Humble Backgrounds: Small-College Graduates With Power-League Members
In a caste-like era separating the haves from the have-nots, imperial universities are seeking mega-conferences and, perhaps in the near future, a restrictive upper division. But the socially elite won't ever be able to exclude small schools from making a big impact among power-conference members.
Smaller colleges, many of them in the hinterlands, have supplied a striking number of the biggest names in coaching. From 1995 through 2000, five of the six NCAA Tournament championship coaches (Jim Calhoun, Jim Harrick, Tom Izzo, Lute Olson and Tubby Smith) graduated from obscure colleges with smaller enrollments. In fact, it is a rarity for a Final Four not to feature at least one coach who graduated from a non-NCAA Division I school.
John Calipari, a graduate of Clarion (Pa.) State, guided Kentucky to the 2012 national championship before Michigan's John Beilein (Wheeling Jesuit NY) and Wichita State's Gregg Marshall (Randolph-Macon VA) directed teams to the Final Four the second half of the last decade. After Steve Forbes was hired by Wake Forest, following is an alphabetical list of active power-league mentors who worked their way up the ladder after graduating from a small school:
Current Head Coach Power-League Member Small-College Alma Mater Dana Altman Oregon Eastern New Mexico '80 Rick Barnes Tennessee Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.) '76 Brad Brownell Clemson DePauw (Ind.) '91 John Calipari Kentucky Clarion (Pa.) State '82 Pat Chambers Penn State Philadelphia University '94 Ed Cooley Providence Stonehill (Mass.) '94 Andy Enfield Southern California Johns Hopkins (Md.) '91 Steve Forbes Wake Forest Southern Arkansas '88 Mark Fox California Eastern New Mexico '91 Greg Gard Wisconsin Wisconsin-Platteville '95 Leonard Hamilton Florida State Tennessee-Martin '71 Chris Holtmann Ohio State Taylor (Ind.) '94 Tom Izzo Michigan State Northern Michigan '77 Kevin Keatts North Carolina State Ferrum (Va.) '95 Nate Oats Alabama Maranatha Baptist (Wis.) '97 Shaka Smart Texas Kenyon (Ohio) '99 Kyle Smith Washington State Hamilton (N.Y.) College '92 Brent "Buzz" Williams Texas A&M Oklahoma City '94 Mike Young Virginia Tech Emory & Henry (Va.) '86 NOTE: Tennessee-Martin subsequently was classified as NCAA DI university.