Here at the tipoff of Rivalry Week, I can't help missing Eddie Fogler.

The former head coach at Wichita State, Vanderbilt and South Carolina will never be a Hall of Famer, but he was a Hall of Fame rivalry producer. Fogler might have been the last coach who didn't give a damn what kind of trouble his mouth got him into with his peers. When the avowed contrarian walked off into retirement in 2001, college basketball became blander and lost candor.

	Billy Tubbs

	Jerry Tarkanian

	Eddie Fogler

When he was at Vanderbilt, Fogler cooked up mini-feuds with Rick Pitino (then at Kentucky) and Dale Brown (then at LSU). When he was at South Carolina, he famously called out Florida's Billy Donovan over his relationship with financial adviser and controversial hoops gadfly Bret Bearup, insinuating that Bearup was steering prime talent to the Gators.

Donovan was not amused. Neither was Bearup. Fogler was less than repentant.

In fact, he went back to that well the next year, suggesting that Bearup be named the Southeastern Conference Most Valuable Player during another strong year for Florida.

Without the likes of Fogler and folksy smart aleck Lefty Driesell, whose refusal at Maryland to genuflect in the direction of Tobacco Road helped make him an ACC legend, coaching is far too polite these days.

Today's calculating, corporate coaches all get along splendidly -- or at least pretend to. We're numbed by vanilla quotes about the "tremendous respect" they all have for one another, no matter how much backstabbing and character assassination transpires on the recruiting circuit.

I'm not suggesting we need a return to John Chaney's terroristic threatening of John Calipari. But Hoopsworld would be a spicier place if Billy Tubbs were still running up scores and bruising egos. If Jerry Tarkanian were still referring to Lute Olson as "Luther Midnight." If Bob Huggins and Pete Gillen were still sharing the same city, or Bob Knight and Gene Keady were still sharing the same state.

(Speaking of The General: The Big 12 needs a couple coaches to step into some of the classic foil roles the Big Ten enjoyed opposite Knight. It needs a Lou Henson or Bill Frieder -- guys who couldn't X and O within a thousand miles of Bob, but could occasionally beat him on superior recruiting. It needs someone as pugnacious as Keady to bring out the Inner Chair Thrower. It needs someone as funny as Jud Heathcote. And going out of conference, Knight could always use another Joe B. Hall, the Kentucky coach he once playfully -- maybe -- cuffed in the back of the head. One of the many reasons Wildcat fans detested Knight.)

But that's not to say we don't have great coaching matchups to watch these days. They just don't come with much vinegar on the side.

In the ACC, Mike Krzyzewski-Gary Williams is the marquee sideline show, replacing Krzyzewski-Dean Smith, which replaced Smith-Driesell. It's the marquee sideline show nationally, too.

The Big 12 has maniacal defensive coaches Kelvin Sampson and Eddie Sutton in the same state, trying to hold each other below 40 points. It has Texas' Rick Barnes and Kansas' Roy Williams, producers of absolutely thrilling ballgames each of the past two seasons. But it has no trademark, chip-on-the-shoulder villain along the lines of Tubbs or former Missouri coach Norm Stewart -- though you'd like to think Iowa State's Larry Eustachy has potential.

The Big East has old dogs Jim Calhoun and Jim Boeheim, who don't smile without a court order, but they seem to be less combative than in years past. The prominent younger coaches like Mike Brey and Ben Howland are relentlessly well-mannered. John Thompson's glower is missed and cannot be replaced, no matter how forcefully Craig Esherick complains about Mike Sweetney being fouled.

	John Calipari

	Bob Huggins

	Rick Pitino

The SEC's top coaching rivalry reconvenes Tuesday night in Lexington, when former Pitino assistants Tubby Smith and Donovan meet with sole leadership of the league at stake. Neither has been able to get the upper hand on the other, in six seasons of trying. But this is far from Pitino vs. Nolan Richardson, a fast and furious rivalry that from 1993-97 was the marquee coaching matchup in the country. (The two combined for five Final Four appearances and two national titles in that span.)

The Pacific-10 has prickly Henry Bibby at USC and confident Ben Braun at Cal, but the straw bosses are Olson and Stanford's Mike Montgomery -- two reasons why this is a fairly decorous league.

If you want a league with some burgeoning coaching rivalries, Conference USA is the place. Pitino's arrival upped the ante significantly, and the breakthrough of Marquette brings intense young star Tom Crean into the forefront alongside Final Four veterans Huggins, Calipari and Pitino.

Crean and Huggins are both Class A tough guys, while Cal and Pitino never sit down and never shut up. All four gesticulate like Italian cab drivers bickering over a parking spot, work the refs relentlessly and refuse to grant the other coach the smallest advantage.

Keep an eye on the two Marquette-Louisville games this year. Not only are they the best teams in the league, but Pitino seemed to be mysteriously preoccupied with Crean's sideline antics last season. (Which is pretty interesting, since Pitino might be the most egregious coaching-box trespasser in the business.) Marquette beat the Cardinals three times last year, but Pitino is pure hell in a payback situation when the talent is comparable.

The show might be worth watching. Whether these guys can raise hackles - and pump up rivalries - like Eddie Fogler is another story entirely.

Pat Forde of the Louisville Courier-Journal is a regular contributor to ESPN.com