Coach K vs John Wooden
I know nobody cares, but I'm curious to see how many responses this thread gets. The coach of Duke coach K, has announced that he is going to retire after next season, and I was reading an article comparing him to the legendary UCLA coach John Wooden. The article claims that coach K was the better coach. Is this true?
Who is the best college basketball coach of all time: Mike Krzyzewski or John Wooden?
When their careers are looked at closely, Mike Krzyzewski’s ranks ahead of John Wooden’s.
Mike Krzyzewski will walk off the court at the end of the 2021-2022 season, his 42nd at Duke, and head into retirement as the greatest coach in the history of college basketball. Even greater than UCLA’s John Wooden. No, Krzyzewski’s five national championships can’t compare to John Wooden’s 10. However, it’s critical to look at the numbers with proper context and perspective while considering the difference between the two eras.
Wooden’s 27 seasons at UCLA produced a 664-162 record for a winning percentage of 80.8. Krzyzewski’s record in his 41 years at Duke is 1,097-302, a winning percentage of 78.4 percent. Wooden won 10 national championships, including seven in a row, all in a 12-year stretch between 1964-1975.
Krzyzewski has so far won five titles in Durham. Wooden coached seven Player of the Year Award winners while Krzyzewski has coached eight. Wooden produced 16 Consensus All-Americans while Krzyzewski has coached 23. There are the numbers, now it’s time to discuss the differences in the eras.
Mike Krzyzewski vs. John Wooden: Who is the best NCAA basketball coach?
The biggest difference is a doozy. Wooden never had to deal with players leaving early for the NBA or the transfer portal. The reason that Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton were three-time All-Americans and not four-time wasn’t because they left for the NBA. It was because freshmen weren’t eligible to play on the varsity. The 1965-1966 UCLA freshmen team, starring Alcindor, beat the varsity by 30 points. The two-time defending NCAA champion UCLA Bruin varsity team. By 30 points.
Duke’s 2001 team, led by sophomores Jay Williams, Mike Dunleavy and Carlos Boozer, won Krzyzewski’s third championship. All three left the next year with a year of eligibility left.
Elton Brand was the first to leave Duke as a freshman when he was the No. 1 pick in the 1999 NBA Draft. Now, freshmen leave early all the time.
In 2015, the national champions lost three of their top four scorers when Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow and Tyus Jones all left after their freshman year.
The 2018-2019 team lost their top three scorers when Zion Williamson, Cam Reddish and RJ Barrett left after their freshman year. Again, don’t lose sight of the fact that two of the greatest players in college basketball history stayed at UCLA for four years.
The NCAA Tournament was very different in Wooden’s day also. The Bruins had to win four games to win the championship compared to the six-game streak that Krzyzewski had to accomplish.
The 68-team tournament that we know only had 23 teams in three of Wooden’s years, 25 in six of the years and then 32 in his last year, 1975. And here’s the clincher, for most of those years, only one team from a conference could qualify for the tournament.
In 1972 Maryland was 27-5 and ranked 14th in the final AP poll. In 1974 they were 23-5 and lost 103-100 in overtime to eventual national champion North Carolina State in the ACC Tournament title game. The Terrapins were fourth in the final AP poll. You guessed it, they didn’t make the NCAA Tournament in either of those years.
In short, it was easier for Wooden to win then than it was for Krzyzewski to win in the modern era.
Back in Wooden’s day, it was a recruiting edge that UCLA was on TV, something taken for granted now. Wooden didn’t have to deal with the media or the internet or AAU coaches and handlers. It was a very different world back then and it’s impossible to ignore those differences.
Wooden deserves credit for assembling those teams, but once he had a great team, he had them for four years. Krzyzewski has had to deal with annual turnover. That’s why Krzyzewski is the greatest coach in the history of college basketball.
Comments
The Wizard of Westwood, a vicious beast, a genius.
