Old-timers' game
At the University of Georgia and other winning schools, veteran coaches are the key to victory
Happy coaches. When golf coach Haack, 41, arrived at Georgia in 1996, he found the facilities sorely wanting. With Dooley's blessing, he proceeded to raise over 80 percent of the money needed to build a $1.5 million practice range and a plush $800,000 clubhouse. Georgia men's golf won the national championship in 1999; the women's team won it last year.
Keeping those coaches is another challenge. Dooley has had to raise coaches' salaries to ward off suitors from rival schools and has given most of the coaches multiyear contracts.
Coaching longevity seems to be the Georgia rule, though football--again--is the notable exception. The golden goose of Bulldog sports is on its third head coach in seven seasons. If that trend continues, the other coaches may have cause to worry. "To a lot of Georgia people, you can talk about nine national championships," says Dooley, "but if football isn't doing well, they don't hear you."
Winners and losers
Determining wins and losses isn't as easy as it may seem. The first list provides a school's winning percentage for all men's and women's school-to-school contests--such as football, basketball, and soccer. The second list is the school's ranking in NCAA tournaments dominated by multi-school competitions, such as gymnastics and tennis. In figuring a school's rank, the winning percentage counted 75 percent and the tournament rank 25 percent.
School Winning Tourney percentage sport
r ank
TOP
1. Stanford University (CA) 72.2 1
2. University of Arizona 69.8 5
3. University of Southern California 71.3 12
4. University of California-Los Angeles 69.1 9
5. University of Nebraska-Lincoln 73.7 29
6. University of Florida 67.6 6
7. University of Notre Dame (IN) 76.0 37
8. Louisiana State Univ.-Baton Rouge 66.7 8
9. Univ. of North Carolina-Chapel Hill 68.4 31
10.University of Miami (FL) 68.6 43
11.University of Wisconsin-Madison 65.8 30
12.University of Oklahoma 65.2 21
13.Ohio State University-Columbus 64.1 3
14.Brigham Young University-Provo (UT) 64.6 19
15.Clemson University (SC) 65.5 38
16.Pepperdine University (CA) 67.4 54
17.Florida State University 67.8 65
18.University of Tennessee-Knoxville 66.8 57
19.University of Alabama 64.0 22
20.University of California-Berkeley 62.7 10
BOTTOM
302.Fordham University (NY) 35.3 None
303.Virginia Military Institute 35.0 None
304.Nicholls State University (LA) 34.6 None
305.Univ. of North Carolina-Asheville 34.3 None
306.Lafayette College (PA) 34.0 None
307.University of Missouri-Kansas City 34.0 None
308.Mount St. Mary's College (MD) 33.8 None
309.High Point University (NC) 33.5 None
310.Centenary College of Louisiana 32.7 None
SUNY-University at Buffalo 30.4 185
312.SUNY-Albany 32.0 None
313.Canisius (NY) 31.4 None
314.Tennessee State University 31.0 None
315.Portland State University (OR) 27.1 193
316.University of Tennessee-Martin 28.5 None
317.Mississippi Valley State University 28.2 None
318.Chicago State University 26.9 None
319.Coppin State College (MD) 25.6 None
320.University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff 16.4 None
321.Univ. of Maryland-Eastern Shore 12.3 None
The men's, women's, and coed NCAA tournaments dominated by multischool competitions include the following sports: fencing, gymnastics, riflery, swimming and diving, track and field (indoor and outdoor), wrestling, cross-country, golf, rowing, and tennis.
advertisement
