Mike Brey Named AP Coach Of The Year, But Did He Deserve It?
One of the worst things about postseason awards in sports is that unless the person who gets the award wins a championship, the pick will often times be scrutinized.
Take for instance Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey, who was named The Associated Press' Coach of the Year on Friday. The Irish had a great year, they finished second in the Big East conference and earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament as a result. But they were knocked out in the second round of the tournament by Florida State.
Plus, if you want to look at best coaching job, there are a number of different places that you could look. Mike Krzyzewski at Duke got his team a No. 1 seed in the tournament and an ACC tournament championship, without Kyrie Irving for most of the year. San Diego State was brilliant all year, losing only two games to one team, but Steve Fisher finished second in the voting. Or how about Thad Matta at Ohio State or Jamie Dixon at Pitt, who won the Big East conference?
There's no doubt that Brey and Notre Dame had a brilliant year, but I would bet that if you took the voting after the season someone like Shaka Smart or Brad Stevens would get consideration from the voting panel.
I mean what's more impressive: A Big East team that won 27 games or a mid-major team like VCU running through five major conference teams to make it to the Final Four?
I know that you can't look at just one small sample size to make a decision like this, but it would still be interesting to see how many people would give someone like Smart support for this award if it were voted on today.
Congratulations to coach Brey. He did a terrific job and was as good a choice as anyone in the country to receive it.
Related Story: Putting The Final Stamp On Notre Dame's 2010-11 Season
No comments:
Post a Comment