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.
Hey Richard Christy, you can only have one "favorite"
anti-fireworks during but pro-fireworks after games. If so, I'm OK with him, too.
Any idea how he feels about movies?
/s
If not, it speaks volumes.
that he's receiving serious coin for not working.
Fitzgerald is mine. I love the fact that he was a N'w player and now a coach. I can't see him leaving anytime before retirement.
Other than Fitz, it is a very hard question to answer.... maybe Charlie Strong if he slaps UT into shape. And I do like "I'm a Man! I'm 40!"
I would've said Fitz before his little jumping jack celebration at a late hit on his own QB a couple of years ago.
Jim Mora Jr.
Mike Riley
Shaw
Peterson
Rich Rodriguez
Mike Leach... if only for this
haha thats hilarious. That's a very good book by the way. I put Leach on my list mainly for his personality and his affinity for pirates.
Mora and Riley are great choices. Riley might be one of the more underrated coaches out there. It's ashame that some people in Corvallis want him gone.
It seems like the guy is always on the hot seat even though he competes for the SEC title.
He seems like a really genuine good guy. In addition to being a good coach he also adopted 2 kids from the Ukraine that have a rare disorder. He also gives a lot to charity. He sold his summer lake home and said about it "We have more than we need and our ability to give is hindered by this property." So, he sold it! He's just a generally good dude from what it seems.
They're always really talented but never managed to be truly elite and they've had a few pretty spectacular flops in recent years - the started #1 one year and I think finished with several losses
Jerry 'The Shark' Tarkanian...the teams he'd field,you'd think they were NBA teams. Ol ball coach ties with Jimmy Johnson as a close second.
Steve Spurrier... His press conferences are down-right hilarious
Also like what Art Briles has done at Baylor bringing the program up
I watched one of those SEC storied specials on Spurrier and he is probably under appreciated by those of us in the north. He was a great player in his own right, went to Duke of all places, and quickly turned them into a winner, made UF a pass happy school (UF was no great shakes before he got there), and has turned the equivalent of Kansas State into a "top third" SEC team. And he also did a USFL stint in there as well. Easily one of the best coaches of our era and until I watched that I underappreciated him big time.
Mike Leach, followed by Kliff and kevin sumlin. all about that air raid
plus this
Butch Jones. He was the coach when I was at CMU, and I always thought he was a great guy. I hate the SEC, but Tennessee seems to do thinks the right way. I'd love to see him have some success. I liked him better than Brian Kelly when he was at CMU.
But Tennessee had 22 scholarship spots available in the 2014 class, and just hauled in a class of 34. I think only 30 qualified, but you get where I'm going here. From everything I've heard (which my high school buddy is a equipment manager there), he is taking away walk-on scholarships from people who earned them in 2012-13 to get to 85.
to an unusally high number of walkons? They had attrition with the coaching change and they were available. Isn't that better than leaving them open? That's what he probably would have done if he couldn't recruit for those spots in the next class.
I'd have to look into it, but most programs offer scholarships to senior walk ons if they don't want it to impact their numbers. Imagine Brady Hoke coming in, and taking away Jordan Kovacs' scholarship so he could get 28 recruits rather than 27 in his first class.
That's practically what is happening in Knoxville this year.
It sounds like you don't.
I'm talking about Jones' 2014 class (which was his first full class). He's in year 2 at Tennessee. The 2013 class was technically not his. His 2014 class, which was his first full class, included 12 players he didn't have room for theoretically without roster manipulation.
I'm not even saying what he's doing is illegal.. In fact, I'm still upset that Michigan isn't going out and recruiting 20 this year and "worrying about numbers later," which is the approach taken in the south.
My dispute is simply in the logic that "Tennessee does things the right way." If having 97 guys on scholarship in February is doing things the right way, then we can move on with our business and I'll admit I'm wrong.
I think Butch Jones will do well in Tennessee. They are still a couple years away, but they will be contendors if they remain patient.
Mike Gundy - he's the man!!
Mike Gundy - he's A man!!
He's 40
now i'm wondering how old he actually is now...
I really like and respect David Shaw (not that that means anything to him).
I like Bob Stoops. He's a class act and he is standing up to the SEC.
class act that has come out of the Youngstown connection.
Bo Pelini. I can't explain it. Maybe it's because he can tell the fans to go fuck themselves and get away with it. Coming out with the cat during the Nebraska spring game was hilarious, and shows he's got a sense of humor and doesn't take himself so seriously.
Richt and Peterson. And yes, I root for RR. Tucson is a much better place for him than Ann Arbor.
I don't enough about him to know if I like the guy—he might be a colossal prick for all I know—but Bill Snyder has to be one of the best coaches in the country during the last couple of decades.
