Guru's AP Poll Trivia: Milestone Time for ND's McGraw and Northwestern's McKeown

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

When Northwestern got ranked this week in The Associated Press women’s poll for the first time since 1996, it put Joe McKeown in rare company, making it the second time this season a Philadelphia-born coach hit a significant milestone with their teams rankings.

The first was earlier when Chattanooga re-entered from a long drought and when that occurred, Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame coach Jim Foster became the first to guide four different teams in the rankings.

His first came right out of Philly at Saint Joseph’s who leaped back into the rankings in the mid-late 1980s thanks to the play of one future USA pro star Debbie Black, who is now head coach at Eastern Illinois.

Then it was on to Vanderbilt in the Southeastern Conference and that was followed by a stint at Ohio State, where Foster’s Buckeyes had several successful runs in the Big Ten Conference.

McKeown in the 1980s had New Mexico State in the poll for six appearances before moving on and making George Washington into a national power.

The Northwestern ranking and using a bit of lingo change because of Foster’s breakthrough makes McKeown the 10th coach with three or more teams and obviously one of nine in the threesome group behind Foster’s quartet.

The best combined total making her high up the all-time and active lists belongs to C. Vivian Stringer off her work first at Cheyney in suburban Philadelphia – seems to be a trend – then at Iowa and finally at Rutgers.

Gary Blair is also high up the list with stints at Stephen F. Austin, Arkansas and currently at Texas A&M.

Moving Up With Muffet

Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw, another Philly-bred mentor, passed former Auburn coach Joe Ciampi when she hit 291 appearances to land at 14th all-time. Technically one list has her at 15th because there’s a clump of shared appearances with Louisiana Tech’s Leon Barmore and Sonja Hogg were called co-coaches.

Subtract that number and Barmore drops several places behind McGraw.

McGraw’s total makes her eighth on the active list and she’s 10th on the all-time list for getting her total at one school.

Tennessee coach emeritus Pat Summitt, who only missed 14 polls during her long reign with the Lady Vols, is a runaway in terms of being at the top of the all-time list, while Georgia’s Andy Landers is second all-time and first active after Summitt’s stepping down in Knoxville three seasons ago.

McGraw’s all-time AP total is also the Irish all-time total and by getting to 291 this week, Notre Dame tied Ohio State for 17th.

Rutgers moved into an 11th place tie with LSU for 11th with 367 appearances.

This week the state of Kentucky duo – UK’s Matthew Mitchell and Louisville’s Jeff Walz made their 100th appearance together in Monday’s poll, which ties them for 21 on the active list.

In terms of conference representation in this week’s AP group, the rerturn of California and the Northwestern arrival boosted the Big Ten and Pac-12 up to four teams each, which still trails the five out of the Southeastern and a conference-best six-team group out of the Atlantic Coast.

The Big 12 has just one in Top 5 Baylor. Then from the non-power league’s explosive member UConn sits atop at No. 1 for a best-ever 181st time to make The American proud.

Princeton out of the Ivies continues to move forward on the defeats of others as did Delaware several years ago with Elena Delle Donne doing her collegiate thing.

The Tigers jumped from 16th to 14th as they stay unbeaten.

Meanwhile, there were no games to go to Tuesday but the Guru will be at Saint Joseph’s Wednesday night when Duquesne visits Hagan Arena on Hawk Hill and that is the only game on the Guru’s 10-school PhilahoopsW card.

Since the Guru didn’t do a complete local roundup since Friday – though some notes are coming off some of the action – here is the Guru’s word file that is manually updated weekly after the two AP historical databases are refreshed and we will see some of you on Hawk Hill.

By Mel Greenberg
Women’s Hoops Guru
(Feb. 23, 2015)
Quick hits on AP poll (week 16 – for coaches’ appearances week No. 16)
(This is the 688th poll after week 16 for 2014-16). (Records on pages through week 16)

Coaches with Four Ranked Teams
Jim Foster (St. Joe-35), (Vanderbilt-164), (Ohio St.-170), (Chattanooga-5), 374

Coaches with Three Ranked Teams

C. Vivian Stringer (Cheyney-85), (Iowa-155), (Rutgers-186), 426
Gary Blair (Stephen F. Austin-79), (Arkansas-67), (Texas A&M-168), 314
Marianne Stanley (Old Dominion-141), (Southern Cal-24), (Stanford*-18), 183
Lin Dunn (Miami-2), (Mississippi-1), (Purdue-130), 133
Joe McKeown (New Mexico St.-6), (Geo. Wash.-110), (Northwestern-1) 117
Don Perrelli (Northwestern-52), (S. Conn.-20), (St. John’s-1), 73
Tom Collen (Colorado St.-34), (Louisville-17), (Arkansas-9), 60
Sharon Fanning-Otis (Kentucky-4), (Miss. St.-48), (Chattannoga-4), 56
Debbie Yow (Florida-2), (Kentucky-21), (Oral Roberts-1), 24

Co-Coaches
Kittie Blakemore, Scott Harrelson – West Virginia 8
Sonja Hogg, Leon Barmore – Louisiana Tech 51
Jill Hutchison, Linda Fischer – Illinois St. 3
Jim Jarrett, Joyce Patterson – Georgia St. 1
Marianne Stanley, Amy Tucker – Stanford 18
Jim Bolla, Sheila Strike – UNLV 18

