I never really thought about the collection of basketball coaches in that conference, but they have some well known coaches who can get it done in the right situation. Its pretty impressive. The article even says that after the BE and ACC, that Cusa has the most well known coaches of any other league:




C-USA landing some big-time coaching names
Photo Tamika Moore/Associated Press

Former Indiana coach Mike Davis, 45, had his ups and downs with Hoosier fans, but in Birmingham they've been nothing but happy that he has a UAB cap on his head. Davis is one of a number of nationally recognizable coaches now in Conference USA, a league that just has to go out and pile up wins for a better RPI.
Photo Rick Havner/Associated Press

Former North Carolina head coach Matt Doherty is bringing some ACC prestige to his new job at SMU.
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Basketball Hoopla
By Gary Parrish
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May 19, 2006
DESTIN, Fla. -- A group of men stood in this resort's lobby the other day, just talking and laughing and acting like any other group of men.

They wore trunks. They wore T-shirts.


They looked completely normal ... except nobody treated them that way because the unsuspecting vacationers who had brought their families to the beach for the week are used to only seeing big-time college basketball coaches on TV, not in the lounge chair next to them asking to borrow a bottle of sun block.

"Some of our coaches have big names and big backgrounds and are recognizable," said Conference USA associate commissioner Chris Woolard. "When you look at the names of the coaches in our league, it's hard to argue C-USA can't be one of the best leagues in the country."

It's easy to bash C-USA.

From the pitiful RPI ranking to its status as a non-BCS league, there are plenty of reasons to look at this basketball conference and dream of the day the University of Memphis receives an offer to leave for bigger and better things.

Still, there's genuine hope.

And it revolves around the fact that with the additions of former Indiana coach Mike Davis and former North Carolina coach Matt Doherty this off-season -- to UAB and SMU, respectively -- C-USA now has some seriously accomplished/famous coaches representing five of its members.

Granted, it's not the ACC (Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina's Roy Williams, Maryland's Gary Williams, Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt and Florida State's Leonard Hamilton) or the Big East (Connecticut's Jim Calhoun, Louisville's Rick Pitino, Syracuse's Jim Boeheim, Villanova's Jay Wright and Marquette's Tom Crean). But C-USA's list of coaches compares favorably with most other BCS leagues, and it's probably significantly better than all other conferences labeled mid-majors.

(Quick: Name five coaches in the Mountain West or WAC.)

"Every program has different challenges," C-USA commissioner Britton Banowsky said before his league's annual spring meetings adjourned Thursday. "But like I've said before, if you have the people in place who have gotten it done before and who know how to get it done, then you have a high chance of success."

The credentials are impressive.

Consider that C-USA now has two Final Four coaches (Memphis' John Calipari at UMass in 1996 and Davis at Indiana in 2002), two Associated Press National Coaches of the Year (Southern Miss' Larry Eustachy at Iowa State in 2000 and Doherty at North Carolina in 2001), and another coach (Houston's Tom Penders) who has won 566 career games and been to three Sweet 16s (in 1988 at Rhode Island, 1990 and '97 at Texas) and an Elite Eight (1990). Add that group to some first-time head coaches who were assistants at big-time programs -- Tulsa's Doug Wojcik at North Carolina and Michigan State; Tulane's Dave Dickerson at Maryland -- and the pieces for improvement and notoriety seem to be in place.

"We have a lot of coaches who know what it looks like at the highest level," Doherty said. "We know where we want things to go at our universities and in this league."

Now they just have to get going.

"We all have to go win games," Davis said. "Who you are, where you are or what you've done doesn't matter unless you win games. So that's what we've got to do."

-- Gary Parrish: 529-2365

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New big-name Coaches in Conference USA

Mike Davis, UAB

Made his name at: Indiana (115-79 in six seasons)

Hoosier highlight: Coached Indiana to 2002 NCAA championship game, where it lost to Maryland

Hoosier lowlight: In 2004, coached Indiana to first losing season since 1970.

Matt Doherty, SMU

Made his name at: North Carolina (53-43 in three seasons)

Heel highlight: Carolina went 26-7 in Doherty's first season.

Heel lowlight: In 2002, coached first Carolina team since 1975 to miss the NCAA tournament.

cuseroc Wrote:I never really thought about the collection of basketball coaches in that conference, but they have some well known coaches who can get it done in the right situation. Its pretty impressive. The article even says that after the BE and ACC, that Cusa has the most well known coaches of any other league:

Being well known is one thing, infamous is another. Penders was fired from Texas for middling performance with some of the best facilities in the big 12. Eustacy is Natty Light man. Living in Louisville I saw every meltdown Mike Davis had at IU up close and personal. The guy has a screw loose. Doh was fired afer posting the first losing season at UNC in 30 years and a full on team revolt. Cal is the only known quantity who wasn't run out of his previous college job. Also note the the article was written by a Memphis columnist.

