Best Coaches right now ....
This is an effort to use a different part of everyone's brain .... but still talk football !
With Urban Meyer leaving a lot is being said that the Florida job is the best job in America. I think "best" in pushing it ... but certainly an upper level team in the SEC (as well as nationally). Meyer was 65 - 15 in 6 seasons at Florida (2 MNCs). As they start naming potential replacements ... I started thinking about who are the top 3 college coaches - right now ?
If you look at each BCS conference the top coach may be:
Big East - none / ACC - Frank Beamer / SEC - was Meyer ? (god - not Saban) / B10 - tressel (ugh) / Big 12 - Stoops / PAC 10 - Kelly or Harbaugh (neither have a long track record) Outside of the BCS conferences - it has to be Chris Petersen.
So my top 3 right now .. probably (not in order) Beamer, Stoops & Petersen.
Beamer teams don't beat themselves / Stoops has delivered consistency (save last year) & Petersen has taken a nothing program to one that is discussed nationaly the last 3 - 4 years.
Who do you see as the top 3 college head coaches working today and why ?
Go Blue !
December 9th, 2010 at 1:35 PM ^
Rich Rodriguez - even though he is not available for any coaching positions.
December 9th, 2010 at 1:53 PM ^
Sorry coach I got confused, I guess it's best coaches right now in college football
Coach B: WTF
December 9th, 2010 at 1:56 PM ^
Ahh yes I totally agree with you on that. No one is a better coach than BB. He takes a nobody (Woodhead just for one of many examples) and turns him into a great player for his team. He doesn't have a very good defense, but they completely shut down the Jets. No one is better than Belichick at any level, IMO.
December 9th, 2010 at 2:11 PM ^
with how his offense shredded the vaunted Jets D. Once that started, the Jets had to forget about the run.
Speaking of the Jets, wake me up when they beat someone with a pulse.
December 9th, 2010 at 2:14 PM ^
Yeah no kidding. With all of the talking that Rex Ryan does, you think they would be unstoppable and undefeated.
December 9th, 2010 at 2:41 PM ^
I think Tom Brady might have a lot to do with turning nobodies into TD machines as well.
December 9th, 2010 at 2:48 PM ^
Yeah just a bit, not much though.
/s
December 9th, 2010 at 5:51 PM ^
Although we all love Brady from his Michigan days, Brady might be the best example of this argument on Belichek. Remember, to non-UM folk, Brady was some 6th round pick backing up star Drew Bledsoe.
December 9th, 2010 at 6:11 PM ^
I mis... interpreted... the rules!
December 9th, 2010 at 4:58 PM ^
have two first and second round picks in the 2011 draft. The rich get richer.
December 9th, 2010 at 2:10 PM ^
What exactly has RR done to warrant this?
December 9th, 2010 at 3:15 PM ^
He beat Georgia in the sugar bowl i believe. He built a dynasty at WV.
December 9th, 2010 at 4:13 PM ^
Didn't see that one coming from anyone on the board. Very clever.
December 9th, 2010 at 1:37 PM ^
are my vote for top 3.
December 9th, 2010 at 1:40 PM ^
Behind RR, for how much I hate to admit it, I agree with you. Tressel is a great coach even if his teams can't finish in the BCS games lately. Stoops has always been solid at OU and Saban, for how shitty and sleazy he is, can coach with the best of them.
December 9th, 2010 at 1:43 PM ^
He hasnt accomplished as much as the 3 I chose. Trust me, those would not be my votes for my favorite 3 coaches.
December 9th, 2010 at 1:53 PM ^
Agreed, but that will change soon. Within the next couple seasons he will be up there on everyone's lists as a top 3 coach or so.
December 9th, 2010 at 1:56 PM ^
I am hoping it is at Michigan which I believe it will be as long as DB gives him a chance. It will somewhat suck watching him be a star somewhere else if he gets cut loose in a month.
December 9th, 2010 at 2:00 PM ^
That and with someone else at coach, we will be starting over again somewhat. It would be a rough couple years again, IMO.
December 9th, 2010 at 2:12 PM ^
Don't worry. It won't be as rough as the last three. :)
December 9th, 2010 at 2:27 PM ^
I think a change could easily be as rough or worse as our last three year period. While 15-21 is bad, the trajectory is positive. A better record with a flat or declining trajectory would feel worse to me.
In the short run, it would really depend upon how many players/commits stay and how well they fit into a new system. In the longer run, it would depend on how good of a coach we hire.
But no need to debate this, it has been heavily debated and like politics, there is likely no agreement to be reached.
December 9th, 2010 at 4:54 PM ^
because the defense I'd horrid. The lack if competitiveness versus good teams is also alarming.
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<br>The record has improved and the offense is dynamic, but you cannot ignore the above.
