Power Danger: Fast Starts Unexpected From Coaches Sans College Experience

April 5th, 2021 - 12:55

There was no grooming comparable to most coaches working their way up the ladder from the collegiate bush leagues. Despite boasting zero college head-coaching experience (excluding interim status), Tommy Lloyd (Arizona), Tony Stubblefield (DePaul), Mike Woodson (Indiana), Ben Johnson (Minnesota), Hubert Davis (North Carolina) and Micah Shrewsberry (Penn State) were hired to be in charge of a power-conference member. It's unclear whether their public-health-crisis hiring stems solely from being most qualified person for the job or might be racial pandering byproduct of incurable "wokeness." But we'll soon find out if replacements revive repressed programs or are reminders of reparations repartee. Along with school corporate sponsors and NABC, they surely understand proper protocol to feature rosters mirroring diversity of student body, meaning more than half of scholarship players should be Caucasian. Aren't Butler, Florida State, Georgetown, Marquette, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina State, Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh, Providence and Vanderbilt practicing such "equality" representation? Not! At any rate, they join 19 active head coaches for power-league members getting their starts as bench boss without serving as head coach for another college.

There is no rhyme or reason regarding first-year results. But if Davis, Johnson, Lloyd, Shrewsberry, Stubblefield and Woodson assemble an average inaugural campaign, the novice head coaches face an overall record of 18-14 with losing power-league mark. First-year worksheets for mentors in this category went dramatically downhill the previous decade. In the past nine years, the 10 latest newcomer power-league coaches - Rick Ray, Kevin Ollie, Chris Collins, Steve Wojciechowski, Chris Mullin, Patrick Ewing, Mike Hopkins, Travis Steele, Juwan Howard and Jerry Stackhouse - combined for an average record of 15-17 overall and 6-12 in league competition. Davis' predecessor Roy Williams, retiring from Carolina, went 19-12 with Kansas in 1988-89 (6-8 in Big Eight Conference). Only five active coaches on the following alphabetical list compiled a winning power-league ledger in his inaugural season sans benefit of toiling as a college bench boss:

Active Head Coach Current School 1st Season Guiding Power-League Member Overall League
Tommy Amaker Harvard Seton Hall (1997-98/Big East) 15-15 9-9
Rod Barnes Cal State Bakersfield Mississippi (1998-99/SEC) 20-13 8-8
Tony Bennett Virginia Washington State (2006-07/Pacific-10) 26-8 13-5
Jim Boeheim Syracuse Syracuse (1976-77/independent) 26-4 N/A
Chris Collins Northwestern Northwestern (2013-14/Big Ten) 14-19 6-12
Mike Davis Detroit Indiana (2000-01/Big Ten) 21-13 10-6
Johnny Dawkins UCF Stanford (2008-09/Pacific-10) 20-14 6-12
Jamie Dixon Texas Christian Pittsburgh (2003-04/Big East) 31-5 13-3
Patrick Ewing Georgetown Georgetown (2017-18/Big East) 15-15 5-13
Frank Haith Tulsa Miami FL (2004-05/ACC) 16-13 7-9
Leonard Hamilton Florida State Oklahoma State (1986-87/Big Eight) 8-20 4-10
Mike Hopkins Washington Washington (2017-18/Pac-12) 21-13 10-8
Juwan Howard Michigan Michigan (2019-20)/Big Ten) 19-12 10-10
Tom Izzo Michigan State Michigan State (1995-96/Big Ten) 16-16 9-9
Jeff Jones Old Dominion Virginia (1990-91/ACC) 21-12 6-8
Frank Martin South Carolina Kansas State (2007-08/Big 12) 21-12 10-6
Jerry Stackhouse Vanderbilt Vanderbilt (2019-20)/SEC 11-21 3-15
Rick Stansbury Western Kentucky Mississippi State (1998-99/SEC) 20-13 8-8
Travis Steele Xavier Xavier (2018-19/Big East) 19-16 9-9