Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim and University of Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun are two of the best coaches in college basketball and they’ve been matching wits in the Big East since Calhoun took the coaching job at UConn in 1986. They’ve each won at least one National Championship and are two of only eight Division I coaches to win 800 games. Fittingly, the two Jims were inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame together in 2005.
So I ask you, which one is the better coach?
TALE OF THE TAPE
National Championships
Boeheim – 1 (2003) (and a Keith Smart jump shot away from a 2nd)
Calhoun – 2 (1999 and 2004)
Final Four Appearances
Boeheim – 3 (1987, 1996, 2003)
Calhoun – 3 (1999, 2004, 2009)
Regular Season Big East Titles
Boeheim – 8
Calhoun – 9
Big East Tournament Championships
Boeheim – 5
Calhoun – 7
Players Sent to the NBA
Boeheim – 29
Calhoun – 23
20 Win Seasons
Boeheim – 33 in 35 seasons
Calhoun – 18 in 25 seasons at UConn
Career Wins
Boeheim – 855
Calhoun – 840 (601 with UConn, 239 with Northeastern)
Big East Coach of the Year Awards
Boeheim – 4
Calhoun – 5
The Knicks of the Nineties 