an ode to syracuse / hofhof and GA tech / stewdog Topic

i sincerely hope everyone has seen both of these programs by now... if not, gotta check them out!
syracuse by hofhof in wooden
georgia tech by stewdog in iba

i always felt extremely lucky, to have started this game at the tail end of some of the games' all time runs - rails at w chester pa with his legendary and still unmatched 5 peat, OR with the only d1 3peat in the game for so long (until ~1yr ago) at uconn, and OR with his w conn st d3 program that remains the greatest d3 program of all time (all 3 programs are tark, if anyone is unfamiliar). watching guys pull off stunts like that, its so inspiring, and exciting, its just a great time to be playing.

i don't know if people realize, but today is another time of similar greatness. there have been some great d1 programs and runs over the years, by legendary coaches like oldresorter, lostmyth, and girt, but these two guys up here have CRUSHED the old records. at this point, IMO at least, they are only competing with each other for the claim of best d1 dynasty ever. now, it is hard to compare a program someone may have coached for 8 years to a program someone has only coached for a couple, but i think its fair to consider programs by their run of dominance over a significant period of time, say 10, 20, 30 seasons?

just to highlight these programs, here are some awesome stats on each:

syracuse:
  • 10 championships in 29 seasons, with 5 more runner-ups. thats better than a 1 in 2 rate of making the title game over 29 seasons, better than 1 in 3 rate of winning the championship!
  • #2 all time on the 10 year d1 dynasty list
  • #1 all time on the 20 year d1 dynasty list
  • #1 all time on the 30 year d1 dynasty list
  • #12 all time d1 top 25 rpi streak (34 seasons), #13 all time d1 top 10 rpi streak (15), #28 all time d1 consecutive post season appearances (52), #T-5th consecutive d1 championships wins (2), #T-2nd consecutive d1 championship games (3), #T-9th consecutive d1 final 4s (4), #T-10th consecutive d1 elite 8s (7), #9 consecutive d1 sweet 16s (15), #T-6th consecutive d1 round 2s (38), #T-39th consecutive d1 NT appearances (38) 

georgia tech:
  • only d1 4peat in the history of HD
  • 7 championships in 17 seasons
  • #1 all time on the 10 year d1 dynasty list
  • #2 all time on the 20 year d1 dynasty list
  • #3 all time on the 30 year d1 dynasty list (with plenty of time to improve that standing)
  • #3 all time on the 5 year d1 dynasty list
  • #20 all time d1 top 25 rpi streak (20 seasons), #4 all time d1 top 10 rpi streak (23), #1 all time d1 national championships (4), #1 all time d1 championship games (4), #T-4th all time d1 final 4s (5), #2 all time d1 elite 8s (11), #T-11th all time d1 sweet 16s (13), T-17th all time d1 round 2s (17), #T-74th all time d1 NT appearances (32)

what incredible programs! the best part is, both are still going strong - both are coming off ANOTHER championship with those programs, in the most recent season. i have to just impress, the margins here are amazing... i have had a bit of a resurgence in interest for a while now, and have a program myself that i thought would be getting up there, competing for top spots in some of these areas. that would have been true - before these two guys came along! but now, its not even close. the margin these two guys have, holding those #1/#2 spots together atop those lists, its just massive.

along those lines, i have to provide 1 final example, of how dominant these guys are. over all the great d1 programs of all time, before these two guys, jeffdrayer's alabama program in smith held the top all time spot, for d1 20 year dynasties, which i consider the gold standard of dynasty rankings. his program was amazing - with 5 titles in their best 20 year period. georgia tech has 7, with 3 more seasons to raise that figure, before their 1st "drops off" the 20 year window. syracuse has 8. incredible!

my hat is off to both of these gentleman, congrats guys on building two of the finest programs this game has ever seen! 
1/5/2016 12:26 PM
Makes me feel better about TheFirm's BYU team in Wooden losing a Utah recruit to hofhof's 'Cuse team. Means we're targeting the right guys.
1/5/2016 8:08 PM
I'm looking to stay for a long period of time! Already at a 1-0 career record looking to make it 2-0 tomorrow.
1/5/2016 8:37 PM
I'm just happy to see Syracuse on top! I've lived in or near Syracuse my entire life, and this city lives and breaths Syracuse Basketball. Love it! 
1/6/2016 10:40 AM
Eh, seems to me once you get at the helm there is not much skill involved. Wasn't it stewdog who posted recently about not being considered by a recruit which he thought was odd because he can get anyone he wants with no problem?

