RSS
Facebook
Twitter
E-PrinceAs the school year comes to a close, the ‘Prince’ will bring you the best of Princeton sports in the 2011-12 season. Today, we begin our countdown of the year’s top 10 head coaches. Stay tuned as we complete ...(back to the article)
The opinions expressed here are those of the individual commenters and do not necessarily represent the views of The Daily Princetonian Publishing Company, Inc. We do not take responsibility for the opinions, facts, or claims presented by individual commenters, and reserve the right to moderate or delete inappropriate comments.
So who's left? My predictions:
5. Fencing (men's and women's, same coach, great NCAA result)
4. Men's Lacrosse (to the NCAA tourney)
3. Men's Track & Field (Heps champs)
2. Women's Basketball (undefeated Ivy, to the NCAA tourney)
1. Water Polo (men's and women's, same coach, both to NCAAs)
But that leaves out squash, who surely deserves recognition for their spectacular season... We have so many great teams!
I agree with fangirl - Princeton is fortunate to have many exceptional coaches and for the Prince to try to rank them on a single season does not capture the sustained excellence that so many of them have achieved through consistently strong recruiting, leadership and performance.
Yeah, quite an enviable record. In the case of some "veterans" like Rob Orr (men's swimming) or Bob Callahan (men's squash), their teams have performed at such a high level for so many years, that there often seems an inclination to ask, "What have you done for us lately?"
Check out their overall Won-Loss records at Princeton, and you'll be amazed at how successful they have been, year in, year out. Too often taken for granted.
#1 Luis Nicolao. Huge year :)
Fred Samara has coached a team to a second straight sweep of all three track championships....#1 or bust.
Princeton has a storied tradition in sports and has oodles of championships across many sports to show for it. However, no sport in recent Princeton history has eclipsed the staggering success of the mens' cross country / track & field program, coached by Dolan / Samara. They have just completed their second "triple crown," i.e., HEPS wins, two years in a row, in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. They have also produced numerous NCAA All-Americans, and this year, have a candidate on the Bowerman watch list (equivalent to a Heisman candidate in football). There is no other program in Princeton, competing in all three seasons, that comes close to this achievement, some of the other spectacular successes not withstanding, which, while clearly spectacular, are not of the same sustained, exceptional level of achievement.
Post scriptum to fangirl's comment:
In addition to outstanding Ivy and NCAA results, fencing's Zoltan Dudas, Szilvia Voros and Hristo Hristov have also guided our fencers to national championships and the 2012 Olympic team...PJK
http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2012/05/07/30912/
Whom did the coaches beat 10-6?
We're lucky to have Chris Ayers. Happy he's a tiger and thankful for all he's given to the wrestling program so far. Can't wait to watch the progress year to year. Go Tigers!