A huge part of sports is coaching, and because we cover the future of sports here at NextGenSports.net, it’s only fitting that we let you know about the future of coaching. Over the next few weeks, we’ll chronicle the best young coaches in the “Big 6” U.S. sports (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NCAA Football, NCAA Basketball).
We start the series with college basketball, where to qualify, the coach must be under 45 years old and have less than 5 years of Division 1 experience. Coaches in BCS conferences are not considered because, in theory, they’re already big-time coaches, and no longer the future of the sport.
Without further ado, the best young coach in college basketball is…
Brad Stevens, 33 Years Old, Butler Bulldogs
The facts: 89-15 Record in 3 seasons, 3 Horizon League Championships, 1 National Championship Appearance
In my humble opinion, Brad Stevens (right) is the future of college basketball coaching, Stevens is a guy who quit his job to be an assistant coach in the Butler program and worked his way up the Bulldogs’ coaching ladder until he was promoted to the head position after Todd Lickliter went on to Iowa. Stevens not only kept the Bulldogs competitive on the national stage, but made them dominant. Appearing in a national championship is no small feat, and I don’t think there’s a person who can make a legitimate argument saying Brad Stevens wasn’t a key factor in that run. His gameplans were incredible, his substitutions were effective and the way he was able to utilize his main weapons of Shelvin Mack and Gordon Hayward were all coaching moves that are hard to top.
Unlike his coaching predecessors with Butler (Thad Matta and Todd Lickliter), Stevens did not dash to the Big Ten for the big money. Now we get back to the point about the future of college coaching. Stevens was promoted from within and stayed with the team when he could’ve capitalized on some big-time coaching offers. With other schools seeing the fame Butler gained from this run, they will want to keep their coaches around, making the mid-major teams with great coaches much more competitive. With this, we’ll see the Missouri Valley and Colonial Athletic Association type schools compete with the BCS conferences and make college basketball a much more interesting, exciting, and profitable sport.
Brad Stevens was a key in an incredible run for Butler, and he may turn out to be a trend-setter in college basketball.
Best of the rest:
-Mike Lonergan, Vermont
-Josh Pastner, Memphis
-Chuck Drisell, The Citadel
-Mike Huguenin, Wright State
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