Wooden
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Ralph
The game has changed in so many ways that a fair comparison between the two cannot be made. Both are great in their own right and have legendary accomplishments. Alleged Coach K was not popular after his first 2-3 seasons... seems one of his accomplishments was silencing his critics. And how many here remember the infamous John Wooden stall? Again... this illustrates how the game has changed.
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Personally, I would take John Wooden as the GOAT college basketball coach, all Wooden coukd do was coach against his peers, and he dominated them like nobody's business. I've become fascinated by him, and have spent the entire morning looking at his cards on ebay, I have my eye on a few tasty treats. The man was a genius, and a vicious beast.
The man just as soon beat the crap out of you as look at you, a beast!
Of course, Coach K is no slouch, he is a mean and vicious SOB himself, just look at him, he's ready to tear you apart!
John Wooden's entrance song....
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YqlCqbI8Eeg&t=13s
Coach K's entrance song....
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=voI6Dp8i2mU
Wooden vs Krzyzewski
"Use your jab John, kick his butt!"
Coach K fights back, they both go though the announcers table!
Wooden hits Krzyzewski with a vicious chair shot to the head!
Oh goodness, Krzyzewski has a ladder and he's pummeling Wooden with it!
What is Krzyzewski doing, he's on the top rope, oh my god, don't do it Mike, have mercy on John!
The cage has been lowered again, and Krzyzewski is on top of it, he's looking to finish Wooden off, but Wooden is pulled out of the way by Bill Walton and Krzyzewski is broken in half, my god it's chaos!
Wooden picks Krzyzewski up and puts him through the table, coach K is out cold!
Wooden has ahold of the GOAT coach belt, he's going to win, but wait, no, Krzyzewski spears him from off the ladder, Wooden is broken in half!
The cage has been lowered again and both coaches are on top of it, Wooden flips Krzyzewski over, the cage breaks and Krzyzewski goes through it and leaves a dent in the ring, my god, Krzyzewski is destroyed!
Krzyzewski has a board with barbed wire on it, he rams it into Woodens face!
Wooden jumps off of a forklift platform and head butts Krzyzewski!
Both men are on top of the cage again, Krzyzewski throws Wooden off the top and through the announcers table, my god Wooden is broken in half!
Let's see that from another angle!
Wooden picks Krzyzewski up and plows him through a megatron!
Both coaches are on top of the cage, Krzyzewski throws Wooden down through the announcers table, my god!
Wooden has a kendo stick, he cracks Krzyzewski in the head with it, he goes for the pin 1,2,3 he gets him, Wooden wins the college GOAT coach championship!
Ladies and gentlemen, the college GOAT coach champion, John Wooden!
Are you sure it's settled?
Will Coach K be back for more?
Yes, it's settled....for now. 🤔
😂 👍👍👏👏👏
Thank you for attending the match, I hope you enjoyed the show. Tickets will be on sale later this year for Wooden vs Krzyzewski II
Coming later this year....
@doubledragon
@thisistheshow
Wait a minute, folks. Wait just a minute…
…Krzyzewski’s up! Oh, the humanity!
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https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/987963/1951-wheaties-premium-photos-set-registry#latest
And everybody knows you can’t pin outside the ring. What is this? ECW?
What kind of backyard operation you running over there, @doubledragon
😂😂😂
Curious about the rare, mysterious and beautiful 1951 Wheaties Premium Photos?
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/987963/1951-wheaties-premium-photos-set-registry#latest
This was a falls count anywhere, no holds barred match!
Can't stand him at all but Coach K is clearly superior. Wooden benefited from competing in a much smaller era while paying his players. Coach K has succeeded in a much, much deeper talent pool that's far more spread out than ever before. The tournament is much larger now and far more difficult to win. And he's had to transition from having guys for four years to having guys for one.
I have no doubt that Wooden would be successful if he were coaching today though.
Coach K comes in second to Wooden because Coach K has never come up with anything similar to Wooden's "Pyramid Of Success".
Look it up if you do not know about it.