Poll Indicates Male Coaches Keep Women’s Game In Place

The quantum growth of women’s basketball has not escaped the attention of the Division I men’s coaches. But a large majority of the men’s coaches clearly feel any comparison to their game is a matter of apples versus oranges.

Some 113 men’s coaches responded to a recent Seattle PostIntelligencer poll on a variety of issues.

Not surprisingly, the results regarding women differed widely from a poll of Division I women’s coaches (both men and women) released late in 1994 by College Sports Magazine.

Q: Will there be a woman coach of an NCAA Division I men’s team within the next five years?

A: No, 81 coaches’ votes; yes, 23. While 78 percent of the respondents in the P-I poll don’t see a woman coaching a men’s team within five years, some 65 percent answered negatively in the College Sports Magazine survey.

Q: Could the best women’s player at your school make the playing rotation on your team?

A: No, 105; yes, 1. In the CSM survey, 21 percent of the women’s coaches answered yes.

Q: Let’s say a TV network comes to you and proposes a midnight (local time) game, with $100,000 going to each school. The $100,000 will stay within your basketball budget. Without regard to the specific opponent, if the decision were left to you, would you accept?

A: Yes, 90; no, 16.

Q: Who is the best TV commentator on college basketball?

A: Billy Packer 27; Bill Raftery 24; Dick Vitale 13; Clark Kellogg 12; Jim Nantz 4; James Brown 3; Dan Bonner 3; Dick Enberg 2.

Q: Which college coach is the most overrated in the country?

A: Dale Brown, Louisiana State, 21; John Thompson, Georgetown, 10; Jim Boeheim, Syracuse, 10; Jim Harrick, UCLA, 4; Dean Smith, North Carolina, 4; Steve Fisher, Michigan, 3; Todd Bozeman, California, 3; Bob Knight, Indiana, 2; Lute Olson, Arizona, 2; Norm Stewart, Missouri, 2; Rick Pitino, Kentucky, 2.