Media votes Bret Bielema best Big 10 coach ... Hoke finishes 6th in voting
BEST BIG TEN COACH
(Voting on 3-2-1 point system, with voters picking top three. First-place votes in parentheses.)
1. Bret Bielema, Wisconsin (7) 35
2. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa (6) 31
3. Bo Pelini, Nebraska (3) 30
4. Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern (4) 27
5. Mark Dantonio, Michigan State (4) 18
6. Brady Hoke, Michigan 2
7. Joe Paterno, Penn State 1
Hey 6th, thats pretty good for never being a head coach in the Big Ten.
Finishing ahead of Joe Paterno before playing a single game in the conference?
Bad. Ass.
I love Brady so far, but finishing ahead of JoePa without ever coaching a game in the B1G?
Tressels is gone. Yet all he could muster was 5th....
See it is the little things in life I enjoy.
That's a pretty spread out vote, and it'll get even more spread once Hoke (and Fickell, possibly) actually start coaching.
OP - article says the other, unnamed coaches did not receive any votes. Each of the 24 voters got 3 votes, scored 3-2-1, for a total of 144 points, and they're all in the table above. No love for Jerry Kill or the Zookster??
Can we stop calling Mr. Pelini Bo. There will only be one Bo ever in the Big 10, and it isn't Mr. Pelini.
Because that's his name.
Thought it was good enough to retire numbers of legendary players, now we have to retire names of legendary coaches? May we hopefully never hire another coach named Fielding...
Fickell didn't even get a single vote? Wow.
.....not even a sympathy "you'll do in a pinch" vote. I wondered about that.
6th in the voting and a cumulative record in the conference as a head coach of 0-0. I smell a measure of confidence!
The question isn't "Which Big Ten coach has the had the best career?" but "Which is the best Big Ten coach in 2011"?
How good of a coach do you think JoePa is these days? I don't know many 84-year-olds who are tops in their fields.
In all honesty I am kinda shocked MD wasn't a little higher.
As much as I cant stand the guy he has done a pretty good job with sparty since he took over. I figure he would at least be over Fitz just because he has won a co-title in the conference.
Letting your players go straight from jail to the starting lineup and redefining "zero tolerance" tends to affect reputation.
Apparently, no love for JoePa. You would think he would be higher than both guys who have never coached in the Big Ten conference before. Not that I mind...
I 'd say...total DISS!!!!
Was I can't believe he got 1pt.
#1 in our hearts!
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Does anyone really think Joe Pa is really coaching at this point? He hasn't been to a recruits house in almost a decade. His recruiting pitch on Skype however is number 1 without a doubt.
I grew up right near Happy Valley and the local media has the following theory:
JoePa wants JayPa (his son and current OC) to follow along after him. The PSU administration wants that like they want a hole in their head. They're much more interested in promoting up the DC or maybe hiring a hot young guy in. Their plan is to promot JayPa upstairs and far away from the offense (make him the Associate Athletic Director of Hot Dog Sales or something). Thus Zombie Paterno doesn't retire.
Personally I want another decade out of JoePa. PSU hasn't really been a force since the 1980s. Recruits these days have grown up thinking of PSU as a second tier mediocre B10 team that gets their ass beat by Iowa almost every year. Whatever name reconigition JoePa built for PSU he is now destroying and I encourage him to run it into the ground.
I think you're overstating it a bit. PSU still regularly wins 8-10 games a season. They won Big Ten titles in 2005 and 2008. They still recruit very well in Pennsylvania and nearby states (NJ, Va.). Their program has the kind of long-term momentum that ours had while the Bo tree (Mo, Lloyd) was still intact. Other than OSU, they've probably been the best program in the conference since 2005 (they did have a rough patch immediately before that).
It does seem like there is some cloak-and-dagger maneuvering behind the scenes to succeed JoePa, though. From what I've heard, the assistants all put on a happy face for JoePa but they all basically hate each other's guts. There could be a battle royale for the program when he finally retires.
It doesn't matter who the best coach is in the conference. It matters who would be the best coach at michigan. We all know the answer to that HOKAMANIACS
It doesn't matter who the best coach is in the conference. It matters who would be the best coach at michigan. We all know the answer to that HOKAMANIACS
I would vote Bielema #1... for being the biggest jackass of a coach in the Big Ten. Dantonio would put up a big fight for that top spot as well.
Seriously, when did the media start awarding and ranking best coaches in preseason? Isn't that kind of pointless?
When I see the name Bielema, the phrase that comes to mind is "morally unfit to coach college football".
Whenever I see the name Bilelema, I think of the guy from the Golden Grahams commercial.
Yes, Barry had built WI up from basically the strongest team in the conference - you have to be to hold up the entire other 9 teams - to a damned good, hard-nosed football squad. He got WI playing tough, and although he spent more time in Vegas than on the recruiting trail, WI was ripe for a young gun, full of ambition for Beilema, whether you'd want to have a drink with him or not.
He's simply built on Barry's philosophy, and expanded it to include speed backs and now, w/the luck of an All-conference qb, this year's squad could send out signals to recruits to come to WI; it will be fun. Monte Ball, let's face it, is better than Clay.
It's not unlike what Moeller did. He simply built on Bo's philosophy, added some strong arms, speedier receivers and some gutsy calls. Still think he'd be a legend if not for a drunken incident.
Pat Fitz, imo, can't be lower than no. 2 because he simply gets the most out of what he's given, and the end is often greater than the means. Not much more you have to say.
Fitzgerald should be higher/top ranked. I am always impressed with coaches that can get it down with tougher academic requirements and at a lesser caliber/tradition football school. Especially since football tickets tend to be less valuable then good library spots in Evanston.