Purdue or IU: Which program is in better hands?
Last week, Bleacher Report unveiled its list predicting the top college basketball coaches for 2025.
Yes, you read that right, 2025.
(And you thought preseason polls for the 2015 season were premature...)
Three criteria were taken into consideration:
• The coach must have a career winning percentage of at least .550.
• The coach is required to have at least 150 career wins.
• Any coach already over 60 years old was immediately eliminated.
Because of the first requirement, Butler's Chris Holtmann (67 career wins) didn't make the list.
Indiana's Tom Crean earned honorable mention, apparently by default of meeting Bleacher Report's minimum benchmarks.
"Tom Crean meets the criteria to be included, but the complete and utter loathing from much of the Hoosiers fanbase makes it hard to imagine he'll still be there in 10 years."
Crean's recruiting, which the school is heavily invested in, has provided McDonald's All Americans, recent lottery picks and hope for future success. As far as the "complete and utter loathing" of the fanbase, IU athletics director Fred Glass has stood firm on his support for Crean, despite rising frustration among portions of the Hoosiers faithful.
Meanwhile, while there's perpetual unrest in Bloomington, Purdue's Matt Painter lands at No. 13 on Bleacher Report's list.
Painter, who has a .633 winning percentage in 10 seasons with the Boilers, guided Purdue back to the NCAA tournament last season after a two-year hiatus, and the future -- especially for the upcoming season -- looks particularly bright.
"Save for an understandable hiccup in 2012-13 and a less forgivable last-place finish the following season, Matt Painter has done quite the commendable job with the Boilermakers over the past decade.
"Better yet, he's just now finally adding the first 5-star recruit of his coaching career, so it's about time to see how high he can fly.
"Purdue took a step back for a couple of years, but this was one of the hottest teams in the second half of last season and should be one of the better teams in the country in the year ahead.
"If Caleb Swanigan is just a sign of things to come on Painter's recruiting trail, it will only be a matter of time before this program reaches its first Final Four since 1980."
Also of note, favorite son Steve Alford, who has led UCLA to consecutive Sweet Sixteens, ranks No. 18 on the list.
"It's not quite as pretty as 1,000 wins, but there are currently just seven coaches who have reached the 800-win plateau. The closer Alford gets to that mark, the more he'll be praised as one of the best. Let's just hope he actually reaches a Final Four somewhere along the way."
Noticeably absent from Bleacher Report's list is Notre Dame's Mike Brey. Brey, 56, has 332 career wins and a .668 winning percentage, and while he doesn't have a penchant for landing elite recruits, he certainly has a knack for winning. The Irish have won at least 20 games in eight of the last nine seasons and reached the Elite Eight a season ago.
Top 20 coaches in 2025:
20. Travis Ford, Oklahoma State
19. Tommy Amaker, Harvard
18. Steve Alford, UCLA
17. Buzz Williams, Virginia Tech
16. Mark Gottfried, N.C. State
15. John Thompson III, Georgetown
14. Mark Fox, Georgia
13. Matt Painter, Purdue
12. Jay Wright, Villanova
11. Mark Turgeon, Maryland
10. Gregg Marshall, Wichita State
9. Scott Drew, Baylor
8. Jamie Dixon, Pittsburgh
7. Shaka Smart, Texas
6. Tony Bennett, Virginia
5. John Calipari, Kentucky
4. Mark Few, Gonzaga
3. Sean Miller, Arizona
2. Thad Matta, Ohio State
1. Bill Self, Kansas