Shooter: It looks like, deservedly, Richard Pitino will soon be getting an extension

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bizzle22 said:
I get that. But if you look at all of the successful coaches in college basketball, all of them showed a ton more than Pitino has in their first six years. The idea that it will all of a sudden get better would be a departure from the norm.

Can anyone name me a D1 men's college basketball head coach who eventually made the final four after not making the sweet sixteen or finishing in the top 2 in his conference in his first six years as head coach? (Not directed at you Bob, just asking to make the point for those who see it the other way.)
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Did a quick look at Final Four Coaches:
Kelvin Sampson, Porter Moser both took longer than 6 years to get to FF.
Kelvin: 4 at Montana Tech an NAIA school where he did take 1st his last two years, 7 at Washington State best was 4th place, then at Oklahoma made Sweet sixteen in year 5 and Final Four in year 8

Porter: 3 at Ark-Little Rock(best finish was 5th), 4 at Illinois State (best finish was 6th), then 6 at Loyola Chicago where best finish was 5th until the Final Four run last year.

Rick Barnes(at George Mason) and Dana Altmann(at Marshall) in their first HC job both took 2nd in their conference then they moved on to bigger positions and floundered for awhile

Rick went 6 at Providence no better than 4th, 4 at Clemson no better than 4th, but did make a Sweet Sixteen, then went to Texas and had 8 top 2 finishes with 2 Sweet Sixteen and 2 others to Elite Eights got to his lone Final Four in the 5th year, then Tennessee where he has 2 top 2's and 1 Sweet Sixteen.

Dana Altmann went on to Kansas State for 4 years and no better than 5th, then to Creighton for 16 years. In year two at Creighton finished 2nd and had 9 top 2 finishes, never made a Sweet Sixteen while there. Moved to Oregon and in 9 years has 5 top 2 finishes, 2 Sweet Sixteens, 1 Elite Eight and 1 Final Four

I didn't go through the entire list, just looked at a few from 2000 and after.
 


Gopherbbdude said:
not to compare but...

JW's first 13 years at UCLA weren't steller either

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/coaches/john-wooden-1.html

and by todays standards he would have been gone long before he started winning at UCLA
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Wooden made the tourney his 2nd year at UCLA when it was eight teams...eight teams. Twice more in the next six years when it expanded to 16 teams. Only two years in those first eight years did his teams have more than eight losses, were 161-62 (72%), and 77-24 (76%) in conference games.
 


GFBfan said:
Did a quick look at Final Four Coaches:
Kelvin Sampson, Porter Moser both took longer than 6 years to get to FF.
Kelvin: 4 at Montana Tech an NAIA school where he did take 1st his last two years, 7 at Washington State best was 4th place, then at Oklahoma made Sweet sixteen in year 5 and Final Four in year 8

Porter: 3 at Ark-Little Rock(best finish was 5th), 4 at Illinois State (best finish was 6th), then 6 at Loyola Chicago where best finish was 5th until the Final Four run last year.

Rick Barnes(at George Mason) and Dana Altmann(at Marshall) in their first HC job both took 2nd in their conference then they moved on to bigger positions and floundered for awhile

Rick went 6 at Providence no better than 4th, 4 at Clemson no better than 4th, but did make a Sweet Sixteen, then went to Texas and had 8 top 2 finishes with 2 Sweet Sixteen and 2 others to Elite Eights got to his lone Final Four in the 5th year, then Tennessee where he has 2 top 2's and 1 Sweet Sixteen.

Dana Altmann went on to Kansas State for 4 years and no better than 5th, then to Creighton for 16 years. In year two at Creighton finished 2nd and had 9 top 2 finishes, never made a Sweet Sixteen while there. Moved to Oregon and in 9 years has 5 top 2 finishes, 2 Sweet Sixteens, 1 Elite Eight and 1 Final Four

I didn't go through the entire list, just looked at a few from 2000 and after.
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The only one of those who meets the criteria I laid out is Porter Moser.
Jim Larranaga is another that would qualify. And he won the conference twice and finished second twice in his first six years at George Mason which is the school he eventually took to the Final Four.

Those are the only two out of the 44 coaches who have made the Final Four since 1998 that would meet the criteria.
I'd also note -- no coach who took a power conference team to the Final Four meets the criteria.
 


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