L-yes Wrote:

cuseroc Wrote:I never really thought about the collection of basketball coaches in that conference, but they have some well known coaches who can get it done in the right situation. Its pretty impressive. The article even says that after the BE and ACC, that Cusa has the most well known coaches of any other league:

Being well known is one thing, infamous is another. Penders was fired from Texas for middling performance with some of the best facilities in the big 12. Eustacy is Natty Light man. Living in Louisville I saw every meltdown Mike Davis had at IU up close and personal. The guy has a screw loose. Doh was fired afer posting the first losing season at UNC in 30 years and a full on team revolt. Cal is the only known quantity who wasn't run out of his previous college job. Also note the the article was written by a Memphis columnist.

ok so it's a memphis writer...but the man has a point...LE is better than James Green...Doh is better than Tubbs...i would say Mike Davis and Mike Anderson are equals...Penders is much better than mccallum...and well Cal is a small step up from Tic Price. lmfao

point is...the coaches who were hired are at least step up coaches with name power.

Go Tigers!!!
Drew

The Big 12 could have stated that case if Kelvin Sampson hadn't taken his 5 billion phone calls to Indiana, and Eddie Sutton hadn't gotten drunk and drove his car into a tree or something.

CatsClaw Wrote:The Big 12 could have stated that case if Kelvin Sampson hadn't taken his 5 billion phone calls to Indiana, and Eddie Sutton hadn't gotten drunk and drove his car into a tree or something.

Look for Sutton to land at Marshall and Sampson to end up at Tulane once IU 'figures out' they hired a schiester.

gomemphistigers1 Wrote:

L-yes Wrote:

cuseroc Wrote:I never really thought about the collection of basketball coaches in that conference, but they have some well known coaches who can get it done in the right situation. Its pretty impressive. The article even says that after the BE and ACC, that Cusa has the most well known coaches of any other league:

Being well known is one thing, infamous is another. Penders was fired from Texas for middling performance with some of the best facilities in the big 12. Eustacy is Natty Light man. Living in Louisville I saw every meltdown Mike Davis had at IU up close and personal. The guy has a screw loose. Doh was fired afer posting the first losing season at UNC in 30 years and a full on team revolt. Cal is the only known quantity who wasn't run out of his previous college job. Also note the the article was written by a Memphis columnist.

ok so it's a memphis writer...but the man has a point...LE is better than James Green...Doh is better than Tubbs...i would say Mike Davis and Mike Anderson are equals...Penders is much better than mccallum...and well Cal is a small step up from Tic Price. lmfao

point is...the coaches who were hired are at least step up coaches with name power.

Go Tigers!!!
Drew

I'm sorry but I have to disagree with you on Mike Anderson and Mike Davis. We played both teams and I can honestly say Anderson's teams posed much more of a challenge than Mike Davis's team. Mike Davis couldn't coach defense if his life depended on it, Mike Anderson has a much much better style of play and its entertaining to watch. His teams play hard every game, Mike Davis's teams play well one game and dissappear for 10. Mike Davis had enough talent to do much better, I will give him credit for being a good recruiter, but I think Mike Anderson would thrive in a big name conference. I have alot of respect for Mike Anderson and I think he is a hell of a coach and a better Coach than Mike Davis. Living in Louisville we have a large IU fan base in the area so we got to see them alot and I'm telling you, Mike Davis is an OK coach and a good recruiter. Give Anderson what Davis had at IU outside of the azzwhole fans and I think Anderson does a much better job with his system.

kardphan Wrote:

gomemphistigers1 Wrote:

L-yes Wrote:

cuseroc Wrote:I never really thought about the collection of basketball coaches in that conference, but they have some well known coaches who can get it done in the right situation. Its pretty impressive. The article even says that after the BE and ACC, that Cusa has the most well known coaches of any other league:

Being well known is one thing, infamous is another. Penders was fired from Texas for middling performance with some of the best facilities in the big 12. Eustacy is Natty Light man. Living in Louisville I saw every meltdown Mike Davis had at IU up close and personal. The guy has a screw loose. Doh was fired afer posting the first losing season at UNC in 30 years and a full on team revolt. Cal is the only known quantity who wasn't run out of his previous college job. Also note the the article was written by a Memphis columnist.

ok so it's a memphis writer...but the man has a point...LE is better than James Green...Doh is better than Tubbs...i would say Mike Davis and Mike Anderson are equals...Penders is much better than mccallum...and well Cal is a small step up from Tic Price. lmfao

point is...the coaches who were hired are at least step up coaches with name power.

Go Tigers!!!
Drew

I'm sorry but I have to disagree with you on Mike Anderson and Mike Davis. We played both teams and I can honestly say Anderson's teams posed much more of a challenge than Mike Davis's team. Mike Davis couldn't coach defense if his life depended on it, Mike Anderson has a much much better style of play and its entertaining to watch. His teams play hard every game, Mike Davis's teams play well one game and dissappear for 10. Mike Davis had enough talent to do much better, I will give him credit for being a good recruiter, but I think Mike Anderson would thrive in a big name conference. I have alot of respect for Mike Anderson and I think he is a hell of a coach and a better Coach than Mike Davis. Living in Louisville we have a large IU fan base in the area so we got to see them alot and I'm telling you, Mike Davis is an OK coach and a good recruiter. Give Anderson what Davis had at IU outside of the azzwhole fans and I think Anderson does a much better job with his system.

You're spot on. Anderson is head and shoulders above Davis as a coach. Throw in mental stability and its no contest.

We shall see. Mike Anderson has a chance to show his stuff at a Big 12 school now while Mike Davis will not be under the microscope at UAB like he was at IU. I think MA is in the pressure cooker now while MD can just relax and not worry about having IU fans (and RMK supporters) constantly berate him.