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EOG Veteran
Memphis coach Penny Hardaway welcomed in two of the most talented freshmen in the country, a Hall of Fame coach and yet is on track to a fourth consecutive season without an NCAA Tournament appearance.
Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing sits in the cellar of the Big East with an 0-10 record. He’s suffered more than twice as many Big East setbacks (54) than wins (26) and hasn’t been able to make his alma mater relevant beyond a three-day stretch last March in the Big East Tournament.
Jerry Stackhouse has struggled to rack up SEC victories in three years since taking over a Vanderbilt program that went to eight NCAA Tournaments from 2004-17.
That trio is likely to join the lengthy list of former NBA players who haven’t exactly thrived in the college coaching rankFormer St. John’s star Chris Mullin lasted four years at his alma mater and was 20-52 in Big East play before both sides agreed it wasn’t working. Isiah Thomas made it three and was jettisoned with a 26-65 mark at FIU. Clyde Drexler only endured two seasons at Houston and left with a total of seven league victories. Mike Dunleavy Sr. was a complete disaster at Tulane, failing to win a conference game in his final season. Mark Price was fired after two-plus years at Charlotte, and Eddie Jordan was a train wreck at Rutgers, finishing with a 3-33 Big Ten record.
Those are the big names, but there are others who didn’t get it done at the lower levels: Michael Curry at FAU, Clemon Johnson at FAMU, Scott Padgett at Samford, Corliss Williamson at Central Arkansas and Donyell Marshall at Central Connecticut State. Those five were a combined 221-429 in their D-1 college coaching careers. In all fairness, many of those are brutally difficult jobs, but none could be termed successful. Not as college coaches, anyway.
There are some who have enjoyed a level of success. Al Skinner was terrific for most of his tenure at Boston College, going to seven NCAA Tournaments in 13 seasons. Kevin Ollie won a national title at UConn, but was fired just four years later. Larry Krystkowiak had it rolling for a while at Utah, going to the Sweet 16 in 2015, and Dan Majerle (Grand Canyon) and Damon Stoudamire (Pacific) both did a nice job at their spots.
Juwan Howard was terrific in his second season at Michigan, but is 12-9 overall and 6-5 in Big Ten play this year. Lorenzo Romar went to six NCAA tourneys in 15 seasons at Washington and also had success at Saint Louis. Bryce Drew was great at Valparaiso (and so far at Grand Canyon), but was let go after a third disastrous campaign at Vanderbilt. Fred Hoiberg crushed it at his alma mater, Iowa State, but has struggled in his first three seasons at Nebraska and is 0-12 in Big Ten play this year. Bobby Hurley took Arizona State to a pair of tournament appearances, but the Sun Devils have been awful the past two seasons.
There are far more misses coming from the ex-NBA player pool than success stories.
We looked at all the notable college coaches who played at least 200 NBA games in their careers, which meant that Virginia’s Tony Bennett (152 career games) and BYU’s Mark Pope (153 career games) weren’t eligible. Hubert Davis (North Carolina) and Mike Woodson (Indiana) are in their first year at their alma maters, and it’s also too early to evaluate Alabama State’s Mo Williams in just his second season.
Not a single coach — past or present — has earned an ‘A’ grade. The best of the bunch? Probably Skinner, who played 337 games over six seasons. Howard was certainly on that trajectory after an Elite Eight appearance last season, but he had a .500 league record in his rookie campaign and has struggled this yearBut guys like Hardaway, Ewing and Stackhouse have been lackluster thus far, and that’s being kind. What do they all have in common? They made millions and millions in the NBA.
Of the 16 college coaches (past and present) we examined that earned at least $20 million over the course of their playing careers, the only ones who can be termed successful as college coaches are Howard, Ollie, Majerle and Stoudamire — and “successful” is debatable since Ollie only lasted six years and Majerle was fired after seven.
Howard, Hardaway and Ewing each earned over $100 million in their playing careers, Stackhouse made in excess of $84 million and guys like Danny Manning, Aaron McKie, Avery Johnson, Mullin, Drexler, Price, Williamson, Marshall and Lindsey Hunter all earned at least $20 million.
Here are a few of the reasons why many of these former NBA players don’t work outWhen talking to a few of those coaches who have made the transition, there’s no clear answer as to why the majority of the hires haven’t worked out well. Sure, some of the guys who made $100 million don’t quite understand the amount of time necessary to rebuild a program, whether it’s on the recruiting trail, on the phones to prospective recruits, their families and AAU/high school coaches, while also dealing with boosters.
