Ranking the Coaches in the WCC
By Josh Horton
Jan 25, 2012; Blacksburg, VA, USA; Brigham Young Cougars head coach Dave Rose against the Virginia Tech Hokies at the Cassell Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports
No. 2- Dave Rose (BYU)
By Andrew Perkins (Twitter Handle: @Coachamp)
When it comes to winning percentage among active coaches, Rose finds himself behind Mark Few, Roy Williams, Thad Matta, Mike Krzyzewski and John Calipari and ahead of Bo Ryan, Bill Self and Jamie Dixon. Not a shabby group. Not shabby at all. Now, granted, the level of competition in the MWC and WCC in comparison with, say, the Big East or Big Ten, may have padded Rose’s win total. Nevertheless! Rose does it like the late Al Davis liked it – he just wins, baby. 209-66 for a .760 winning percentage. And his “worst season” saw his team finish 24-12. Of Rose’s 8 seasons, none of those seasons has BYU placed lower than 3rd in their conference.
After taking over a team that went 9-21 in 2004-2005, he led the Cougars to a 20-9 record and an NIT berth in ’05-’06. Since then, he has become the only coach in BYU history to win at least 20 games in his first 8 seasons. The Cougars have tripped to the NIT twice and the NCAAs six times. And, oh, what could have been ’10-’11 when Jimmermania ran wild, had Brandon Davies been on the court!
His recruiting strength has steadily increased, with the upcoming ’13-’14 class being ranked 22nd by rivals.com. That may not include potential Cali recruit PF Jamal Aytes, who would be a great addition to an already great class. Cougar fans in the know are salivating at the idea of Eric Mika and Jamal Aytes going beast-mode on opponents.
As recruiting pertains to Rose, it is quite telling that Duke’s new diaper dandy Jabari Parker had BYU on his shortlist heading into his final decision. Don’t get too caught up on the fact Jabari is, in fact, of the LDS faith, because there have been great Mormon players before him that didn’t even give BYU the light of day. Rose has made BYU a destination spot for all in-state prospects as well as elite LDS players from out-of-state. With that success, more out-of-state players who aren’t Mormons are starting to put BYU on their radar.
The only knock on Rose? Lack of postseason success. He has yet to win a conference tournament. And while the Fighting Jimmers got to the Sweet Sixteen, Rose’s most impressive postseason run other than that was this season’s semifinal run in the NIT.
Overall, he’s got the program rolling in a great direction. He’s an all-around great program leader and a great man to boot. He undoubtedly deserves the #2 ranking.