The fact that one game in a single-elimination tournament can define legacies is slightly strange, but it’s understandable. In a sport where many coaches average over 20 wins a season and some of them enjoy rather lengthy runs in the NCAA Tournament, there has to be a way to separate the good coaches from the really great.
While I fall more in favor of using national titles to help mold the idea of a coach, it is clear that winning one can change the perception of any. On the other hand, winning multiple championships hurls a coach into a completely different discussion altogether.
The above prelude is perfect because of Monday night’s national title game featuring the Wisconsin Badgers and Duke Blue Devils. The former is led by Bo Ryan, who is viewed as a good coach, yet one that has yet to win the grandest prize of them all. Duke is led by Coach K, a four-time national title winner and perceived by many as the tippy-top coach of all-time (some have him alongside, or just right behind, John Wooden).
What both of those coaches have done in their careers has helped mold the perceptions around them. Mike Krzyzewski is Coach K, leader of a program who “does it the right way.” He’s the Team USA coach, the main man of one historical team after another. Whether all the thoughts hovering around him are actually factual or not, a long time ago people decided he was all those things (and so much more). Therefore, regardless of this national title game’s outcome, his legacy cannot be tarnished.
Essentially, the legacy — or perceived legacy — of Coach K in no way can be hurt, because we’ve already decided what he is.
At the same time, though, Krzyzewski’s legacy might not be helped, either. People who tire of Coach K and all that is Duke won’t relish a fifth banner being put up at Cameron Indoor Stadium. For them another title would just add another number next to an already impressive Wikipedia page for Krzyzewski.
There will be other people who would use a fifth Coach K-led Duke title to portray him in a different light. As hard as it may seem — but because “today” is always viewed with more importance — many will want to push him ahead of Wooden in the all-time ranks. The argument can be had smartly now, I guess, but because this title will feel fresh, somehow five will become greater than 10 (another discussion for another time).
That is not to say a discussion could not occur if any of those hypotheticals came to be true. Still, the imminent thought of media members, fans, and the like using eras against John Wooden to skew if favor of Coach K is something no sane human should look forward to.
Regardless, Krzyzewski’s legacy is already pretty well implanted in the hearts and minds of college basketball fans and historians. Nothing he does for the rest of his career will change that. Or, you know, some sort of internal scandal that ruins all things pertaining to the “right way” at Duke.
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Bo Ryan is a different beast. He’s not as beloved as Coach K on a national level. For whatever reasons, some based in reality and others not, Ryan can be considered a bit bullish. No, not really a bully, but not exactly as endearing as a figure as Krzyzewski is perceived to be… mot that it has ever seemed to bother Ryan anyway.
A four-time Division III national champion, the former Wilkes point guard has paved a different perceived path in the Midwest. Ryan has been deemed as one of the better coaches who have never won a Division I national title — which would supposedly hurt his (mostly fictional) standing in the all-time coaching ranks.
Would one win in the NCAA tournament’s ultimate setting really change how people view him? It is just one game, right? Well…
This is when we have to circle back to how we separate good from great coaches. While it is safe to assume that almost every university in the country would love to employ someone who will have the successes of Ryan throughout a career, the issue of relativity is important here.
Despite failing to encompass everything else a coach has done through his career (as it should), a national title would most certainly jump Ryan way ahead of many others in his generation as one of the best coaches of our time.
Think about that for a second, though. One game, set in a single-elimination setting, can alter how people view Bo Ryan forever.
I have never put too much stock in viewing coaches’ failures in the NCAA tournament as that huge a knock against them. It is just too hard for me to ignore many seasons’ worth of accomplishments for the the vacuum that is a tournament which relies heavily on luck, seeding, and many other factors that are not “who is the best team” to help determine the winner.
The best team has not won the NCAA Tournament every year. It is part of the appeal of the entire thing. That is just another small part of why killing guys for not going to Final Fours every year is something I can’t muster enough fake outrage to do.
With that being said, though, I do get it. It might feel like hypocrisy, but it seems okay to allow ourselves to enhance a coach’s legacy if he wins a national title. It almost reaffirms what people think of them after they win 20-plus games year after year. They are great coaches — the national title proves it.
Of course Ryan has more to win (or lose, for some) in this national title game. Krzyzewski is going to be heralded regardless. Ryan, however, can jump many colleagues of his generation. New arguments can be had about his standing among the many coaches that sit just behind Coach K in quality these past few decades. Really, it will open up a slew of discussions which have excluded Ryan for the 14 years he has been at Wisconsin.
That last part is important, too. Ryan has only been coaching the Badgers for 14 years now. It seems longer, I know, but that is essentially just a blip in time when compared to other coaches he has been compared to. So, as alluring as it will be to knock Ryan if he were to fall short of claiming his first national title, just remember it took Jim Boeheim 27 years to get his first at Syracuse, Roy Williams 17 for his first (0-15, years wise, at Kansas), and many others even longer — or, you know, never.
One game. One night. Perceptions of legacies are at stake. Hooray, basketball!