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By gosalukis.webs.com

With the recent addition of Marcus Belcher to the Southern Illinois University Saluki Men's Basketball coaching staff, I began wondering about how the Saluki staff compared to the other staffs around the Missouri Valley Conference. After some research, we've decided to rank the staffs from best to worst. We brought experience, success, and past work into consideration as we ranked the staffs. If you disagree, please let us know by commenting at the end of this blog entry.

1. Creighton

The coaches: Dana Altman (head coach), Darian DeVries, Brian Fish, and Todd Eisner.

Altman is the league's longest tenured coach by far and continually has his Bluejays at or near the top of the MVC standings. He has assembled a coaching staff that helps keep the tradition going in Omaha, by both out-recruiting and out-coaching the rest of the league. De Vries has been on the Creighton bench for 11 seasons - making him the longest staying assistant in the league with Rodney Watson?s recent departure from SIU. Fish has coached seven years in Omaha, with Eisner working for four years. The staff has coached the likes of Kyle Korver and led the team to a decade full of post season berths.

2. Illinois State

The coaches: Tim Jankovich (head coach), Rob Judson (2), Anthony Beane (4 -2), and Paris Parham.

Jankovich came to Illinois State from Kansas just two years ago but has wasted no time since arriving in Normal. Despite no NCAA appearances to show for his efforts, Jankovich has led the Redbirds to 20 win seasons and helped take them back to the top half of the league's standings. He has a ton of knowledge, after helping Bill Self take the Jayhawks deep into the NCAA Tournament multiple times. Jankovich has surrounded himself with a coaching staff full of experience. Judson has been at ISU for two seasons but is the former head coach of Northern Illinois. Beane has been at ISU for four seasons, but has been in the coaching ranks for nearly 13 years, working for a group of mid majors and junior college teams across the midwest. Parham is still relatively new to the college ranks but is a former successful high school coach from Chicago and has strong recruiting ties to the city.

3. Northern Iowa

The coaches: Ben Jacobson (head coach), Kyle Green, P.J. Hogan, and Ben Johnson.

Jacobson has been the coach of UNI for just three years but is no stranger to the Panthers' bench or the MVC. Jacobson spent nearly half of his 12 years as an assistant working for Greg McDermott in Cedar Falls. As an assistant and head coach, he has helped UNI establish themselves as one of the routinely good teams in the MVC. Last year, the Panthers took home their first MVC regular season title and went on to the NCAAs. Green is in his second stint as an assistant at UNI, previously serving from '01-'03 before coaching at Marquette briefly and returning. He is the top assistant and in charge of recruiting. Hogan has been an assistant for the Panthers for six years, and Johnson just completed his first year as an assistant after playing for Northwestern and Minnesota.

4. Bradley

The coaches: Jim Les (head coach), Eric Buescher, Alvin Brooks, and Steve Merfeld.

Les has spent seven seasons in Peoria and after a slow start, he has turned the Braves into one of the more dangerous teams in the Valley. BU went to the Sweet Sixteen in 2006, and has followed that up with three more postseason appearances. Buescher has been on the bench during every season of the transformation from the bottom of the league to a yearly contender. The other two coaches, Brooks and Merfeld, came to BU recently, after time as head coaches. Brooks worked in the JUCO ranks, while Merfeld was a rival of BU, while coaching Evansville. The staff is full of experience and does a good job of recruiting.

5. Wichita State

The coaches: Greg Marshall (head coach), Earl Grant, Chris Jans, and Marty Gross.

In his two years in Wichita, Marshall has yet to find the same kind of success that he had at Wintrop. However, he has set the team up for success with an extremely experienced coaching staff. Grant has been an assistant for eleven seasons, previously working at The Citadel and at Winthrop with Marshall. Jans has been in the collegiate basketball world for 19 seasons, working as a head coach for 10 of those years. Gross is no newcomer to college hoops. He has spent over 30 years as an assistant but just four of those years for the Shockers.

6. Southern Illinois

The coaches: Chris Lowery (head coach), Lance Irvin, Brad Korn, and Marcus Belcher.

In 2002, the Salukis' coaching staff was one of the best around, consisting of Bruce Weber (now the head coach of Illinois), Matt Painter (now the head coach of Purdue), Lowery, and longtime assistant Rodney Watson. The only remaining member of that staff is Lowery, after Watson left after 21 seasons to be the head coach at Southern Indiana. The Salukis staff is now relatively young and consists of three former Saluki players - Lowery, Korn, and Belcher. Irvin is a longtime assistant, with a ton of stops in his career, but was hired due to his ties with the Mac Irvin Fire - a top AAU team in Chicago. Korn was promoted to the assistant job from graduate assistant a few seasons ago and is well liked by Lowery. Belcher was just hired to replace Watson. Belcher was an assistant at Evansville before leaving to join his alma mater. With Lowery as the coach, SIU has been to the Sweet 16 and the NCAA tournament but is hoping their new staff can help the team rebound from two disappointing seasons.

7. Evansville

The coaches: Marty Simmons (head coach), Jimmy Elgas, and Ben Wierzba. (One vacant spot)

Simmons has started to turn things around in his two years in Evansville. The former SIUE head coach and his staff led UE to a fifth place tie in the MVC standings last year. In just his second season, he turned a 9-21 season into a 17 win season and a berth in post season play. The Aces had their highest winning percentage since 2000. Joining Simmons on the bench is Elgas and Wierzba, who have stops at other programs on their resumes. Elgas notably worked at Kansas State and Wierzba worked for Simmons at SIUE. The staff has one vacancy after Marcus Belcher left UE for his alma mater in Carbondale.

8. Missouri State

The coaches: Cuonzo Martin (head coach), Jon Harris, Kent Williams, and Steve Woodberry.

Martin has the qualifications to lead the Bears back to the top of the league and has assembled a group of three former players and young assistants to help him do so. Martin, a former Purdue player and assistant, is entering his second year in Springfield this fall. His first year was up and down, but the staff hopes to turn it around soon. Harris has six years of coaching under his belt, previously working at UW-Green Bay and Marquette where he also played. Williams and Woodberry are also two former college standouts - Williams at SIU and Woodberry at Kansas. The future looks bright for MSU, thanks to their young, but hard working staff that knows what it takes to win.

9. Drake

The coaches: Mark Phelps (head coach), Mike Gibson, Justin Ohl, and Kareem Richardson.

It is hard to judge Mark Phelps and his staff because they've only been on the job for one year. But in their one year, they did take the Bulldogs to post season play for the second consecutive year and manage a winning record (17-16). Phelps has worked in the Pac-10 and ACC, but is still trying to translate his coaching style to the MVC. Gibson worked with Phelps at Arizona State, but is still a young coach. Ohl has stayed with Drake through three coaches - Tom Davis, Keno Davis, and now Phelps. He was a part of the Drake team that went to the NCAA Tournament in 2008. Richardson has traveled around working for Indiana State, Wright State, Evansville, and UM Kansas City.

10. Indiana State

The coaches: Kevin McKenna (head coach), Greg Lansing, Deryl Cunningham, and Lou Gudino.

McKenna came to ISU after spending time on Dana Altman's staff in Creighton. Since his arrival in Terre Haute, his Sycamores are yet to duplicate the kind of success McKenna was a part of in Omaha. The staff as a whole has also been a part of other successful teams. Lansing worked at Iowa, taking the Hawkeyes to six post seasons berths. Cunningham has spent time as an assistant for South Dakota State and in the high school ranks, and Gudino worked at Louisiana Tech during a 20 win season. However, time is ticking for the staff to turn around ISU and take them out of the bottom of the MVC.