Big Shoes to Fill: What's Ahead for Successors at Florida and Wisconsin?

Time will tell if hand-picked interim coach Greg Gard is promoted from assistant to the permanent top job by Wisconsin after Bo Ryan departed before the holidays. Much is made of the struggles for an individual when succeeding a coaching legend such as active mentors Temple's Fran Dunphy (followed John Chaney), Louisville's Rick Pitino (Denny Crum), Purdue's Matt Painter (Gene Keady), Maryland's Mark Turgeon (Gary Williams) and Florida's Michael White (Billy Donovan). But only eight of the successors on the following list posted losing marks during their tenures compared to twice as many of the predecessors.

Syracuse, where Mike Hopkins is coach-in-waiting to replace Jim Boeheim, will likely be the next example showing how celebrated coaches lay a solid foundation that can't possibly be messed up. Pitino joined Gene Bartow, John Brady, Mike Davis, Bill Guthridge, Joe B. Hall, Dick Harp, Jack Kraft, Pete Newell, John Oldham and Lou Rossini as coaches who took teams from the same institution to the Final Four after replacing an icon.

Naturally, it's not all peaches and cream inheriting a stable program. Before guiding South Florida to the NCAA playoffs in 2012, Stan Heath compiled a modest 82-71 record with Arkansas in five seasons from 2002-03 through 2006-07 after succeeding Nolan Richardson. Heath and Richardson (389-169 mark with the Hogs from 1986-2002) and Ryan (364-130 with UW from 2001-02 to 2015-16) didn't quite make the following list regarding the level of success for successors of legends who won more than 400 games for a single school:

*CCNY de-emphasized its program after the 1952-53 season.

NOTE: Olson formally announced his retirement less than a month before the 2008-09 season when the Wildcats compiled a 21-14 record under Russ Pennell.