Extremely jealous Congrats

1/6/2016 4:01 PM

So, it takes no skill, yet the same guy/gal wins the championship that often? If it takes "not much skill" and such, why don't more owners compete for championships? Keep in mind, this is someone who has won for decades in that league. He's consistently performing top tier, even with other top owners gunning for him. 

Man, I'm amazed at people sometimes... Those types of posts are what make me want to not be apart of sites/forums like these.

1/6/2016 4:40 PM
Just saying it seems when you get to that level, you're coasting being able to recruit whoever. Only wish D3 prestige had a little more impact.
1/6/2016 10:00 PM
Posted by lilspike0738 on 1/6/2016 10:40:00 AM (view original):
I'm just happy to see Syracuse on top! I've lived in or near Syracuse my entire life, and this city lives and breaths Syracuse Basketball. Love it! 
im with ya, brother, but it feels like were on life support right now!
1/6/2016 10:03 PM
Posted by KVegas on 1/6/2016 10:00:00 PM (view original):
Just saying it seems when you get to that level, you're coasting being able to recruit whoever. Only wish D3 prestige had a little more impact.
yes because Big 6 schools never battle for recruits ever.

D3 prestige is more important in who you can recruit immediately and who you can pulldown.  But less so in the amount of effort.


If you think D1 is so easy why do so few coaches win the amount stew and hofhof have done with GT and Syracuse?  D1 is much harder that D3 and they're much more coaches and very few bad coaches where D3 can really only be 5-10 great coaches, D1 is generally very strong even outside the elites.
1/7/2016 12:50 AM
D1 is a lot tougher. I mean, the guys at A+ climbed the ladder. They kept their prestige and went from season to season winning important games. These two coaches have achieved incredible success. More power to them. D1 takes patience. I currently have three teams and I have to be humble about my skills. I know I am making strides, understanding what to do a little more every season, but there are many things to master. It all starts with your recruiting strategy.



1/7/2016 7:45 AM
Posted by KVegas on 1/6/2016 10:00:00 PM (view original):
Just saying it seems when you get to that level, you're coasting being able to recruit whoever. Only wish D3 prestige had a little more impact.
When you get to A+ and high A+, coaches tend to agree recruiting becomes easier.  But getting to that lever is 5x harder than anything you'll do in D2 or D3.
1/7/2016 8:52 AM
yeah, this thread is really about how amazing those two programs are, relative to d1. im not saying they are better than all the d2/d3 programs and coaches, so the relative difficulty between those is not really relevant. even if high d1 is easy as pie, there are so many coaches who play it, and its been that way for ages - so we have a baseline of what is average, good, great, exceptional, all that - its all in the results. well, these guys' results outshine all the other high d1 results in history - so regardless of difficulty - thats still pretty damn impressive! 

i always think its funny how the folks who think there is no skill in coaching high d1, are the folks who can't even get there ;) i am reminded of a thread where a hot young d3 coach was berating girt and myself for saying d1 was harder than d3, which is pretty obviously the case, if you play both. he had only played d3, and was killing it at his school, with like 4 championships. there was no reasoning with him, so we just threw up our hands, and said fine, you are moving up to d1, why don't we just wait for you to prove that we are the idiot noobs you say we are? that was like, at least 3+ years ago, and he still hasn't won in d1. guess he showed us! i'll eagerly await any other non-high d1 coaches with similar opinions, to prove how easy it is when they win 8 titles in 20 years like hofhof =)
1/7/2016 9:06 AM
what's amazing to me isn't just the number of titles, but the number of championship games - both these coaches had multiple runner-up NT runs as well!  It certainly takes some luck to win many championships - but to go that deep in the NT over and over and over and over again is NOT LUCK.  

I haven't gotten there at all - just got to a solid D1 school a few seasons ago...

I have wondered how they figure out the BEST 5 Star guys to recruit.  Sure, they are getting great talent and at this point have so much going their way (prestige, conference cash) but to replace early entries season after season, with the right recruits that fit their system - obviously they understand things differently than many other A+, high powered conference coaches.
1/7/2016 1:12 PM
Another thing worth mentioning is hofhof runs FB, a more non conventional offense in high D1.
1/7/2016 2:17 PM
Man that stewdog is such a slacker... he has one guy under 90 ATH. Come on, couldn't you find someone better?

In all seriousness though, those runs are incredible. Really impressive stuff!
1/7/2016 7:51 PM
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an ode to syracuse / hofhof and GA tech / stewdog Topic

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