Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
March 22, 2002, Washington Post

The Wizard of College Coaches

There are lots of great coaches in this year's NCAA basketball tournaments.

Coach K, Mike Krzyzewski, has led the Duke Blue Devils to three NCAA titles and nine Final Four appearances. Pat Summitt has won six NCAA titles, and she is back for more with her Tennessee Lady Volunteers. Both Roy Williams of Kansas and Gary Williams of Maryland are looking for their first national titles. Even without a crown, everyone admits that both Williamses can really coach.

But one coach has won more NCAA championships than Coach K and Pat Summitt put together.

John Wooden, the Wizard of Westwood. The greatest coach of them all.

You don't believe it? Just look at the record. John Wooden's University of California at Los Angeles Bruins won 10 NCAA tournaments during the 12 years from 1964 to 1975. In fact, Wooden's teams won an unbelievable seven in a row from 1967 to 1973. The Bruins might have made it nine in a row except they lost to North Carolina State and superstar David Thompson, 80-77, in the semifinals of the 1974 tournament. The double-overtime thriller is still considered one of the greatest games in the history of college basketball.

Wooden won with all sorts of teams. Some were led by big men: Lew Alcindor, later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, was maybe the most unstoppable player the game has ever seen. Bill Walton led UCLA to an unbelievable 88-game winning streak. No team has ever come close to that record.

But Wooden didn't need big men to win. His first championship team did not have a single starter taller than 6 feet 5. That's tall for a regular person, but not very tall for a big-time college basketball player. That year, the lightning-quick Bruins used a full-court zone press that forced bunches of turnovers and led to easy UCLA baskets.

So what made Wooden such a great coach? First, he got great players. But Wooden didn't look for players with just basketball ability. He wanted players with character. Once, Wooden was visiting the home of a star high school player. The player's mother asked Wooden a question. Before the coach could answer, the player interrupted and told his mother that the question was "stupid" and that she should keep quiet. Wooden told the player as he left that he was withdrawing his offer of a scholarship to UCLA. Wooden didn't want that kind of young man on his team.

Once Wooden got the players, he coached them in every detail of the game. Every year Wooden would even show his players precisely how he wanted them to put on their socks. Of course, Wooden coached his teams in more than just how to dress. The UCLA Bruins under Wooden were always well-conditioned, well-drilled and ready to battle. And they almost always came out on top.

Sure, there are great coaches in the tournaments. But none of them can be called the greatest. That title still belongs to John Wooden.

Fred Bowen writes KidsPost's Friday sports column and is the author of sports novels for kids. Write to him at KidsPost, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20071. Or e-mail (with "The Score" in the subject field): kidspost@washpost.com.

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