Pep, the elite eight record I own is 12, the final four record is 8.

And some people still think their conference is tougher than the Naismith UAA? That's cute.

No question I am a few notches below the studs in this game.  I'm just thrilled to be in the conversation... my D3 resume, all own players - not sure about my Naismith rosters, so I threw out the first 2 of 5 seasons which may or may not be right)

(43 seasons at Millsaps in Rupp, 3 at Cabrini in Iba, 7 at CSU-Ebay in Phelan under carl3298, 3 at Castleton St in Naismith)

total seasons: 56
NT rate:  50/56 = 89%
Second round:  44/56 = 79%
S16:  34/56 = 61%
E8:  20/56 = 61%
F4:  13/56 = 23%
Title game = 9/56 = 16%
Champ:  4/56 = 7%

Wow.... I definitely have something to shoot for.

Since we've established I'm not a cheater and I'm getting killed in the voting anyway, I'll just cherry pick the stat that makes me look the best...

28 seasons with my own players, 8 titles
8/28=29%

I can name a few that should be added to the list, however, are we talking about longevity?  Recent success?  Pure statistical information?  Too many scenarios to consider...  And I agree with others.  Why wasn't aejones on the initial list?  

It's about who is currently the best coach in D3. So longevity can be a big factor (as with jsajsa) but if you haven't been dominant recently (i.e. 10 seasons), then you're not in the running. That's why aejones isn't on this list. See a few of the posts above by me and jsajsa explaining more why aejones is no longer dominant as he once was.

What are the names you'd nominate? A few probably were missed but I'd be curious if those coaches match up with the names on this list.

For those who want in Naismith DIII, there is Thiel, the last available team in North Coast Atlantic conference. It's motion-press (jsajsa favorite) and you will get to battle Ggallah, Jsajsa and Pep... Jdno Carlbuzz and a lot of other solid coaches. We want to fill out our conference. We currently have two teams in the sweet sixteen, had 5 in the NT, we are third in RPI and hoping to get closer to University one day.

dgravs has been impressive with his quick success.... hoping he moves up to D2 soon in Rupp.

Brianxavier is being very modest

I recently left Naismith D3, but at that time I had finished in the RPI top ten 19 of the prior 20 seasons (the year I missed out, we finished #12). I won 5 NTs over that stretch. The University conference in Naismith is fantastic, but over the first ten years or so of their existence I won more NTs than that entire conference combined.

I competed against jsajsa and pepwaves many times over that period - they are truly outstanding coaches. But based on our 15 years or so together in Naismith I consider myself in the same conversation they are. I'm pretty confident there aren't ten guys better at coaching D3 than me. That said, I understand being excluded because I don't have teams in a whole bunch of worlds like most of those coaches.

mrg- this is from a sitemail to the0nlyis about who to include in the top 10:

"If mrg1037 was still coaching at Martin Luther in Naismith, he should absolutely be in the running for best D3 coach. He dominated Naismith for a while before the UAA took over. May even be worth including him unless you think it'd be weird having a current non-D3 coach there..."

So, if you were still coaching a D3 team somewhere...you'd be in my top 3 for sure, and would have a case for #1 overall. Are you regretting abandoning Naismith D3 yet? ;)

Haha, thanks for the shout-out pep. I was in sort of a weird spot those last years at MLC. I couldn't leave for another D3 program after what I built there, but the CCIW had cleared out quite a bit from its glory days and the regular seasons were getting pretty boring. The move to D1 has been really fun - my young New Mexico squad just made our first NT appearance in year three, and we bring back the whole roster to try again next year.

So yes, I miss D3 a little, but the time was right for me to go. I see the University conf is still dominating as usual...

I was going to mention mrg as well, I've played in a conference with him (Naismith) as well as carlbuzz (Allen) and those two both were/are very dominant.

Speaking of mrg, I just passed you for 10th in Naismith NT wins (63-62), and got there at a faster rate (.829 to .756 NT winning %).

Seriously though, I was also thinking of giving you a shout out for DIII coaches who no longer have an active team in DIII, and killbatman for the best DIII coach to recently retire. You are/were an excellent DIII coach.

Haha, a fine accomplishment jsa. I'm not surprised your NT win percentage is higher than mine. MLC was my first ever job in HD (my only job for quite a while) and I sucked at first. It took eight seasons before I won a game in the NT! You were a HD vet when you started at Southwestern, going to the championship game in year two. Take out my early learning years (1-4) and my D1 record (0-1) and I'm at .803... still slightly behind you, but it's pretty close. And I won 4-3 in the national championship tally.

We both had/have great programs... hard to choose between them. That's all I'm saying.