Coaches All Time Ranking Appearances

1. **- Pat Summitt, Tennessee – 618 (missed just 14 polls in entire AP history)
2. Andy Landers, Georgia – 522
3. Tara VanDerveer (2 schools – Ohio St., Stanford) – 482
4. Geno Auriemma, Connecticut – 442
5. C. Vivian Stringer (3 schools – Cheyney, Iowa, Rutgers) – 427
6. **-Jody Conradt, Texas – 395
7. Sylvia Hatchell, North Carolina – 380
8. Jim Foster (4 schools – St. Joseph’s, Vandy, Ohio St., Chattanooga) – 374
9. **-Rene Portland (2 schools – St. Joseph, Penn St.) – 336
10. **-Debbie Ryan, Virginia – 328
11. **- Kay Yow, North Caro. St. – 326
12. **-Leon Barmore, Louisiana Tech (51-shared with Sonja Hogg) – 325
13. Gary Blair, (3 schools – Stephen F. Austin, Arkansas, Texas A&M) – 314
14.**- Gail Goestenkors (2 schools – Duke, Texas) – 295
15. Muffet McGraw, Notre Dame – 291
16. **-Joe Ciampi, Auburn – 290
17. **-Sue Gunter (2 schools – Stephen F. Austin, LSU) – 270
18. &&-Joan Bonvicini (2 schools – Long Beach, Arizona) - 267
19. **-Marsha Sharp, Texas Tech – 264
20. **-Van Chancellor (2 schools – Mississippi, LSU) – 261
21. Kim Mulkey, Baylor 244
22. **-Chris Weller, Maryland - 227
23. **-Theresa Grentz (2 schools – Rutgers, Illinois) – 225
24. Sherri Coale, Oklahoma 224
25. Joanne P. McCallie (2 schools – Michigan St., Duke) – 221
26. Brenda Frese (2 schools – Minnesota, Maryland) -- 196
26. **-Marianne Stanley (3 schools – ODU, Southern Cal, Stanford*) – 183
28. **-Paul Sanderford (2 schools – W. Kentucky, Nebraska) – 182
29. **-Marian Washington, Kansas – 176
**-Not in college or not in as a head coach

Active Coaches-All Time AP Ranking Appearances

1. Andy Landers, Georgia – 522
2. Tara VanDerveer (2 schools – Ohio St., Stanford) – 482
3. Geno Auriemma, Connecticut – 442
4. C.Vivian Stringer (3 schools – Cheyney, Iowa, Rutgers) – 427
5. Sylvia Hatchell, North Carolina – 380
6. Jim Foster (3 schools – St. Joseph’s, Vandy, Ohio St., Chattanooga) – 374
7. Gary Blair, (3 schools – Stephen F. Austin, Arkansas, Texas A&M) – 314
8. Muffet McGraw, Notre Dame – 291
9.&&--Joan Bonvicini (2 schools – Long Beach, Arizona) - 267
10. Kim Mulkey, Baylor – 244
11. Sherri Coale, Oklahoma – 224
12. Joanne P. McCallie (2 schools - Michigan St., Duke) – 221
13. Brenda Frese (2 schools, Minnesota, Maryland) – 196
14. Melanie Balcomb (2 schools – Xavier, Vanderbilt) – 161
15. Bill Fennelly, (2 schools – Toledo, Iowa St.) – 155
16. Doug Bruno, DePaul – 148
17. @!@!-Kristy Curry (2 schools – Purdue, Texas Tech) – 136
18. Joe McKeown (3 schools – N.Mexico St., Geo. Wash., Northwestern) – 117
19. ==== Jim Davis, Clemson, 106
20.)))-Chris Gobrecht (Washington) - 104
21. Matthew Mitchell, Kentucky – 100
21. Jeff Walz, Louisville – 100
23. !!!- Jane Albright (2 schools – N. Illinois, Wisconsin) – 96
24. Charli Turner Thorne, Arizona St. – 94
25. Sue Semrau, Florida St. – 86
26. Sharon Versyp, Purdue – 84
26. Connie Yori (Creighton, Nebraska) – 84
28. Dawn Staley (Temple, South Carolina) – 82
29. Mike Carey, West Virginia – 70
30. Joanne Boyle, California (2 schools – California, Virginia) – 61
30. Suzy Merchant, Michigan St. – 61
30. Coquese Washington, Penn State – 61
33. Holly Warlick, Tennessee – 56
34. Lisa Bluder (2 schools – Iowa, Drake) – 54
34. Bonnie Henrickson, (2 schools -- Virginia Tech, Kansas) – 54
36. ***-Kathy Olivier, UCLA 52
37. ^^^-Kevin McGuff, Xavier – 50
38. ____Terri Williams-Flournoy, Georgetown – 48
39. Lindsay Gottlieb, California 47
40. Jim Littell, Oklahoma State – 45
41. Harry Perretta, Villanova – 44
42.@@@@- Kelly Graves, Gonzaga – 38
42. Quentin Hillsman, Syracuse – 38
42. #####-Jeff Mittie, TCU – 38
45.%=%= Matt Bollant, Wis.-Green Bay – 35
45. Katie Meier, Miami –35
47. Lisa Stockton, Tulane – 34
48. $$$- June Daugherty (2 schools – Boise St.,Washington) – 32
49. MaChelle Joseph, Georgia Tech – 31

&&-Active at Seattle; )))-Active at Yale; $$$-Active at Wash. St.; !!!-Active at Nevada; @@@@-Active at Oregon; ^^^-Active at Ohio State.; ==== Active at Tenn Tech; ____Active at Auburn; %=%= Active at Illinois; @!@!-Active at Alabama, #####-active at Kansas State.


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