Put Eddie Sutton in the Hall of Fame, Already, Geez
By Tully Corcoran
The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame isn’t the world’s most exclusive club. If there’s a basketball guy whose name you remember, it’s 50-50 that guy will eventually be in the Naismith Hall of Fame if he isn’t already.
Some of the names who went in last year:
- Maurice Cheeks
- Dino Radja
- Charlie Scott
- Rod Thorn
- Rick Welts
So put Eddie Sutton in the Naismith Hall of Fame, for goodness sake.
This year marks the sixth time the former Kentucky and Oklahoma State coach is a finalist for induction. He’s one of eight college basketball coaches who have won more than 800 games. He’s a four-time national coach of the year. He took Oklahoma State to Final Fours in two different decades.
Surely, his contributions to the sport are at least as memorable and significant as Dino Radja’s.
The Naismith Hall of Fame has 395 people in it. In the beginning, the Naismith would add just a handful of names each year, but it has added at least 10 new names every year this decade.
Since 2010, it has added the following coaches:
- Lefty Driesell
- Robert Hughes
- Muffet McGraw
- Bill Self
- Tom Izzo
- John McClendon
- John Calipari
- Lindsay Gaze
- Tom Heinsohn
- Slick Leonard
- Nolan Richardson
- Gary Williams
- Sylvia Hatchell
- Guy Lewis
- Rick Pitino
- Jerry Tarkanian
- Lidia Alexeeva
- Don Nelson
- Herb Magee
- Tara VanDerveer
- Bob Hurley
I think we can make room for Eddie.