Saturday, November 20, 2004
I doubt
Temple's John Chaney would buy-in to Gregg Doyel's argument. But the numbers do give me pause. Despite three lackluster seasons, Chaney is a Hall of Famer."We have no 'buy' games. They're all home-and-homes," says Temple AD Bill Bradshaw. "That's unique. If I went to Coach and said, 'This small Division I school will play us for $25,000,' he'll turn it down. I don't even ask him any more."
Chaney is fifth among active coaches with 708 career victories, behind Texas Tech's Bob Knight (832), New Mexico State's Lou Henson (775), Oklahoma State's Eddie Sutton (754) and Arizona's Lute Olson (713).
If Chaney scheduled like the four active coaches ahead of him, there wouldn't be four active coaches ahead of him. That's not an opinion but a fact. According to research by SportsLine.com, Chaney is the only coach of that quintet whose record in non-conference games is worse than his record in conference games. And his record is a lot worse in non-conference games.
The winning percentages of Henson and Sutton are almost 15 points higher in non-conference games. Those of Knight and Olson are roughly five points higher. Chaney? His winning percentage in non-conference games is almost 15 points lower. If the ratio between his winning percentages inside and outside conference play was similar to those of Knight and Olson, Chaney would have about 780 victories. If he was in the Henson-Sutton range, he'd be pushing 800.
