Who's your favorite non-Michigan football coach?
I have been watching the SEC media days this week at work with a co-worker who happens to be a Buckeyes fan, and we got into a discussion about who our favorite coaches are, excluding anyone from Michigan or Ohio State.
This discussion mostly started because of Steve Spurrier and his ability to take subtle jabs at other coaches without causing a lot of hostility. He mentioned how Saban was the greatest recruiter ever, and did not mention him as being a great coach. Some people took that as a jab at Saban for not winning more champioships with all that talent. I found it pretty funny.
We just got on the topic of other coaches we enjoy, whether it be for their personality, passion, demeanor, X's and O's, ability to get the most out of their player, etc.
Personally, I have quite a few coaches that I really like. The ones that stand out to me the most are Chris Peterson, Kevin Sumlin, Charlie Strong, Mike Leach, Dabo Swinney, Kliff Kingsbury, and David Shaw.
Obviously coach Hoke is #1, but I wanted to switch things up, and was just curious to see who, if any, you fellow mgobloggers enjoyed or followed as far as a coach goes outside of the Michigan football program.
a little older school Bengals coach - Sam Wyche.
I always love this about him: When his job was in jeopardy, he had bins for food donations put in local grocery stores. If you wanted him fired, you put your donations in the "Fire Wyche" bin. If you wanted to keep him, you put your donations in the "Wyche Should Stay" bin. I don't remember how the vote came out, but he at least made something good out of his bad situation.
I'll mail $0.75 to the person who can dig out and embed the soundbyte of Wyche yelling at Cinci fans during a game to stop thowing things on the field because "YOU DON'T LIVE IN CLEVELAND!!!!"
Someone said this in the Youtube comments, but that almost looks like Les Nessman to Wyche's left! (I'm 99% sure that's Chuck Knox to Wyche's right).
This is probably the high point in Bengals histoy over the last 25 years (their Super Bowl was in January 1989).
No love for Charlie Weiss??
but I do love former ND HC Gerry Faust, for ushering in a period of mediocrity for the Irish back in the 80's.
He kind of paved the way for more mediocrity there under Davie, Willingham, and Weiss.
From everything I hear now, though, ND also finally loves Gerry for staying the "rah! rah!" guy he is despite his awful coaching record there. We may have made fun of him then (I know I did!) but he's always been known to be a quality human being.
Pinkel is another solid pick. Also underrated in my opinion. Richt is a true class act. Very underappreciated.
Pinkel's an example of how being patient can benefit a program. After his first five years there were plenty of Missouri fans who were wanting to run him out of town, and called him "Gary Pickle" because of his sometimes prickly or dour demeanor. Now he's the winningest coach in MIzzou history and is fresh off an appearance in the SEC title game.
I am a grinder who would be a special teams ace, so in that regard I would want to play for Frank Beamer and play some Beamer Ball
Forgot about Beamer. Good call. Great coach.
He's as classy a coach as I've seen. I have a soft spot for John L. Smith. He's not a great coach, but he was entertaining and doesn't take himself too seriously.
I like Rich Rod an awful lot. I also have HUGE respect for all of the Harbaughs. And Jim Webb the head coach of our local High School team is also a very good coach.
Why do you like Rich Rod?
It's your opinion, so I'm not here to argue...just curious.
I love the offense he runs. The spread n shred is a ton of fun to watch. I also think he's a class act.
Fair enough.
That's probably not the point, though.
Rich Rodriguez for me, too. Reasons I would assume are obvious, but perhaps not: I got to "know" him very well via following the program closely during his time here, and I like him. I think his offensive philosophies are fundamentally correct and philosophically right, and I love the way he runs his actual offense. So, I like watching his teams, and I like him as a coach/guy, and there you have it.
John L. Smith. I love his interviews and post game pressers.
Rich Rod.
/s
The Harbaughs and Saban because I like their no BS styles with everything.
Pat Narduzzi
Rich Rodriguez
Joe Moglia: in 2008 he stepped down as CEO of TD Ameritrade and started working as an voluntary assistant for Nebraska. He coached in the UFL for a couple years and then became HC at Coastal Carolina. So far he has gone 8-5 and 12-3 with 2 conference titles and last year made the FCS quarterfinals. A lot of his success builds on David Bennett's but his story is unique and interesting to me.
