Retirement Plans: Jones Sleeps On It/Weeps On It/Thinks On It/Drinks To It

February 26th, 2024 - 20:33

It's patently clear not every coach departs with pomp-and-circumstance style such as luminaries John Wooden, Al McGuire, Ray Meyer, Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzewski when they bowed out. From 1964 to 1975 with Wooden at the helm, UCLA won an NCAA-record 10 national titles, including seven straight from 1967 through 1973. McGuire's goodbye in 1977 with an NCAA title marked Marquette's eighth straight season finishing among the Top 10 in a final wire-service poll. Meyer directed DePaul to a Top 6 finish in a final wire-service poll six times in his final seven seasons from 1978 through 1984. Smith won at least 28 games with North Carolina in four of his final five seasons from 1992-93 through 1996-97. Coach K tied Wooden by reaching Final Four with Duke for 13th time in his swan song.

But fond farewells are the exception, not the rule, in coping with Father Time. Just ask Jeff Jones, who recently stepped down after posting more than 15 victories only once in the last five seasons with Old Dominion. A year ago, Notre Dame's Mike Brey should have asked Smith pupil Roy Williams, who registered a losing ACC record (16-20) over his final two campaigns before retiring several years ago. That was more league losses than he incurred over a five-year span when NCAA titles bookended no-show class seasons from 2005 through 2009. How many school all-time winningest mentors such as Syracuse's Jim Boeheim (incurred at least 14 defeats in six of last seven seasons) rode off into the sunset donning at least a partial black hat rather than a white one? How much they may have tarnished their legacy is debatable but hanging around too long probably caused a few of the following alphabetical list of celebrated coaches losing a portion of their luster: