BuBrave2006 wrote:acecard1 wrote:I also think that Mullins is one of the three best coaches in the Valley.
Curious who the other two are, or who you are leaving out.
I'm very high on Bryan Mullins and think he has a terrific career ahead of him, but in fairness, as a very young coach, he's still in prove-it mode. His first year at Southern they overachieved with a very limited roster. Last year wasn't good but there were multiple key injuries, COVID weirdness, etc. IMO, Year 3 ahead is the first one in which he has had a couple recruiting classes to build with and has a deeper, more competitive roster with which to see what he can really do (albeit in a tough year around the conference).
It's very hard to argue with what DeVries has done in a short time at Drake. Pretty remarkable ... guessing he'd go #1 in a lot of people's fantasy MVC coaches draft. Jacobson has a very strong body of work (with a few down years), but I'd say the Iowa duo is at the top of my list. Yes, Wardle rebuilt Bradley and won twice in STL, but he hasn't put a great regular season together and last year was a regression, so to me he's clearly behind the other two. Elsewhere around the league it's a lot of question marks with some newer coaches and/or coaches who are or should be on the ropes, or still have much to prove.