St Johns, Minnesota
This thread is another example of how he is so often overlooked. Wins with lesser recruits. Operates with class. Loyal to his program. Truly humble person.
He is to KSU what Bo is to Michigan.
Thanks for saying it. He is at the top of my list. What he did at KSU (TWICE!!!) is amazing. Probably one of the best coaches of the past 30 years but since he did it in the middle of nowhere rather than in a top 20 type traditional program he doesn't get the recognition.
I like guys who are no BS, have a hard edge, and get results. So Jim Harbaugh goes to the top of the list. Pelini is hilarious so I enjoy him - if he could ever get a 2 loss season instead of a 4 loss season it would help his case.
I am a bit biased from these SEC Storied specials but Spurrier has been a monster success wherever he went relative to what the program was. He made Duke something good fast. Florida everyone assumes was great for long periods of time - they ahd never won a SEC title in 57 years prior to him showing up and he changed the game down there with his passing scheme. And SC was a dump before he got there.
Sylvestor Croom is someone no one will think of but again from his background as a black player in the deep south at Bama - I think the special said he was the first black captain and he played center which apparently back in those days down south was a position like QB that only white dudes played. Then he was supposed to get the Bama job and apparently was promised it but higher ups went with the "Shula card" and Croom went to Mississippi State - again being the first nont white coach in the SEC. And how he built that program up, then was forced out after 1 bad season - just an interesting man and he seems to have character oozing out of him.
Gundy of course for his rant and he has actually done some very good things for OK State football.
Jim Mora Jr is interesting to me as well.
I'm a Packers fan, so I will vote for the steadiest of eddies...Mike McCarthy. Has almost a jedi-esque trust in his offense. Finds a way to win with backups on a consistent basis (The Packers are eternally cursed by the injury gypsy).
He's also won the NFC North in half of his seasons with GB (Thanks Lions for the last one).
Area for improvement- Challenge skills
Because I love the fact that he is not a Michigan coach
How can you not like a guy who chooses the wind instead of the ball to start OT?
Beamer, Richt, Shaw...Harbaugh would be a great choice to coach at U-M if he wants to be here when he's done with the NFL.
Surprised no one has picked Jimbo Fisher. Not my cup of tea, but a helluva coach. Or even Gus Malzahn.
#CJK5H
MIKE LEACH
Hands down.
SIAP. Posting from phone.
I'm surprised so many people have said David Shaw. Every Stanford game I've watched (and I won't pretend that's more than two since Harbaugh left), he has been a jackass during the halftime interview and during the Rose Bowl post-game interview.
I remember vividly seeing Shaw and Heather Cox after that Rose Bowl and how angry she was at how the interview was handled after the game was over. He just comes off as hot shot too good to be true Californian to me.
A smash-mouth, hard-nosed, physical football team that will run the ball down your throat until you cry uncle, and then will keep doing it anyway. A hard-hitting, physical defense that makes you feel afraid to step on the field with them. Saban may not be the most pleasant guy to be around, but his teams win title after title. He demands perfection in every aspect of the game, and he gets it from his players.
Bill Snyder is a close second. He wins games with the leftover kids that no one else waand does everything the right way. Kansas State football, or even just Kansas State as a school, would be nothing without Snyder.
Gus Malzhan and Bill Snyder
Gus was one the guys I wanted for the job in 2011. I like the way he adapts his offense to his personnel, and how his offense can be up-tempo but still be downhill and physical.
Snyder has always seemed to genuinely care a lot about his players, and I’m always amazed at the fact that despite a significant part of his team being made up of JUCO’s KSU always seems to play smart and mistake free.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m-nQLd6z9OU
Bill Belichick. And its not even close. Please bring me your accusations of cheating, tell me he's bad with the press, he cuts fan favorites, make fun of his cut-off hoodie. But if you're honest, you probably hate him because he's beaten your team at some point. (or you're Bernie Kosar's mother). Tell me another coach that caused a U.S. Senator to suck on sour grapes so bad he felt compelled to call for a meeting witht the NFL Commissioner.
Those games were bad matchups for the Pats. Schematically, it seems like BB was adequately prepared overall, but the NYG DL was simply too much to handle. And then the Pats defense shit the bed late. Both times.