Seniority among D-1 coaches

[hifigator]

I haven't verified this at all, but it was a trivia question on today's lunchtime show. What are the top 6 most senior coaches in Division 1 basketball? Obvioulsy some names are a little easier than others.

P.S. Anyone could google it. Try to list them from indicidual knowledge. I got 4 initially, then all 6 with a tiny bit of assistance.

[hoyarooter]

is this the six most senior coaches at a single school, or the coaches who have coached the most games regardless of school?

[hifigator]

good question. It was in a single tenure at the current school.

[hoyarooter]

Let's see, I'll go with Boheem, Calhoun, Coach K, Tom Izzo and um, err, can I include John Cheney and Norm Stewart? Lute Olsen? Probably two mid-major coaches.

[hifigator]

You nailed the first four and they were, at least in my opinion, the most obvious. Izzo did take a little longer, but the first three were Boeheim, Calhoun and Kryzewski (Sp??)

Cheney isn't the head coach at Temple anymore and I'm guessing that Lute Olsen didn't count because of his sabatical. Good statrt??

[hoyarooter]

I think you should have grasped that I wasn't serious about Cheney, Stewart and Olsen. I think they would have all been on the list had they not retired within the last couple years.

Eww, I hope one isn't Gary Williams.

[hifigator]

Yep, that's the 5th one. The sixth is Billy Donovan. That was what initiated the question down here, but I thought it was kind of interesting. I don't know the exact order, but Boehiem, Coach K, Calhoun, Izzo and Williams are the top 5.

[ksf42001]

Are you only looking at high-major schools? Troy's coach (Don Maestri) is on his 28th season. Even if you only count from when they moved up to division 1 (1993), that's more time on the job than Izzo (1995) and Donovan (1996).

I'm sure there are a couple other random mid-major choices who would fit that description as well.

[hifigator]

Thanks ksf. I figured that there would be more. That's kind of how the topic came up. Donovan was listed as the senior SEC coach, which we already knew, but the 6th overall in D-1. So we came up with the other five, and Boeheim, Coach K and Calhoun were the first, obvious choices. Then Izzo came to mind and finally, it took us a long time to remember Williams.

[hoyaalf]

And well-deserved your forgetfulness was.

[hifigator]

well said alf. While I don't have the deep-seated animosity that the rest of you do, he certainly holds no special place in my heart. When his "calling card" is "at least I'm not Calhoun or Calipari," that doesn't really say much ... at least, not good anyway.