Wake's Best Basketball Coach

[IAppreciateIt]

Skip blew chance after chance in the postseason at Wake and at Xavier. So whatever it takes to win in the postseason Skip didn't have it.

Skip's postseason record at Xavier:
1995: 11 seed, almost upset the 6 seed (Georgetown) in the first round
1997: 7 seed, easily beat the 10 seed before losing to the #2 seed
1998: 6 seed, upset by 11 Washington on a buzzer beater (lost by one)
1999: Made it to the NIT Final Four; won 3rd place game
2000: Lost in 2nd round of NIT
2001: 11 seed, lost to 6 seed ND, 83-71

That pretty much tells you nothing either way -- if Washington doesn't hit a shot at the buzzer in 98, Skip's postseason record at Xavier would look better (especially since they likely would have gone to the Sweet 16 as Washington did), but does one shot really change anything about Skip's postseason coaching ability?

 

[WakeForestRanger]

It's a bit much to just assume he would have won that next round.

But if you want to play the one shot thing, then if VCU makes one more shot in 2004 then Skip wouldn't have the one Sweet Sixteen appearance he has.

 

[IAppreciateIt]

It's a bit much to just assume he would have won that next round.

But if you want to play the one shot thing, then if VCU makes one more shot in 2004 then Skip wouldn't have the one Sweet Sixteen appearance he has.

No guarantee obviously, but they would have gone up against a 14 seed who got smoked by Washington.

You are correct about 2004, but hat's pretty much what my point is -- there's so much variability in postseasons because of the single-elimination format.

There aren't many coaches who've had enough of a track record in the postseason to say with confidence that they are a good or bad postseason coach -- and the ones that do have the track record typically get closer to the norm. I think Tom Izzo is probably the guy with the biggest disparity, but even his teams' postseason record isn't wildly out of sync from their regular season record.

I'm pretty confident that Skip's postseason record would have regressed to the mean as he had more opportunities. Unfortunately, we'll never know for sure.

 

[legacyfan]

I'd go with Odom... I know he ran out of gas, but he pulled our program out of the cellar, and won our first ACC Tourny in 30 years. He COULD coach in the post season... and what people often forget is how unbelievably snake bitten his 96 team was. Rutland blew out his knee running down the court in the ACC Tourney. Until that point that team was damn near unbeatable at that point of the season. They were sailing into the NCAA's.

 

[Complacent Deac]

The key with Skip is what could have been.

We deserved another 5, 10 or 15 years of Skip and I have to believe he would have gotten us to at least 1-2 more Sweet 16's in that span.

 

[Fusiondad10]

None of our coaches should be called "best".

 

[stratt]

My vote is for BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!:tear:

 

[suck my deac]

Say what you will, but I would straight up kill a man to have Skip back

 

[RiskyBusiness]

Coach Bones with a couple of tall guys....

 

[jhmd2000]

If Craig Dawson doesn't get hurt against Oregon or Mike Gansey misses a single shot, would that have made Skip a better postseason coach?

There's something to "postseason coaching," but it's not nearly as much as most people believe. Plenty of coaches who "couldn't win in the postseason" have gone on to win in the postseason. I bet Skip would have been one of them.

Tom Izzo, holding on line one for you.

 

[TheReff]

Skip blew chance after chance in the postseason at Wake and at Xavier. So whatever it takes to win in the postseason Skip didn't have it.

Never had it & blew it in Cleveland in 2005. Couldn't game coach his way out of a wet paper bag.

 

[EagleDeac]

Never had it & blew it in Cleveland in 2005. Couldn't game coach his way out of a wet paper bag.

Why do you hate him so much? It's way past what you think of his coaching. It's obviously personal.

I would say one of Skip's greatest recommendations is having a like you hate him so much.

 

[RazorWFU]

Say what you will, but I would straight up kill a man to have Skip back

I miss his personality and having good regular seasons, but I was fucking sick of losing to the Auburns and West Virginia's of the world in the NCAA Tournament.

and I lol @ anyone on this list having votes except for Bones McKinney and Dave Odom. You can say what you want about Odom, but he was a better coach at Wake Forest than Skip.

 

[greekdeac2011]

I'd give my left arm to have Skip back though. That is a fact.

 

[WT901]

8 people voted [Redacted].

8 people need to go plank on I-40.

 

[cville deac]

It's Bones. Can't believe Odom is winning this. Lucking into Duncan saved him for a few years b/c he recruited next to nothing after his 1st couple of years until the ROK era. Didn't help having Ricky Stokes as his recruiting asst for much of that time. And he was saved by bringing in Frank Haith to replace Stokes. His offensive sets were god awful, and a couple of his teams late in his career quit on him at the end of the season. Was by far our best defensive coach, though. I always loved his style of man D (more of a packline), and he coached a darn good 3-2 match-up. If we could have had Dave coaching our D and Skip recruiting and coaching O, that would have been by far our best coach.

 

[tvcigar]

Loved Coach Prosser, but you have to go with Odom's record. Bones was WAY before my time.

 

[KidA23]

I voted for Odom, but I agree that had Skip not passed away he very well might be #1 now. I truly think he could've molded the JJ/Teague/AFA group into something Dino could not, and would've gone from there. Too sad to even think about.

 

[Buttermaker]

Bones.

+1

 

[Buttermaker]

I'm guessing the older fans voted for Bones, the middle aged voted for Odom, and the younger fans voted for Skip. Broad generalizations, but just a guess.

It would be interesting to see a breakdown of voting results by average age.