No matter how many times I see a Phil Jackson led team in the finals, I can’t help but think that the word “genius,” gets thrown around a little too much in reference to this guy. Is he a great coach? Of course he is. Is he a basketball genius? My probably biased mind tells me no. Now correct me if I am wrong, but I think Kobe and Phil would be making tee times at Riviera at this point if not for a Mitch Kupchak deal that procured the services of a lanky Spaniard named Pau Gasol.
The “zenmaster,” couldn’t even keep his star player from having a nine year old style tirade and requesting a trade before the season. His skill at managing egos has been greatly exaggerated by media types.
Of course, Philly is not the only overrated coach in the sports stratosphere. Let’s go sport by sport and take a look at who gets credit where credit probably isn’t due.
Baseball -
Dusty Baker - Whenever there is a coaching opening and Dusty Baker is without a job, MLB teams throw money “The Lizard.” Memo to Major League general managers: Dusty has worn out his welcome at every stop thus far, and it’s a decent bet that he will wear out his welcome if you hire him. Oh yeah, and his kid can’t be trusted:
Jim Leyland – Okay fine Jimmy, you won a world championship with the Marlins, but with all due respect, so did Jim Eisenreich. You are a career sub .500 coach that couldn’t win with Andy Van Slyke, so now you are trying to win by coaching with him. Jimmy, if your ineptitude soils the good name of Andy Van Slyke so you help you Sparky Anderson.
NBA Basketball
Hubie Brown - So Hubie, would you rather I be impressed with your career .486 winning percentage, or your ABA Championship with the Kentucky Colonels? How about neither? I will choose to respect you for the 41-41 turnaround job you did with the Atlanta Hawks in 77-78. (They were 31-51 the previous year) I could take your nonsensical drivel from the booth if your coaching career had been a little more impressive. (Example: My love of Dr. Jack Ramsay)
George Karl – Calling George overrated implies that he is at least “rated” and that is a stretch considering his problems in the post-season are well documented. But when George is unemployed, his name consistently pop up whenever there is a coaching vacancy. So someone must still think this guy can coach. I respectfully disagree with that position. This is a NBA coach with an absolute inability to teach any of his teams to play defense. Actually, let’s add Don Nelson to this list because he can’t coach defense, nor can he hire an assistant who knows anything about defense. Listen up D’Antoni, if you don’t shape up and figure out that you don’t win dick in this league without defense, you’ll find your name next to the ones above.NFL Football
Steve Mariucci - Could someone please tell why this guy’s name always comes up when there’s and NFL coaching vacancy? He took control of a team coming off maybe the most productive 15 years in NFL history and left them with Jeff Garcia and J.J. Stokes. His “turnaround” of the Detroit Lions was magical, just ask John Joseph Harrington. Steve, please stay at the NFL Network where you probably belong.
Marvin Lewis - The architect of the Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl winning defense in 2000 has done just about nothing since leaving Brian Billick’s shadow. Oh, I apologize, he turned a very bad franchise into a mediocre one and he deserves at least a little credit for that. He has a career 42-38 record in Cincinnati and under his watch around 115 Bengals have been arrested. Yet, very few people point the finger at Marvin for his teams’ lack of discipline. If players take cues from their coach, then Marvin Lewis must be a drunk driving, domestic abusing, minor contributing and assaulting SOB.
College Football
Rick Neuheisel – UCLA clamored to hire this guy despite the fact that he needs at least five downs to win any important game. Those five downs notwithstanding, he left the Colorado football program in shambles before he moved unto Washington where he was dismissed after he participated in a NCAA Tournament pool. He left the college game to become the offensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens where he developed Kyle Boller into the next great NFL quarterback. Oh that’s right, that never happened. Instead, he ran one of the most inept offenses in recent memory and, with Kyle’s help, turned Kyle Boller into the next first round QB bust. Good luck UCLA
Phil Fullmer – From what I understand, Phil has a life size replica of Tee Martin at his home that he makes love to each and every night. Without Tee Martin, Fullmer would be bursting through walls and yelling, “Oh yeah,” like most men of his physique. He hasn’t won an SEC championship since 1998 despite impressive recruiting classes nearl….
…Oh I’m sorry I trailed off there, I was imagining Fulmer making love to a life size Tee Martin doll, it doesn’t get any hott…….
Butch Davis - I could have sworn that Butch Davis had won something, but I was wrong. He is not the national champion that I thought him to be. In fact, the only thing that he won was ” 2000 Sleeze Ball of the Year,” after bringing his entire Hurricane team together to tell them he was staying at Miami, only to leave to coach the Cleveland Browns the next week. Well, at least he was a rip-roaring success in Cleveland. I bet that made it all worth it.College Basketball –
John Calipari – This section is tough for me because I have to hate on my Italian brethren, but it must be done. Without two Top 2 NBA draft picks (Marcus Camby and Derrick Rose) this guy is a fairly unimpressive when it matters. His season .752 winning percentage is fantastic and deserves to be recognized, but you have to wonder how a guy who has recruited so much talent over the years has failed to win the national championship.
Rick Pitino – Just like Calipari, slick Rick has failed to win the big games at every single stop. Actually, he failed to win anything at all in the NBA in his two stints. Yet, he is one of the regarded as one of college basketball’s best, which I believe is 95 percent related to his dress sense, four percent coaching ability, and one percent Italianess.
That’s all for now. For the sake of positivity, we will be taking a look at the most underrated coaches in sports tomorrow.
The Angry T
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