Roy Williams to Hubert Davis? Coach K for Jon Scheyer? Phil Jackson to Tim Floyd? What it’s like to be an iconic coach

What a first season for Hubert Davis as North Carolina Tar Heels Head Coach. Roy Williams’ successor put his team on an epic run through NCAA Tournamentculminating in a trip to national championship game. The good news for Tar Heels loyalists is that Davis got to the ground running. It’s never been easy for “the guy after the guy” – the coach whose mission is the impossible to follow a man who has shaped a program over the years that won records and championships. . Even if you perform well, you are constantly being compared to an actual icon.

UNC’s Tobacco Road competitors, Blue Devil Duke, can hope for similar success next season. After a 47-year coaching career and five national titles, Mike Krzyzewski is retiring and Jon Scheyer will take over with some huge boots to fill.

Here’s how other coaches have succeeded in succeeding some of the best in the game.

Phil Jackson to Tim Floyd (Chicago Bulls)

This is extremely unfair to Floyd – not only does he have to track Jackson’s 545-193 record and six NBA titles, he also has to do it without Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman or Steve Kerr. Floyd scored 49-190 during his time with the Bulls and resigned in December 2001.

It’s not easy to replace the guy they named the trophy for. And no wonder – Lombardi has won five titles, two of which are Super Bowls, along with an 89-29-4 record. Bengtson succeeded him after the 1967 season but only reached a 20-21-1 difference with a single win of the season. He resigned before the 1971 season.

Few others in history represent college women’s basketball like Pat Summitt. She coached Tennessee from 1974 until her retirement in 2012, setting a record 1,098-208 with eight NCAA tournament titles. Warlick coached the team through 2019, and although she hasn’t won a title, she hasn’t faltered – Tennessee hit 172-67 with three Sweet 16 appearances and two Elite Eight appearances during his term.

John Wooden to Gene Bartow (UCLA Bruins men’s basketball)

Imagine following a college basketball icon who has won 10 NCAA championships, seven of them in a row. That is the task facing Gene Bartow as he succeeds John Wooden after the latter won his final title in the 1974-75 season. Oddly enough, Bartow actually has a whole better win percentage (0.836 vs. Wooden’s 0.808) with UCLA, but only stayed there for two seasons and made it to the Finals once.

Tom Landry to Jimmy Johnson (Dallas Cowboys)

Tom Landry didn’t have a winning record until his seventh season as head coach of the Cowboys – which makes his final run of 250-162 with two Super Bowl titles back. should be more impressive. Johnson, formerly the Miami Hurricanes coach, started his Cowboys tenure in a similar fashion, going 8-24 in his first two seasons, before turning the tide and winning a pair of Super Bowls. with the American team. Speaking of following an icon…

Don Shula to Jimmy Johnson (Miami Dolphins)

Shula remains the NFL’s most winning head coach with 328 regular-season wins. He has a win percentage of 0.659 with the Dolphins and led them to two Super Bowl championships, including the league’s only undefeated season. The Dolphins hired Johnson as Shula’s successor for the 1996-97 season. Despite not coaching from 1993-94, Johnson kept the Dolphins respectable, leading them to a 36-28 record with two playoff wins in four seasons.

Few managers have had a better baseball run than Joe Torre with the Yankees. In 12 seasons managing the team, he has a win rate of 0.605 and won four World Series titles, three of them in a row. The team fell to third place in the AL East in Girardi’s first season, but came back with his sophomore effort to win the 2009 World Series championship. New York will have a 0.562 win rate in the tournament. Girardi’s tenure and he left when his contract expired after the 2017 season.

McGraw’s Fighting Irish competed in the annual NCAA tournament from 1995 to 2019 and won it all twice, in 2001 and 2018. She hit 848-251 with a 0.772 win rate during her time at Notre Dame. Ivey’s first season as her successor was cut short because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but she excelled in the Round of 16 Sweet in second place and had a 34-20 record. shared.

Bowden won 21 bowl games against Florida State, including two national championships, with an overall record of 304-97-4. Jimbo Fisher hit right where he left off, winning the title in his fourth season with the team and setting an 83-23 record with a win percentage of 0.783 – a point higher than Bowden’s. . Fisher stayed with the team from 2010 to 2017 before moving on to coach Texas A&M.

Barry Switzer to Gary Gibbs (Oklahoma Sooners football)

Switzer won three national titles and a 157-29-4 record as head coach of Oklahoma, but resigned amid several scandals in 1989. Gibbs faced a challenge of some NCAA sanctions on the Sooners program, but still managed a record 44-23-2 with two losing streaks during his time as head coach.