CBS Sports is back with our annual “Coaches Outspoken” series, highlighting the hottest topics and issues in men's college basketball. Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander have interviewed nearly 100 coaches on a variety of topics in recent weeks. The coaches spoke in the background and were given anonymity to offer unfiltered opinions. This is the second part of our 2025 study.
The media often publishes a list of the best coaches in college basketball, which is largely compiled from publicly available information such as wins and championships. This is always subjective, but they are fairly easy to do by putting more or less the same names at the top each time.
But who are the good guys?
Not just good coaches but that's good too menwell, you know, the type of people you wouldn't mind your son playing with someday and spending four years with someday if he developed into a real basketball prospect. The casual person probably doesn't know how to answer this question without any real connections in the sport. But do you know who has real relationships in sports?
Coaches!
With that in mind, Matt Norlander and I asked more than 100 college coaches the following question:
If your son was a player, what college coach would you want him to spend four years with?
(NOTE: A list of more than a dozen coaches made up the remaining 21% of the vote.)
Quotes that stood out
About Matt Painter:
- “He's like a brother to me. [He's] one of the most sincere, eloquent, compassionate, sensitive [people]. Elite Thinker [and] an elite coach who has achieved less and… his player development and the way he gets these kids to stay amazes me. He's a very, very good person.”
- “Great coach. Best person. Honest man. Tells his players what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. Genuinely cares about his program and the game of college basketball. Players understand their jobs very well.”
- “His program is at the highest level and has shown that they are doing the right things to retain players. This way, they have a great experience, they will grow and become better people, and they will always hear the truth.”
About Tom Izzo:
- “Izzo is old school and new school. He teaches the game the right way – and I think he has the utmost respect from his players. If you play for him, you get an Izzo coach for life.”
- “If he wants to coach four more years, and God knows why he wants to, then the answer for me is Izzo. While I truly believe the concept of 'leader of men' is bullshit when it comes to coaches developing players, Izzo comes close and his players tend to love him and always come back to the program.”
- “Tom Izzo is “old school” in a good way, which is what most college students want/want. His players develop on the court, win and, more importantly, become family members for life. At least from my point of view, it seems real. And if it were my son, I would want the same for him.”
Conclusion
Now that the 2025 Hidden Coaches series has concluded, it's fair to assume that no one has had a better few weeks than Matt Painter and Purdue. When we polled coaches, we learned that they thought the Boilermakers would be the best team this season, and Purdue's point guard Braden Smith will best player. The coaches also described Painter as best Xs and Os trainer in the sport and among the favorites to next become national champion for the first time. And now they've told us that if they had a son going to play basketball in college, the person they would most trust to have a wonderful and valuable experience is Painter.
Candid Coaches: Who will be the best college basketball player in 2025-26?
Matt Norlander
All this is not surprising.
The truth is, there are a lot of great coaches who run great programs who are also good guys – but it's no surprise that Painter led all vote-getters when this question was asked. For lack of a better way to put it, people just love it and enjoy it. I don't want to portray him as a saint, if only because I don't personally know any saints (and that seems like an odd place to set the bar). But what I can tell you is that in 20-plus years of covering college basketball, I don't think I've ever heard another coach say anything disparaging about Painter. He is widely respected as a coach and generally liked as a man. Not everyone in the sport fits that criteria while still being on track to someday become a member of the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame. But Painter clearly does, and the results from the last question of the 2025 Stealth Coaches illustrate it.
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