Big Shoes to Fill: Time Will Tell for Successors at APSU and San Diego State

Time will tell if it was worth the wait for hand-picked San Diego State successor Brian Dutcher after serving as an aide to Steve Fisher for more than a quarter century (including last seasons with Aztecs). 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 previously was coach-in-waiting to replace Jim Boeheim, was likely the next example showing how celebrated coaches lay a solid foundation that can't possibly be messed up. But Hopkins got antsy waiting for Boeheim to finally hang 'em up and chose to become Washington's bench boss. 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.

Matt Figger, an assistant under Frank Martin for 10 seasons at Kansas State and South Carolina, hopes some of Martin's magic rubs off on him at Austin Peay after replacing retiring Dave Loos (402- wins in 27 seasons). 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. Richardson (389-169 mark with the Hogs from 1986-2002) and Fisher (386-209 with SDSU from 2002-17) and their successors 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.