Ever since Quin Snyder and Jim Wooldridge were fired during the same season, there’s been a great debate amongst fans in Kansas City on who made the better hire – Missouri with Mike Anderson or Kansas State with the Bob Huggins/Frank Martin package deal?
Because Missouri and Kansas State have a little semi-regional rivalry, the discussion gets as intense as Frank Martin himself at times.
Being a Missouri homer, I’ll take Mike Anderson over Frank Martin, although I still respect Martin as a defensive coach and someone who doesn’t mess around.
Still, I wanted to give Martin a shot and do some resume comparison.
(First, let me fully admit I wanted Bob Huggins. DUI issues aside, I was a fan of his during his time at Cincinnati. I also thought he got a very bad name for choking in the NCAA Tournament.
He didn’t have McDonald’s Burger Boys like a Coach K, Dean Smith, Roy Williams, Rick Pitino or John Calipari did. The one great talent he had in Kenyon Martin shattered his leg in pieces. I’m still convinced Cincinnati wins the title that year if he’s healthy.
Plus, anyone who can take post-Jerry West West Virginia to the Final Four can coach. That doesn’t mean I hated the Anderson hire – he was my second choice – but Huggy would have been golden.
Because of what Anderson has built at MU, I wouldn’t make the switch now.)
So, what should a coach in college basketball be judged on?
There’s five simple things: Regular season performances, tournament performances, overall improvement of a program, record versus ranked teams and recruiting.
(Note: All Anderson stats do not include UAB coaching period)
I. REGULAR SEASON
Record: Frank Martin 83-35; Mike Anderson 101-47
Highest conference season finish: Frank Martin 2nd, Mike Anderson 3rd
Conference Tournament Wins: Frank Martin 0, Mike Anderson 1
Most number of wins in one season: Frank Martin 29, Mike Anderson 31
All and all, it’s really pretty even, isn’t it? I think conference tournaments are worthless, although it was still nice to see Missouri win one of those things – especially after KU had won 32 in a row. That might be a slight, slight exaggeration. Martin’s teams have came closer to a conference championship in the regular season, but Anderson has the 30-win season.
II. TOURNAMENT PERFORMANCES
Record: Frank Martin 4-2, Mike Anderson 4-2
Record as the lower seed (the underdog): Frank Martin 1-1, Mike Anderson 2-2
Best tournament win by final poll ranking: Frank Martin – Xavier, Mike Anderson – Memphis
Longest tournament run: Frank Martin – Elite Eight, Mike Anderson – Elite Eight
Again, very even. I might give Anderson the slight edge here. Both of Anderson’s tournament losses came to the eventual regional winner – and both came against Top 4 teams in UCONN and West Virginia. Memphis was ranked #3 in the nation the year Missouri knocked them off. Somehow, Memphis was only the two-seed in that bracket. While Kansas State’s run was good last year, Butler had significantly less talent than the UCONN team. I think the 08-09 Tigers beat Butler that year. Perhaps I’m wrong.
III. OVERALL IMPROVEMENT OF THE PROGRAM
Frank Martin inherited a program that finished fourth in the Big 12 the year Huggins coached there. Mike Anderson inherited a program that finished 11th in the Big 12 the previous year. Martin took Kansas State to 29 wins in his third season, Anderson took Missouri to 31 wins in his third season.
This is really the first clear advantage in my opinion – and it’s in Anderson’s corner. Missouri was also on probation when Anderson was hired after the Quin Snyder mess, so factor that in. The job Anderson has done the past three to four years at Missouri is underrated nationally.
Martin inherited a decent Kansas State team and also inherited the best recruiting class in the nation, headlined by Michael Beasley and Bill Martin. Jacob Pullen was also part of that class.
IV. RECORDS AGAINST RANKED TEAMS
Vs. Top 25 teams: Frank Martin 10-11, Mike Anderson 14-17
Vs. Top 10 teams: Frank Martin 3-7, Mike Anderson 2-10
A Martin advantage here. The big demon in both of their careers is the Kansas Jayhawks. Anderson would be 13-10 against ranked teams and Martin would be 9-6 if KU was eliminated from the picture. Both would be 2-4 against Top 10 teams if KU was eliminated from the picture. Neither record is great, but above .500 against Top 25 teams is respectable. You can’t eliminate KU from the picture – beating them is part of the job in Columbia and Manhattan. But both Anderson and Martin would probably be at the top of the conference if not for KU.
V. RECRUITING
(This is based on the Rivals star system)
Frank Martin: 3 Five-Stars, 3 Four-Stars and 12 Three-Stars
Mike Anderson: 1 Five-Star*, 2 Four-Stars and 13 Three-Stars
This is advantage Martin, with a nice assist from Huggins. The one five-star recruit Anderson has nabbed is Tony Mitchell and there’s a 99.7 percent chance he’ll never play at Missouri. The Kansas State point of view will say Martin’s a better recruiter, while the Missouri fan will say Anderson has done more with his talent level than Martin has since most accomplishments are even. Both arguments can be made and that’s no slight on Martin – recruiting is very important for college sports, along with private and semi-private high schools in Kansas City.
VI. Head to Head
Both are 3-3 against each other, with neither winning on the opposing coach’s home court.
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What does all this mean?
1. They are eerily similar in statistics. Both have neither won a conference title in the regular season. Both advanced to the Elite Eight in their third year. Both are 4-2 in the NCAA Tournament.
2. It’s clear both of these coaches are good coaches. You can’t take away much from them. My biggest gripe with Anderson is when he said “rebounding was overrated” last year. My biggest concern with Martin is the lack of offensive identity for his teams.
3. While both have done a solid job coaching, it’s quite clear Anderson did the better rebuilding job, mostly because he had to. He could only issue out one scholarship in his first recruiting class (Thanks, Quin!), but he still got the job done. The year before Anderson arrived in Columbia, Missouri won 12 games. In year three, he won 31. Anderson’s detractors – there really aren’t many – forget how bad Missouri got in the final two years under Quin Snyder. They lost by nearly 50 points at Allen Fieldhouse in 2005!
Being a Missouri fan, I’d give the slight advantage to Anderson. He also took UAB to a Sweet 16. A case can be made for Martin. He appears to be a better recruiter, at least for now.
Both are good coaches, however, and Missouri and Kansas State fans should be lucky to have them.
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