Syracuse Basketball: Jim Boeheim ahead of Calipari, Pitino in rankings

With the recent news that Duke legend Mike Krzyzewski will retire after the 2021-22 season, CBS Sports has ranked the top head coaches in the sport’s history, and Syracuse basketball boss Jim Boeheim made the cut.

CBS Sports’ Kyle Boone has rated the top-11 head coaches and also included numerous others in an honorable-mentions category. Boeheim checks in at No. 8 all-time, and that sounds about right to me.

Yes, Boeheim has the second-most career victories in Division I men’s basketball, which is stellar. He’s also never endured a losing campaign. At the same time, other head coaches have more than one national championship, with Boeheim’s lone crown coming in 2003.

Boone’s top 11, in order, is John Wooden, Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Bob Knight, Dean Smith, Jim Calhoun, Adolph Rupp, Boeheim, John Calipari, Rick Pitino and Henry Iba.

In Boone’s honorable-mentions department are Bill Self, Tom Izzo, Billy Donovan, Mark Few, Jerry Tarkanian, Phog Allen, Lute Olson, Eddie Sutton, Lou Henson and Denny Crum. I’d love to know what Orange fanatics think about this set of rankings!

Syracuse basketball head coach Jim Boeheim is among the best ever.

Based on longevity and sustained success, one could argue that Boeheim is a top-five head coach in the history of college basketball. But to realistically be considered for such a placement, he likely needs a second NCAA title.

All of the guys ahead of Boeheim have more than one natty. That being said, Pitino and Iba each have two national championships, whereas Boeheim has one.

Additionally, Boeheim has made five Final Fours, while other head coaches like Calipari, Pitino and Izzo have advanced to more than five national semi-finals.

However, Boeheim does have more career wins than Calipari, Pitino and Izzo, along with everyone else in these rankings save for Krzyzewski, who has amassed 1,170 triumphs.

Boeheim, by the way, has collected 1,083 victories, if you include the 101 wins vacated by the NCAA, which I am, because vacating victories is total non-sense.

By any metric, I adamantly believe that Boeheim is a top-10 head coach, even if he has only one national championship. But as I mentioned earlier, should he capture a second NCAA title before he rides off into the sunset, Boeheim’s place among the all-time greats could certainly climb.