I am a very young coach in my HD career and am looking to find success at all levels (D3-D1). I have found some consistency in making a 20 win post season team but am still learning what it takes to become elite.

My question is What do you consider as a successful coach? 

Consistent NT appearences? Sweet 16? Championships? Consistent post season?

I was thinking of a goal of making at least the sweet 16 in every divison as none of my teams right now are immediatly ready for that, it would require me to learn and build and not just cherry pick a team.

Thanks!

In my opinion there are 5 levels of "good" coaches. In order they are:

1. Guys who win championships all the time (Emy, Gillespe, aejones, girt)
2.Guy who always make the tournament all the time and win championships alot (tiyani, killbatman,
3. Guys who always make the tournament all the time and have a championship or two (tkimble, yanks####, dahsdebater, oldave)
4. Guys who make the tournament all the time but haven't won the big one (um, me)
5. Guys who usually make the NT

I've been able to bring teams into the NT after being out of it for awhile, I just havent made the next step to winning in the post season. So I do think a sweet 16 appearence is a good goal to look towards

I define a good season for me as making the S16. I've made a few FF's and a few more EE's but generally I am happy when I make the S16.

k thanks, I shooting for S16 in every division

There are definitely different ways of valuing coaches in HD. But the most respected ones are the ones who are a) active in the community (post to the forums or at least post on conference boards and answer sitemails), b) pretty much anyone on the mentor list who has been approved as a mentor is at least committed enough and talented enough to build their own programs and consistently make the NT, and/or c) anyone who can consistently win their conference/conference tournament and make a respectable run in the NT. 

I personally consider myself a "good but not great" coach. I've won back-to-back national championships, including one completely undefeated run. I've taken a couple different programs on undefeated regular season runs to the NT and I've made my fair share of NT Sweet 16's/Elite 8's, but the Final Four remains relatively elusive to me. I think the best coaches are the ones who vie for championships year in and year out, especially those with multiple teams across multiple worlds. 

I think most coaches can achieve a high level of respectability regardless of the division or divisions they've coached in. 

its all relative... as a new coach, the "hump" you have to try to get over is making the NT on a regular basis. i'd focus on that, its important that you have a bunch of different teams that are competitive that you can play with and learn from, thats more important than trying to build for 1 great team who can hit some benchmark you have set. eventually you may want to do that, have like 8-9 guys between two classes so you can have a really good team one year, but i wouldn't worry about that now. just try to be consistently competitive, once you get there enough times, the deeper runs will naturally follow.

Posted by gillispie1 on 8/1/2014 10:44:00 AM (view original):
its all relative... as a new coach, the "hump" you have to try to get over is making the NT on a regular basis. i'd focus on that, its important that you have a bunch of different teams that are competitive that you can play with and learn from, thats more important than trying to build for 1 great team who can hit some benchmark you have set. eventually you may want to do that, have like 8-9 guys between two classes so you can have a really good team one year, but i wouldn't worry about that now. just try to be consistently competitive, once you get there enough times, the deeper runs will naturally follow.

Great, simple advice. It also segues nicely into what I feel is an accurate determinant of how successful a coach may be.

Patience.

If you're patient, you can build any team from the lowest of lows into a perennial National Tournament team. It requires even more patience to put yourself in the right position to turn the corner and become a perennial National Title contender. From there, you have to jump on the right recruiting opportunities when they present themselves and you cannot rush this success.

I was never able to turn the second corner and build up a title contender, but I would match up my ability to rebuild with any of the elite coaches in HD history. That is evidence of the separation in team-building ability that makes elite coaches elite.

One thing I would add is that context matters for all of this.  There is significant variation in difficulty among different worlds/divisions/conferences, both in terms of %full and the quality of the other coaches. 

It's one thing to have the right plan/vision for building a team, but it's even more challenging when the environment is highly competitive.  You might be able to identify the right players and never be able to sign them.  Or you might consistently have NT quality teams but struggle to win enough games in a tough conference.  It's important to keep perspective if you're getting discouraged in a situation like that.

I'm not really discouraged but I'd like to have a goal of some sort. I have had success in getting to the NT but winning in the NT is a whole nother conversation

Posted by bagger288 on 8/1/2014 12:23:00 PM (view original):
I'm not really discouraged but I'd like to have a goal of some sort. I have had success in getting to the NT but winning in the NT is a whole nother conversation

I wouldn't say you've had success in getting to the NT. You've once ridden the wave of another coach's recruiting to a NT berth, but you haven't assembled a NT team yet.

Not trying to put you down, but I think you still have a long way to go in your understanding of all facets of the game (recruiting, game-planning, team-building).

Posted by car_crazy_v2 on 8/1/2014 12:32:00 PM (view original):

Posted by bagger288 on 8/1/2014 12:23:00 PM (view original):
I'm not really discouraged but I'd like to have a goal of some sort. I have had success in getting to the NT but winning in the NT is a whole nother conversation

I wouldn't say you've had success in getting to the NT. You've once ridden the wave of another coach's recruiting to a NT berth, but you haven't assembled a NT team yet.

Not trying to put you down, but I think you still have a long way to go in your understanding of all facets of the game (recruiting, game-planning, team-building).

True I haven't fully assembled a team but looking back on recruits i've had those teams have had success even with SIM coaches. I'd also say for instance with this northwood team in Smith I really shouldn't be 18-3, I'm the 3rd or 4th best team in the conference and haven't lost yet in conference play, Beating both the only team to be ranked in conference and twice beating best team 40+ rating higher than me. I have a lot to learn but I wouldn't consider my current success a complete ride on a wave.

I have enjoyed previous recruits by other coaches but by no means do I consider this Northwood team an automatic bid to the NT, it has required some coaching to get to where we are.

being able to take a program full of your recruits, to the NT on a regular basis, is what the goal of basically all new coaches should be. its not a goal you can achieve easily, and that's kind of the point - but it is a goal within reach for most new coaches who are serious about learning the game and getting better. i just wanted to clarify, and when i say on a regular basis, you should be looking north of 50% and preferably at least roughly 3 out of 4 (75%) seasons in the NT. getting there takes a solid command of the basics of the game, and once there, you have a great foundation on which to build. but really this has to be something you do yourself, being able to make the NT here and there with recruits you didn't sign, does not translate to being able to do it all yourself. i recommend you stay at a single program for at least a dozen seasons or so (and preferably more), and try to get them gradually better to the point that you can get those NT bids regularly. its a great experience, you have to pay for your mistakes, and you reap all the benefits of your successes. trying to figure out where you went wrong and where you went right, and how you can improve, thats really what its all about. its pretty hard to do that when you aren't the one doing everything!

Success = Being good enough to play HD for free.

Maintain your eagerness to learn as well. I've seen far too many coaches remain stagnant in their understanding of the game, going 20+ seasons without a NT bid at DIII and I have to wonder why they're even playing at all if they don't have the drive to improve.