There was a time he was headed for a much bigger hall of fame…I would be interested in what changed him…why he drove so many great assistance away…
that said Stan Watts, Frank Arnold, and Dave Rose would be my picks for the best of the Head Coaches in bball program history
Yep! I was there with Frank Arnold.
At least a couple of those assistants moved into head coaching jobs so I am not sure you can say he drove them away. I am sure nearly every coach wants a head coaching job.
In 2011 Rose had a final four caliber team. We will never know for sure but if Brandon Davies hadn’t been suspended for an honor code violation I believe BYU would have been in the final four. It Is one of the great what if scenarios. They also lost another big man early in the season. Chris Collingsworth had a devastating career ending knee injury and he was nearly as good as Davies. They ended the year with no inside game and still made the sweet 16 and lost to a much bigger Florida team in overtime in the elite eight.
The shame of it is that UConn who won that year was not a dominant team. They had trouble beating a San Diego State team BYU beat twice by double digits with Davies.
Frank Arnold was lucky to have Ainge, and lucky that Ainge ran his own plays,
so true. kind of like last year. no inside game
Why was he lucky? Arnold was a great recruiter for John Wooden. He knew how to recruit. He recruited Marcus Johnson for UCLA. He also recruited Devin Durrant and others that made him a winning coach.
I was there at BYU for most of Ainge’s career. Arnold was a hands on coach who also understands that the point guard is the floor general. But, I saw Arnold call most of the plays when they needed a basket. Ainge was very coachable as well.
You know who didn’t like Arnold? Many of the teachers because if a player was struggling he would intervene and that got teachers mad. And probably got Arnold fired. One of the other PE teachers told me this.
Rose, Arnold, and Watts were always best when they recruited well…they sent more players to the NBA than other coaches…my impression haven’t checked the specific numbers…
Reid was probably the best with Xs and Os, but left the cupboard bare as far as quality players…
Still wish Terry Nashif hadn’t been run off.