“If you really want to coach and get into the college game and be a head coach, it’s more than just the X’s and O’s,” Howard said. “If you’re not willing to embrace the other stuff, this is not the place for you. You probably need to find another profession.”
“You know going in that it’s going to be work,” Hoiberg told Stadium. “But when you go out and spend 10 days on the road from 8 a.m. until 10 or 11 at night in the gym all day, that’s when it really hits you.”
Hoiberg recalled one of his first recruiting trips after being hired by Iowa State. He took a flight to Los Angeles for an AAU event to attend one game prior to getting on a red-eye to South Carolina. The player he was there to see never showed.
Former NBA guard Mo Williams, who is in his second season at Alabama State, said most NBA players have no shortage of down time during the season and offseason. There are practices, games and workouts, but that leaves plenty of time each day.
“You have a lot of time on your hands,” Williams said. “As a player, we didn’t answer our phones. We didn’t want the distractions. Now you have to answer the phone, you have to talk to a parent, respond to a kid, get to know the high school coach, the AAU coaches, the media, the alumni. You’ve got to be accessible all the time.”
“There’s a million things that are at your feet every day, that you didn’t even think about,” Bobby Hurley added. “And you really have no idea until you see it.Hoiberg had incredible success in Ames before being hired to coach the Chicago Bulls in 2015. He took the Cyclones to the NCAA Tournament four straight years and brought a ton of high-end talent to Iowa State, both through the transfer portal and also from the high school ranks.
“The most important thing to me was to put the right staff around me,” Hoiberg admitted.
Hoiberg retained veteran assistant T.J. Otzelberger from Greg McDermott’s staff, and also hired veteran former head coach Bobby Lutz on his first staff. Howard’s staff had a similar makeup, bringing on board long-time St. Joseph’s head coach Phil Martelli, retaining assistant Saddi Washington and adding Howard Eisley from the NBA.
“I took my time in hiring a staff that’s right for the program, the best for the players,” Howard said.
Stoudamire had been in the college game. He started as the director of player development at Rice, and was an assistant at both Memphis and Arizona before getting the head job at Pacific. That allowed him to do the necessary homework to hire a staff that fit him and the mid-major level.
“You have to have a good staff,” Stoudamire said. “Or you won’t have a chance to succeed.”
Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing sits in the cellar of the Big East with an 0-10 record. He’s suffered more than twice as many Big East setbacks (54) than wins (26) and hasn’t been able to make his alma mater relevant beyond a three-day stretch last March in the Big East Tournament.
Jerry Stackhouse has struggled to rack up SEC victories in three years since taking over a Vanderbilt program that went to eight NCAA Tournaments from 2004-17.
That trio is likely to join the lengthy list of former NBA players who haven’t exactly thrived in the college coaching rankFormer St. John’s star Chris Mullin lasted four years at his alma mater and was 20-52 in Big East play before both sides agreed it wasn’t working. Isiah Thomas made it three and was jettisoned with a 26-65 mark at FIU. Clyde Drexler only endured two seasons at Houston and left with a total of seven league victories. Mike Dunleavy Sr. was a complete disaster at Tulane, failing to win a conference game in his final season. Mark Price was fired after two-plus years at Charlotte, and Eddie Jordan was a train wreck at Rutgers, finishing with a 3-33 Big Ten record.
Those are the big names, but there are others who didn’t get it done at the lower levels: Michael Curry at FAU, Clemon Johnson at FAMU, Scott Padgett at Samford, Corliss Williamson at Central Arkansas and Donyell Marshall at Central Connecticut State. Those five were a combined 221-429 in their D-1 college coaching careers. In all fairness, many of those are brutally difficult jobs, but none could be termed successful. Not as college coaches, anyway.
There are some who have enjoyed a level of success. Al Skinner was terrific for most of his tenure at Boston College, going to seven NCAA Tournaments in 13 seasons. Kevin Ollie won a national title at UConn, but was fired just four years later. Larry Krystkowiak had it rolling for a while at Utah, going to the Sweet 16 in 2015, and Dan Majerle (Grand Canyon) and Damon Stoudamire (Pacific) both did a nice job at their spots.
