[Papa John]

If my math is correct, Johnny Dawkins has coached Stanford to 108 wins during his 5+ seasons. This places him in a tie with John W. Bunn for fourth place behind Mike Montgomery (393), Howard Dallmar (256) and Everett S. Dean (167). In terms of winning percentage (57.1%), however, Dawkins is in eighth place out of 17 Stanford coaches. In fact his winning percentage is, within a tenth of a percent, equal to the overall winning percentage of the program. This is just further evidence of what we already know: While Dawkins' win total is impressive by Stanford standards, it is the result of a mediocre performance over a (too) long tenure.

So my question, on the eve of a big game with our rivals across the Bay, is: What constitutes acceptable expectations for the men's basketball team? Annual trips to the NCAA tournament are a given for me, but is that enough? Mike Montgomery's teams made three Sweet Sixteens over 18 seasons, and, yeah, I remember hearing folks complain. So would a Sweet Sixteen every four years be satisfactory?

[Papa John]

If my math is correct, Johnny Dawkins has coached Stanford to 108 wins during his 5+ seasons. This places him in a tie with John W. Bunn for fourth place behind Mike Montgomery (393), Howard Dallmar (256) and Everett S. Dean (167). In terms of winning percentage (57.1%), however, Dawkins is in eighth place out of 17 Stanford coaches. In fact his winning percentage is, within a tenth of a percent, equal to the overall winning percentage of the program. This is just further evidence of what we already know: While Dawkins' win total is impressive by Stanford standards, it is the result of a mediocre performance over a (too) long tenure.

So my question, on the eve of a big game with our rivals across the Bay, is: What constitutes acceptable expectations for the men's basketball team? Annual trips to the NCAA tournament are a given for me, but is that enough? Mike Montgomery's teams made three Sweet Sixteens over 18 seasons, and, yeah, I remember hearing folks complain. So would a Sweet Sixteen every four years be satisfactory?