Deans of Coaches: Only Five Leagues Boast Longest Tenures Over 20 Years
January 3rd, 2014 - 21:16
"Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Extensive coaching turnover and league realigning left Duke's Mike Krzyzewski as one of a mere five coaches to be in the same alliance the last 20 years. Coach K moved atop the dean-of-coaches list after Syracuse and Jim Boeheim switched to the Atlantic Coast Conference after 34 years in the Big East. Mentors joining Boeheim in shedding their longest-tenured status in a league when their schools or themselves sought greener pastures included Joe Mihalich (Niagara to Hofstra), Oakland's Greg Kampe (Summit to Horizon) and Utah State's Stew Morrill (WAC to Mountain West).
Voluntary or not, additional pilots stepped down during or after last season and no longer hold the distinction of dean of coaches in a Division I conference - Tevester Anderson (gone from Jackson State in SWAC), Ronnie Arrow (South Alabama in Sun Belt), Eddie Biedenbach (UNC Asheville in Big South), Scott Sanderson (Lipscomb in Atlantic Sun), Bob Thomason (Pacific in Big West) and Reggie Witherspoon (Buffalo in Mid-American). As league play shifts into gear, following are the longest-tenured active coaches in their present Division I conference (including 2013-14 campaign):
NOTE: Dambrot's first two seasons in MAC were with Central Michigan and Hinson's first nine seasons in MVC were with Missouri State.