Who Has the Best Coach in the MVC?

[the valley boys]

There has been some recent discussion regarding the best coaching position in the MVC, but who has the best Coach? Here is my assessment if we look at head-to-head comparison of the two best programs and their respective D-1 careers. Now I may have miscounted here and there (not intentional) and if I have then I will correct. Like my dad always tells me, “if you put a position out there, then you should be prepared for the challenge of the debate." So let the debate begin!

Area - Marshall versus McDermott
Seasons - 14 vs. 12
Wins per year - 22 vs. 18
Wins - 302 vs. 215
Losses - 142 vs. 173
% Wins - 68.0% vs. 55.4%
NCAA Bids - 9 vs. 4
NCAA Tourny Wins - 1 vs. 1
NIT Bids - 2 vs. 0
NIT Wins - 5 vs. 0
CBI Bids - 1 vs. 1
Conf Champs - 7 vs. 1
Tourny Champs - 7 vs. 2
Coach of the Year - 6 vs. 0
Head-to-head - 3 wins vs. 1 wins


Conclusion:

Coach Gregg Marshall wins and it is not even close.

[unipanther99]

I'm fine with saying Creighton or WSU offer the best coaching positions in the MVC (I picked WSU over Creighton). But if you are going to ask a question like "Who has the best coach in the MVC?," I think a very strong case would be made for Ben Jacobson.

[havoc]

Personally, I don't think the comparison is even close to fair. 22 wins a year at Winthrop is different than 22 wins a year at UNI and Iowa State. I'm not going to get into the debate of who's better, but you can't stack up a resume mostly built at Winthrop to one built mostly at UNI and Iowa State.

Also, if Wikipedia is to be believed, Marshall has led teams to 8 NCAA tournaments, 7 at Winthrop and 1 at WSU.

[Jays26]

There are many fine coaches in the Valley.

But you I think you are comparing apples & oranges at this point.

[DoubleJayAlum]

I don't know who the best coach is, but I think that using records compiled in other conferences is worthless in making the determination. Redo the stats contained in the first post to reflect games while a coach in the MVC and lets see the comparison.

Personally, I'd prefer to evaluate how they did against one another within the conference and how they did in the biggest games. Did they win those key games or did they get outcoached? I'd also include things like: (1) recruiting; (2) how the coach performs with respect to the school's inherent advantages/disadvantages; (3) regular season and conference tourney titles; (4) NCAA tourney record.

[Jays26]

Oh yeah...btw forgot to say...congrats on a dang fine first post.

[valleychamp]

Ben Jacobson is best coach in the MVC, IMO. He wins, he's recruited well, he's won championships & NCAA games, and he has come up large in a whole lot of big games in my opinion. And I think that he has been proven to be a fantastic coach on the bench as well.

[beatingrillz]

It is Marty Simmons, he does the most mediocre job with the least amount of talent and prospect.

[jwa123]

Let me preface my comments by saying that I am not an alum nor in anyway am I associated with UNI. If I was looking for coach in the Valley to head my team then I am calling Jacobson first. I think he has accomplished a lot without the resources of McDermott or Marshall. Jacobson gets my vote as the best.

[PantherSigEp]

There has been some recent discussion regarding the best coaching position in the MVC, but who has the best Coach? Here is my assessment if we look at head-to-head comparison of the two best programs and their respective D-1 careers. Now I may have miscounted here and there (not intentional) and if I have then I will correct. Like my dad always tells me, “if you put a position out there, then you should be prepared for the challenge of the debate." So let the debate begin!

Area - Marshall versus McDermott
Seasons - 14 vs. 12
Wins per year - 22 vs. 18
Wins - 302 vs. 215
Losses - 142 vs. 173
% Wins - 68.0% vs. 55.4%
NCAA Bids - 9 vs. 4
NCAA Tourny Wins - 1 vs. 1
NIT Bids - 2 vs. 0
NIT Wins - 5 vs. 0
CBI Bids - 1 vs. 1
Conf Champs - 7 vs. 1
Tourny Champs - 7 vs. 2
Coach of the Year - 6 vs. 0
Head-to-head - 3 wins vs. 1 wins


Conclusion:

Coach Gregg Marshall wins and it is not even close.

Sir I applaud the fact that you are actually using facts and evidence to make your point, however the in which you conducted this is flawed and misleading. 1. You used their entire careers, not just their time in the MVC. 2. While you used two programs who are very successful in the past few years, I don't see why they are the only ones considered to have the best coaches. There are a couple other programs who have been pretty successful in recent memory as well. For example, last season was the 1st time in the past 6 seasons that Wichita State won the conference season outright (05-06) and Creighton has 1 season title where they tied with UNI (08-09). I think in that same time frame Creighton does have a few tournament titles (including last year obviously) and the Shox have at least one correct. But its not like they have been been overwhelmingly dominant of this conference. Below I have listed how many wins a few of our esteemed programs have amassed since the 2006-07 season (a total of 6 seasons; I chose 6 since no current Valley coach has been tenured longer than that timeframe. Because of Mac's short hiatus from the MVC, Jacobson is the MVC's longest tenured coach).

Overall wins since 06-07 (includes postseason wins):
Creighton--141
WSU--133
UNI-129
IlSt--119
MSU--116

(It's sad to not be able to mention Southern Illinois on that list, thanks to Mr. Lowery, as I figured they wouldn't approach the century mark). Hopefully we see a reemergence of that program over the next few years).

So while CU and WSU have the most wins, it's by no means a two horse race and the rest of the pack is miles behind. As I mentioned in another thread, the parity in this conference is what makes it fun to watch.