Greatness

That John Wooden was a great coach and a terrific human being is not open to discussion; to say that anyone is the greatest coach ever of their or any other sport is always an invitation to debate. With Wooden, again, the debate would probably be rather short, as nobody else ever has -- or ever will -- win 10 championships in 12 seasons. But from a purely philosophical perspective, one could allege that the Krzyzewskis, Dean Smiths, Boeheims or Knights of more recent years (not to mention the Summits and Auriemmas), are equal coaching talents who are succeeding consistently in spite of increased parity combined with increased governance, reforms which diminished the natural advantages that helped propel UCLA to unmatched success in the 60's and 70's.

Those other names may or may not deserve to be compared to John Wooden, or even be mentioned in the same paragraph. But the point can be made -- where Wooden is unquestionably in elite company is not necessarily his record as a coach, or even his record as a person, but as an inventor, innovator and developer of a sport. Yes, Dr. Naismith invented basketball, but John Wooden made the college game an entertainment and revenue-generating powerhouse (akin to Red Auerbach in the pro game, as discussed here). Thus, the comparison is not between Wooden, Krzyzewski, and Summit, but between Wooden, Auerbach, Paul Brown, George Halas, Rod Dedeaux, Knute Rockne, Harry Wright, Toe Blake, and Herb Brooks -- all highly successful coaches who took both their teams and their entire sport to a higher level.

In other words (and fewer words), remembering John Wooden as a great coach and great person is only part of the story. Renaming the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament in his honor might be a good place to start -- after all, when his team was winning all those banners, it was known unofficially as the "UCLA Invitational."