DistrictBaller

No doubt. I wasn't using it as a negative against Mooney. He's a great coach. I was just making the observation that outside of that class of players, Mooney hasn't had significant national success which is why he's probably being forgotten by some here. I personally think he's right up there with the other guys.

It's so easy to forget that schools like Boston College wanted hire him away when Richmond was rolling in 2010 and 2011. Those were some very good Richmond teams.

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"We will wreak havoc on our opponent's psyche and plan of attack."
- VCU Head Coach Shaka Smart

paulxu

I like Shaka. Anybody who is magna cum laude and is named after a warrior has got to be cool.

It's interesting that he and Mack started at the same time as head coaches.
Shaka has a CBI, second round and final four in 3 years.
Mack has 2 sweet 16's and a first round.

Now they have mostly their own guys and are in the same league.
Should be a fun year.

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...he went up late, and I was already up there.

JHG722

It's 'Dunphy', not 'Dumphy'.

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Temple Owls football and basketball

BU Terriers hockey

ace93

Any mention of Hurley here is extremely premature. His team did not even win he NEC. Former Fordham coach Derek Whittenburg did and he did not exactly light the world on fire. Speaking to the present, another new A10 coach also won the NEC this past season and finished ahead of Hurley's Wagner, Jim Ferry. Wagner also lost in the first round of the NEC tournament to the #7 seed. Don't get me wrong, I think he will be good, but it's way too early for him to even get a mention in this thread.

Twister

The top coach in the A-10 is

Derek Kellogg

Knobby

I hate to just drop two brand new coaches into the top 3 without any real A-10 exposure. Obviously Smart and Stevens are good coaches, and I am sure they are in the top 3rd of this list but it will be interesting to see how they handle the day in-day out in conference play.

For my money I think Majerus is the best coach in the conference, Mack/Mooney/Dunphy could be swapped in any order. But when it comes to tournament time, I would take Mack, Smart and Stevens for sure.

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Well, we were smaller, but at least we were slower!

stophorseabuse

Lappas
Wittenberg
Bob Hill
Solomon
Hahn
Née

I'm forgetting the RI guys name, I bet they wish they could.

Bona84

DeGregorio?

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Bona84

stophorseabuse

There it is...

UMass87

Shaka Smart coaches the way I want a coach to coach. Hard to argue against Stevens as #1, though.

AdamtheFlyer

My list:

1. Stevens
2. Mooney
3. Dunphy
4. Majerus
5. Smart
6. Mack
7. Martelli
8. Schmidt
9. Giannini
10. Kellogg

I only include guys who have been in their gig for at least 3 seasons. 3 years is a nice first measuring stick, because by then the stars from a previous regime are most likely gone and you really have your own team to be judged on.

And while specific achievements are a factor, I'm more judging on guys I would actually hire to start a hypothetical program from scratch. Everyone takes over programs in different places. Mooney had to build from almost nothing, where Stevens, Dunphy, and Mack took over pretty well oiled machines. It would be unfair to judge them by accomplishments alone. That said, having a Final Four can break ties, as it did in my 1st spot and the virtual logjam that is my 4-5-6 spots.

I am an unabashed Chris Mooney fanboy.

I really struggled with Martelli. I'm a big fan of his, but the further removed from 2004 that we get, the less great he becomes. Very strong coach, but not elite in our league anymore, let alone nationally.

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Sure, I've been called a xenophobe, but the truth is, I'm not. I honestly just feel that America is the best country and the other countries aren't as good. That used to be called patriotism.

X-band '01

It's a shame Darrelle Porter missed the cut.

ace93

While Whittenburg eventually flamed out, he started out relatively strong and by Fordham standards completely on fire at one point. He did get to the A10 semis one year and had the team finish in 4th place the following season. He lost his marbles shortly after that though.

Bona Wolf for Pope

I can't argue with this too much. Kellogg has one good year and a couple of bad ones, same for Giannini (and I don't know how hard Murray made his job). Other than that, yeah, I don't know who Schmidt is better than. I don't think that Mack is that great of a coach, but how can you knock his results? Such a good league overall for some very good (and fairly young) coaches.

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"Careful reading comprehension is crucial to an online forum discussion."

JHG722

We were struggling big time at the end of the Chaney era.

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Temple Owls football and basketball

BU Terriers hockey