All season long, Larry Eustachy has been the butt of jokes.
Whether it’s opposing student sections or shock jocks or twitter, any time you mention Eustachy and Colorado State, his past -- his alcoholism -- comes up. (And it’s not funny, but I’ll leave it to Andy Glockner to explain why.)
But here’s the thing: you can make fun of him if you want, but what you cannot argue is that Eustachy just so happens to be one of the best basketball coaches around.
Credit for building this Colorado State team has to go to Tim Miles, who is now the head coach at Nebraska, but Eustachy can certainly take credit for guiding this team into the top 25 and helping them earn a No. 8 seed in the tournament. It’s done it before. The Rams are the fourth program that he’s taken dancing. From the AP:Along the way, the Rams jumped into the rankings for the first time in 59 years and were runners-up to No. 15 New Mexico in the ultra-tough Mountain West Conference, which sent five teams to the NCAA tournament.
Eustachy also guided Southern Miss, Iowa State and Utah State to the NCAA tournament before coming to Fort Collins when Miles left for Nebraska.
“I think coaching is really overrated,” Eustachy insisted Sunday. “Particularly in this situation. All coaches are pretty good if they get into the tournament. Players win games. Coaches don’t win them.”
Coaching may be overrated, but Eustachy is still one of the best in the business.
College basketball is a better place when he’s relevant.
You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.