Juwan Howard was terrific in his second season at Michigan, but is 12-9 overall and 6-5 in Big Ten play this year. Lorenzo Romar went to six NCAA tourneys in 15 seasons at Washington and also had success at Saint Louis. Bryce Drew was great at Valparaiso (and so far at Grand Canyon), but was let go after a third disastrous campaign at Vanderbilt. Fred Hoiberg crushed it at his alma mater, Iowa State, but has struggled in his first three seasons at Nebraska and is 0-12 in Big Ten play this year. Bobby Hurley took Arizona State to a pair of tournament appearances, but the Sun Devils have been awful the past two seasons.
There are far more misses coming from the ex-NBA player pool than success stories.
We looked at all the notable college coaches who played at least 200 NBA games in their careers, which meant that Virginia’s Tony Bennett (152 career games) and BYU’s Mark Pope (153 career games) weren’t eligible. Hubert Davis (North Carolina) and Mike Woodson (Indiana) are in their first year at their alma maters, and it’s also too early to evaluate Alabama State’s Mo Williams in just his second season.
Not a single coach — past or present — has earned an ‘A’ grade. The best of the bunch? Probably Skinner, who played 337 games over six seasons. Howard was certainly on that trajectory after an Elite Eight appearance last season, but he had a .500 league record in his rookie campaign and has struggled this yearBut guys like Hardaway, Ewing and Stackhouse have been lackluster thus far, and that’s being kind. What do they all have in common? They made millions and millions in the NBA.
Of the 16 college coaches (past and present) we examined that earned at least $20 million over the course of their playing careers, the only ones who can be termed successful as college coaches are Howard, Ollie, Majerle and Stoudamire — and “successful” is debatable since Ollie only lasted six years and Majerle was fired after seven.
Howard, Hardaway and Ewing each earned over $100 million in their playing careers, Stackhouse made in excess of $84 million and guys like Danny Manning, Aaron McKie, Avery Johnson, Mullin, Drexler, Price, Williamson, Marshall and Lindsey Hunter all earned at least $20 million.
Here are a few of the reasons why many of these former NBA players don’t work outWhen talking to a few of those coaches who have made the transition, there’s no clear answer as to why the majority of the hires haven’t worked out well. Sure, some of the guys who made $100 million don’t quite understand the amount of time necessary to rebuild a program, whether it’s on the recruiting trail, on the phones to prospective recruits, their families and AAU/high school coaches, while also dealing with boosters.
“If you really want to coach and get into the college game and be a head coach, it’s more than just the X’s and O’s,” Howard said. “If you’re not willing to embrace the other stuff, this is not the place for you. You probably need to find another profession.”
“You know going in that it’s going to be work,” Hoiberg told Stadium. “But when you go out and spend 10 days on the road from 8 a.m. until 10 or 11 at night in the gym all day, that’s when it really hits you.”
Hoiberg recalled one of his first recruiting trips after being hired by Iowa State. He took a flight to Los Angeles for an AAU event to attend one game prior to getting on a red-eye to South Carolina. The player he was there to see never showed.
Former NBA guard Mo Williams, who is in his second season at Alabama State, said most NBA players have no shortage of down time during the season and offseason. There are practices, games and workouts, but that leaves plenty of time each day.
“You have a lot of time on your hands,” Williams said. “As a player, we didn’t answer our phones. We didn’t want the distractions. Now you have to answer the phone, you have to talk to a parent, respond to a kid, get to know the high school coach, the AAU coaches, the media, the alumni. You’ve got to be accessible all the time.”
“There’s a million things that are at your feet every day, that you didn’t even think about,” Bobby Hurley added. “And you really have no idea until you see it.Hoiberg had incredible success in Ames before being hired to coach the Chicago Bulls in 2015. He took the Cyclones to the NCAA Tournament four straight years and brought a ton of high-end talent to Iowa State, both through the transfer portal and also from the high school ranks.
“The most important thing to me was to put the right staff around me,” Hoiberg admitted.
Hoiberg retained veteran assistant T.J. Otzelberger from Greg McDermott’s staff, and also hired veteran former head coach Bobby Lutz on his first staff. Howard’s staff had a similar makeup, bringing on board long-time St. Joseph’s head coach Phil Martelli, retaining assistant Saddi Washington and adding Howard Eisley from the NBA.
“I took my time in hiring a staff that’s right for the program, the best for the players,” Howard said.
Stoudamire had been in the college game. He started as the director of player development at Rice, and was an assistant at both Memphis and Arizona before getting the head job at Pacific. That allowed him to do the necessary homework to hire a staff that fit him and the mid-major level.
“You have to have a good staff,” Stoudamire said. “Or you won’t have a chance to succeed.”
