry Finch (Memphis State; .750) Memphis State (.629)
Tom Gola (La Salle; .856) La Salle (.740)
Jack Gray (Texas; .765) Texas (.667)
Sidney Green (UNLV; .719) Florida Atlantic (.309)
Clem Haskins (Western Kentucky; .851) Western Kentucky/Minnesota (.585)
Walt Hazzard (UCLA; .773) UCLA (.621)
Moose Krause (Notre Dame; .818) Holy Cross/Notre Dame (.637)
Mark Macon (Temple; .729) Binghamton (.247)
Kyle Macy (Kentucky; .752) Morehead State (.424)
*Danny Manning (Kansas; .769) Tulsa (.515)
Willie McCarter (Drake; .646) Detroit (.407)
E. "Branch" McCracken (Indiana; .588) Indiana (.677)
Banks McFadden (Clemson; .603) Clemson (.394)
Sidney Moncrief (Arkansas; .836) UALR (.143)
Jeff Mullins (Duke; .849) UNC Charlotte (.562)
Jim O'Brien (Boston College; .641) St. Bonaventure/Boston College/Ohio State (.547)
John Oldham (Western Kentucky; .887) Tennessee Tech/Western Kentucky (.679)
Barry Parkhill (Virginia; 620) William & Mary (.387)
Jeff Ruland (Iona; .773) Iona (.507)
Tom "Satch" Sanders (NYU; .662) Harvard (.430)
Harv Schmidt (Illinois; .742) Illinois (.536)
Frank Selvy (Furman; .738) Furman (.427)
John Shumate (Notre Dame; .746) Southern Methodist (.398)
Bob Spessard (Washington & Lee; .762) Washington & Lee (.455)
Isiah Thomas (Indiana; .734) Florida International (.286)
John Thompson Jr. (Providence; .800) Georgetown (.714)
Monte Towe (North Carolina State; .919) New Orleans (.473)
Lou Watson (Indiana; .607) Indiana (.508)
Paul Westphal (Southern California; .744) Pepperdine (.514)
*Corliss Williamson (Arkansas; .817) Central Arkansas (.295)
John Wooden (Purdue; .840) UCLA (.808)
Tony Yates (Cincinnati; .921) Cincinnati (.412)

*Active coaches.