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Home arrow Sports arrow College Coaching's Unsung Legends

College Coaching's Unsung Legends

by Jim Weber
HOFN.com Exclusive

We already know all about Joe Paterno, Mike Krzyzewski, Pat Summitt and all the other coaching legends of the Big Three - the Football Bowl Subdivision and men and women's Division I basketball.

But there's a whole world of coaches in the NCAA, NAIA and JUCO ranks out there who are equally deserving of admiration for spending decades teaching life-long lessons to college kids - and winning lots of games at much lower salaries. Unfortunately, they go almost completely unnoticed because their sports aren't nationally televised, and their athletes rarely go on to million dollar contracts.

That is, until now. As a tribute to the best coaches outside the Big Three, here are the Best College Coaches You've (Probably) Never Heard Of. One criterion we used for inclusion into our Honor Roll was a minimum of 20 years continuous service at a current institution.

The Honor Roll

Andy Banachowski

Andy Banachowski

School: UCLA
Sport: Women's Volleyball
Season: 42nd

Banachowski has been the Bruins coach so long his tenure goes all the way back to when he was in college. He also had a pretty good mentor. He was playing on the men's team at the time for the legendary Al Scates (remember that name). He's won three national titles with the Bruins, including back-to-back crowns in 1990 and '91.

John Gagliardi

John Gagliardi

School: St. John's (MN)
Sport: Football
Season: 60th

This 81-year old is known for his unusual coaching techniques. He has no whistles or tackles in practice, and they tend to last about a half hour. And he insists players call him "John." He's the all-time winningest coach in college football history by a landslide with 458 career victories. Second-place Joe Paterno has won only 380. After going nearly three decades without a national title, Galiardi proved he's still in touch with today's game with a perfect 14-0 season in 2003 for his fourth Division III title.

Beth Anders

Beth Anders

School: Old Dominion
Sport: Field Hockey
Season: 25th

She's been referred to as the Bobby Knight of field hockey, and it's an apt comparison. They're both the winningest college coaches in their respective sports and intimidate opponents with their mere presence. Anders has claimed nine national titles for a school not known for its athletic prowess. The Monarchs won three straight NCAA titles and 66 consecutive games at one point during the 1990s. ODU hasn't won a national title since 2000 and is just 6-10 this season, but don't you dare write her off, or else she will hunt you down.

Mike Candrea

Mike Candrea

School: Arizona
Sport: Softball
Season: 22nd

Candrea and the rest of the U.S. Olympic softball team are probably still in shock from the devastating loss to Japan in the Gold Medal game of the Beijing Olympics. It was a rare missed opportunity for Candrea, who has built Arizona into a softball powerhouse, second only to UCLA in national championships (UCLA has 10, Arizona has 8). He's also a motivation expert who loves to see how his players react under pressure, even resorting to such hi-jinx as intentionally getting the team bus lost.



 

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