Wooden/Saban - GOATS?

[steelcurtain55.]

1. Both have the most championships in D1 history in their respective sports.

2. Both had unlimited resources during their runs at UCLA and Bama.

3. One has been revealed to have a legit bank roll for players (thanks Sam Gilbert), the other is it is often implied though never proven.

This is why I've never liked the "GOAT" status for coaches and I really don't like it for players from different eras or different schemes in football or basketball.

 

[bobfree]

Tom Brady is the GOAT though right

 

[steelcurtain55.]

Tom Brady is the GOAT though right

Of his era, I don't see how you can argue against it.

 

[CaptainMurphy]

Wooden, most certainly. Coach K would have to be a close second, but not really all that close.
Saban and Bryant are probably it for college football.
NFL - Belichick without a question
NBA - Popovich. I give him the nod over Jackson as he was the coach and GM that rebuilt the Spurs where Jackson inherited teams that were already championship-level.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Wooden, most certainly

Especially if you mean the GOAT of cheating basketball programs.

 

[CaptainMurphy]

Especially if you mean the GOAT of cheating basketball programs.

They all cheated to some degree. Many still do. You can disqualify Wooden but you'd need to do the same to most of the top programs over the years as well.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

They all cheated to some degree.

I agree. I mean maybe not all, but most cheated to some degree. What UCLA was doing was on a whole different level than almost anyone else was doing. And Wooden knew it was going on, but expressly told people not to tell him any details so he could maintain denyability.

Today what he did would be called lack of institutional control. And UCLA would get hammered for it. You know, if the NCAA actually cared when programs like UCLA cheat.

 

[thebadby2]

1. Both have the most championships in D1 history in their respective sports.

2. Both had unlimited resources during their runs at UCLA and Bama.

3. One has been revealed to have a legit bank roll for players (thanks Sam Gilbert), the other is it is often implied though never proven.

This is why I've never liked the "GOAT" status for coaches and I really don't like it for players from different eras or different schemes in football or basketball.

Who’s the better coach? The guy who just does “OK” with lesser resources, or the guy who builds a dynasty and fills the rafters with championship banners based on his own proven process and intelligence and using all resources at his disposal? If you really love your school and the sort, would you rather be a Pitt fan or an Alabama fan?

At the end of the day, the job is to win. The guy who wins the biggest and the most is the 🐐. Saban has adapted and changed over his career to stay on top. His program is the platinum standard by which all others are measured. He has brought hundreds of millions of revenue gain to the university that employs him which has been used by the school to increase its academic profile, build academic buildings, and attract enrollment from areas that it never had any presence in before.

Coach K has done something similar with Duke hoops.

 

[Pittx9]

The GOAT coaches IMO....
Wooden
Saban
Belichick
Phil Jackson
Scotty Bowman

Baseball is a tough one. Many consider Joe McCarthy, but that was so long ago I have no way personally of arguing for or against that.