[NU Sports] The John Wooden myth

[Eric West]

It's hardly a "myth." By 1961 John Wooden had won exactly one NCAA 
tournament game (and that was a consolation game), he hadn't won his 
conference in five years, and the 20-win seasons were long gone. Though 
he was still the most successful coach at his school in decades (like, 
you know...Carmody), there's no doubt quite a few folks on this list 
would have been moaning that he'd lost his touch, he was regressing, he 
couldn't sustain his early success, the program was clearly heading in 
the wrong direction, it's time for new blood, etc., etc.

Beyond that, if our most successful coach since the 1960s -- by FAR -- 
can be called a "failure," then we are simply talking past each other. 
It's great to expect something that has never ever happened, but there's 
zero evidence to suggest that we will get there faster by firing 
Carmody, *especially* at this particular point in this particular season.

I'm starting to repeat myself, so I won't weigh in on Carmody again 
until after the season is over. It will be telling how the team responds 
to this jarring loss; the parallel might be the football team's loss to 
Indiana this year. Will the basketball team fizzle out, or will they 
buckle down, adjust, and get even better? The rest of the season will be 
interesting.


Eric West
e-west at northwestern.edu


Dennis W. Brandt wrote:
> Let's put to rest this it-took-John-Wooden-forever myth as an excuse 
> for Carmody's failure.  The Wizard of Westwood's lifetime record at 
> UCLA was 620 - 147, an overall winning percentage of .808, and it was 
> .823 in conference.  He won 22 and 24 games his first two years at 
> UCLA (1948-1950). Prior to his 1964 championship win over Michigan (my 
> freshman year - we blew a game to Michigan at home that season, too, 
> when Cazzie Russell took over late), he won 20 or more games in six 
> seasons, 19 twice, and 18 three times. He never had a losing season at 
> UCLA.  His worst year was 1959-60 when he was 14-12.  By the playoff 
> rules of today, he would have been in the NCAAs the vast majority of 
> times prior to 1964.  He was even 47 - 14 in the two years at Indiana 
> State before he went to UCLA.
>
> We're not asking Carmody to win the NCAA championship at this point, 
> just get us the hell into it!  He hasn't even gotten his team into the 
> NIT with the also-rans, which makes us never-beens.