Is Bruce Weber The Worst Basketball Coach In The Big 12?

I’ve had a theory about Big 12 basketball for a few years now, and thanks to Saturday’s game pitting Kansas State Wildcats against YOUR Marquette Golden Eagles, it gives me an excuse to write about it on this website for the first time.

The theory is quite simple: Bruce Weber is the worst basketball coach in the Big 12.

This is not a new idea that I’ve had just recently.

Item the first:

That tweet appears to be created by Oklahoma State hiring Brad Underwood away from Stephen F. Austin to replace Travis Ford.

Item the second:

I’m not 100% sure what caused that one, but K-State did fall behind Colorado State 29-21 in the first half on that date.

Item the third:

This would appear to be in conjunction with K-State losing 51-50 to West Virginia in the Big 12 tournament after leading 48-42 with five minutes left and leading 50-47 with two minutes left.

Item the fourth:

That would be in reference to K-State beating Wake Forest in the First Four of the NCAA tournament.

AND FINALLY, item the fifth:

That was just this past October in reference to Paint Touches publishing a preview of the Wildcats in anticipation of this game.

So, that’s a thing, right? Those are just my opinions, though. Let’s add some SCIENCE~! to the proceedings and have the AE staff vote on the power rankings for the coaches in the Big 12. You can’t go wrong with a good old-fashioned power ranking, right?

Here’s the official results of the polling:

1) Bill Self, 8 points
2) Bob Huggins, 14
3) Chris Beard, 27
4) Jamie Dixon, 37
5) Lon Kruger, 40
6) Scott Drew, 41
7) Shaka Smart, 44
8) Steve Prohm, 49
9) Bruce Weber, 55
10) Mike Boynton, 69

There you have it. SCIENCE~! says that I am wrong and that Bruce Weber is not the worst coach in the Big 12.

Barely.

Let’s be clear here, though: It’s barely being mean to Bruce Weber to even insinuate that he’s the worst coach in the league. Given the historical success of Self, Huggins, Dixon, Drew, Kruger, and Smart, it’s essentially impossible for anyone with Weber’s track record from his Illinois tenure to even crack the top half of the league in a vote like this. Forget ranking all 10, Weber loses a straight up vote against all six of those guys, and Chris Beard is very quickly pushing his way into making it a group of seven.

At least I’m wrong now. Please note that Mike Boynton is the coach that replaced Brad Underwood at Oklahoma State, and I think it’s safe to say that my fellow voters would have put Underwood over Weber had he stuck around. Boynton, on the other hand has had just one full season plus six games this year to make his case. It’s Boynton’s first head coaching gig as well, and we should probably point out that he got the Cowboys a #2 seed in the NIT last year and just knocked off then-#19 LSU in OSU’s most recent game. The gap between Boynton and Weber is probably closer than the 14 point margin in the balloting here.

Speaking of margins, it is very clear that the middle of the Big 12 is just a total mishmash in terms of opinions of the coaches. Just 22 points separating third place and eighth place? That’s wild.

Wondering about some of the thoughts and opinions behind some of the votes? Of course you are. Let’s start with the only ballot that did not have Bill Self in first place.

Connor Lagore

1. Bob Huggins - Huggy Bear’s had some pretty great success with significantly worse players (or at least significantly worse paid players) than KU. And anytime your team is renamed/nicknamed after your style of defense, you’re doing something effectively.
2. Bill Self - wins, but pays to do so. Sad!
3. Chris Beard - Beard could pretty reasonably be the best coach in the conference. He just doesn’t have the recruiting success or the resources.
4. Lon Krueger - Oklahoma was good a few times.
5. Shaka Smart - I had him below Dixon at first but then I remembered he made a Final Four once and then it was a #DoneDeal.
6. Jamie Dixon - TCU was pretty good last year.
7. Bruce Weber - Why does he remind me of Jay Leno?
8. Scott Drew - Is he a good coach?
9. Steve Prohm - I kind of like his team this year but like I know nothing about him.
10. Mike Boynton Jr. - Whomst?

Ben Snider

1. Bill Self
2. Bob Huggins. I would rank him lower because he’s so desperately reliant on a point guard who can take over the game offensively (See their performance this year without Beetle Bolden), but he keeps getting results.
3. Scott Drew. He is a good coach.
4. Chris Beard. In 5 years he’ll be #2.
5. Lon Kruger. If Buddy Hield or Trae Young don’t go to OU, he’d be known as a terrible recruiter.
6. Steve Prohm. Meh.
7. Jamie Dixon I guess? At least he’s coached multiple Top 20 teams in the last 10 years.
8. Shaka Smart. He’s Bob Huggins with 10% of his knowledge of offense. And defense.
9. Bruce Weber. If Dean Wade had any other coach he’d be in the NBA right now.
10. Mike Boynton. Bring back Eddie Sutton.

Broadway Brown

1. Bill Self - The guy just keeps winning. 14 straight conference titles, he’s numbah one no doubt.
2. Bob Huggins - Huggy is everyone’s favorite probably. Seems like a good guy who loves to really get into the game.
3. Lon Kruger - Another team that is really good or really not great. Coach Kruger seems to know what he’s doing.
4. Chris Beard - Beard and his team are on the come up, which I think has a lot to do with Beard and his recruiting
5. Scott Drew - To be honest, I don’t know much about Drew. Baylor just seems to always be decent.
6. Steve Prohm - Prohm seems to know what he’s doing. Iowa St. is always good and I think that’s because of Prohm.
7. Jamie Dixon - Dixon is just an old dude who seems miserable half the time. TCU seems like they’re either decent or really bad
8. Shaka Smart - The creator of “HAVOC” has not brought havoc to the Big 12
9. Bruce Weber - He stinks.
10. Mike Boynton Jr - OK St. hasn’t been good in a while