Following an impressive run of Big Ten victories by the Northwestern Wildcats, including winning four of their last six, first year coach Chris Collins is quickly earning respect. An equally unimpressive streak of six losses by Illinois has caused some Illini fans to rethink John Groce‘s coaching ability. Is Chris Collins a better coach than John Groce?
Comparing the Coaching Accomplishments
Current Coaching Job Performance
Through January of his first season as Northwestern’s coach, Chris Collins has led the team to a 11-11 record, 4-5 in the Big Ten. Not only did the Wildcats win against the Fighting Illini, but they managed to win against Wisconsin in Madison, an extremely impressive feat. Although the team record is not all that impressive, Coach Collins has transformed Northwestern from the laughing stock of the Big Ten into a nightly threat to win.
In John Groce’s first season as coach the Illini started 12-0 and won the Maui Tournament for the first time in school history. The team managed to beat three top ten teams that season: Gonzaga, Ohio State, and Indiana. Groce managed to coach the team that completely quit on Weber the year before to a six win improvement, an NCAA Tournament appearance, and one victory in the tournament. This season, with a completely overhauled roster, Groce guided the team to a 13-2 start including a win over arch-rival Missouri.
John Groce is only 1-2 versus Northwestern since arriving in Champaign, whereas Chris Collins is 1-0 versus the Illini and Groce. Although both coaches have led their teams to big wins this year, it appears that both teams are on the outside looking in for the NCAA tournament.
Previous Coaching Experience
Both coaches had extensive and successful careers as assistant coaches before assuming their current head coaching duties. Groce has been involved with coaching for 20 years. His two most recent jobs were at Ohio State University and Ohio University. As an assistant at Ohio State, Groce was a part of two Big Ten titles, an NIT Championship, and a national championship game appearance. Unlike Collins, Groce has previous head coaching experience. Groce spent four years as head coach of the Ohio Bobcats, leading them to two MAC conference tournament titles and two NCAA tournament appearances. In 2010, he guided the Bobcats in a huge upset over three-seed Georgetown in the first round of the NCAA tournament, and in 2012 he took the team to the Sweet Sixteen.
Collins has 15 years of coaching experience before this season, the majority of his time spent at his alma mater Duke. During his time as an assistant coach at Duke the team went to three final fours, and won two national titles. Collins also worked as an assistant for Team USA from 2006-2012 and he earned three gold medals (2008 Beijing Olympics, 2010 FIBA Championships, and 2012 London Olympics). During his time with Duke and Team USA, Collins gained valuable experience from the great Coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Recruiting
Class of 2014
John Groce signed two recruits in the Class of 2014. In his first season as coach, Chris Collins managed to bring in five recruits from the Class of 2014. 247 Recruiting ranks Northwestern’s class at 36th in their team rankings, two spots better than Illinois. Groce and the Illini narrowly missed out on Quentin Snider and Cliff Alexander, two of the country’s top recruits, but a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, and Northwestern’s 2014 class ranks higher than Illinois.
Previous and Future Recruiting Classes
While with Ohio State, John Groce won the 2006 National Recruiter of the Year. His first recruiting class as coach of the Illini, the Class of 2013, had five recruits including highly rated guards Kendrick Nunn and Malcolm Hill. Groce has the Illini off to a fast start in the Class of 2015, with D.J. Williams and Aaron Jordan both already verbally committing. Northwestern currently has no commitments for the Class of 2015. Illinois has a much stronger pipeline to the Chicago area than Northwestern does right now. Until Collins can find a way to tap the Chicago talent, Groce and the Illini will continue to have more success than Northwestern.
Groce’s Proven Results Provide Edge
Despite Chris Collins having the better head-to-head record and a slightly better 2014 recruiting class, I give the edge to John Groce because he has already produced results. I believe that Collins is a very skilled coach with the potential to take Northwestern to their first ever NCAA tournament birth in coming seasons. However, John Groce already has three NCAA tournament births as a head coach, and he is 3-0 in the first round (round of 64) of the NCAA tournament.
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Author information
Alex Erwin
Student at Freeburg High School, home of the Midgets. I'm a devoted Fighting Illini basketball fan. When I'm not watching college basketball games I enjoy running, bowling, and pretending that I'm good at basketball during pick-up games.
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