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<br>Assuming Rodriguez returns, 2011 will be the year we get a verdict on whether his methods will work in the Big Ten.
December 9th, 2010 at 3:12 PM ^
OSU won a BCS game in January of this year. If you consider that lately.
Stoops has lost 5 BCS games in a row.
No offense, but what has RR done to remotely compare to those two? They both have national titles, multiple title game appearances and multiple BCS wins. Bob Stoops resurrected a program from the ashes and made them a national champ.
December 9th, 2010 at 3:44 PM ^
Stoops loses almost every bcs game he coaches in. Tressel is a respectable 4-3 in bcs games. Where is your logic?
December 9th, 2010 at 6:19 PM ^
The whole, "Tressel and OSU can't win BCS games," meme needs to die. They have lost 3 total BCS games-two were national title games and one was a Fiesta bowl to a team that probably should have been in the national title game. Last year they beat an Oregon team that is now the Vegas favorite to win the national title.
Oh and just for good measure Tressel and OSU's overall BCS game record is 4-3. I'd kill for Michigan to have a BCS record like that. I'm serious, pick someone. If it can guarantee Michigan will rip off 6 straight BCS appearances I'll kill 'em for a burnt sacrifice to the all-mighty Cthulhu.
December 9th, 2010 at 1:37 PM ^
I hate to say it, but Nick Saban. Sleazy, irritating and a coachwhore, but he might be the best coach in the country.
December 9th, 2010 at 6:30 PM ^
concur.
December 9th, 2010 at 1:38 PM ^
You should add Gary Patterson into the discussion. Not saying he is the best, but he deserves some attention.
December 9th, 2010 at 1:41 PM ^
thanks ... excellent idea (+1 sir)
Go Blue !
December 9th, 2010 at 1:38 PM ^
He may not be the best right now, but I really like what Pat Fitzgerald's done at Northwestern in such a short time. He'll be sure to get big time offers in the coming years, but it'll be interesting to see if his loyalty to NU runs too deep to leave.
December 9th, 2010 at 1:43 PM ^
Fitzgerald is a great coach and guy. He seems like a true class act guy, right up there with the best of them. I personally doubt he leaves NU anytime soon, no matter what he is offered elsewhere. I can easily see him being a JoePa and staying at NU forever.
December 9th, 2010 at 2:04 PM ^
He's said that before. Granted, a lot of people do and then change their minds, but he does seem pretty happy there at the moment.
December 9th, 2010 at 1:39 PM ^
...Not Brady Hoke, that's for sure.
December 9th, 2010 at 2:31 PM ^
Not a "great coach," but he took Ball State to 12-1 and SDSU to 8-4. That's not too shabby considering the abilities of either of those programs. I'm not entirely sure I get all the Brady Hoke hate around here.
December 9th, 2010 at 2:38 PM ^
Those are two good season by Hoke that you've recognized. In the 7 other seasons in which Hoke has been a head coach, both at Ball State and SDSU, he has exactly one other season in which his team won more games than it lost. That was one of his Ball State teams that went 7-6. So in ten full seasons as a head coach, Hoke has had 3 seasons in which he's finished with a winning record, and only 1 in which his team lost less than 4 games.
I'm not sure why Brady Hoke gets any love around here.
December 9th, 2010 at 3:06 PM ^
No idea how he's coached nine (or 10, which one is it?) seasons when he was at BSU from 2003-08 and SDSU from 2009-10. His total record at those schools? 46-50. He's 12-12 at SDSU. These aren't world-beating teams, so expecting him to turn them into anything but mediocre is asking a lot. I'm not saying he's a great coach, but I do think he's a good coach.
December 9th, 2010 at 1:41 PM ^
No love for Mack Brown? Outside of this year, Texas has basically been a MNC contender every year under his regime. Also a ridiculous recruiter.
December 9th, 2010 at 2:17 PM ^
But I don't think he edges out Stoops. They've both got one MNC since going to Texas and Oklahoma, Brown in 1998 and Stoops in 1999, so look at Big 12 conference and South division championships:
- Stoops: 7 Big 12, 8 Big 12 South
- Brown: 2 Big 12, 6 Big 12 South
Although, looking at BCS bowl games makes me lean towards Brown. Oklahoma has appeared in eight under Stoops with just a 2-5 record, whereas Texas under Brown has four with a 3-1 record. Still, since Stoops is up 7-5 in the head-to-head match-up, I think he gets the nod.
December 9th, 2010 at 2:31 PM ^
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Texas win the NC in '05 against USC? And didn't they make it last year? Just saying, not trying to be a dick because I could definitely be wrong. Both are good coaches though, that's for sure.
December 9th, 2010 at 6:15 PM ^
He said won a championship, but yes, Texas did win in 2005. They didn't win in 1998 though as he said (they went 9-3). Oklahoma didn't win in 1999 either when they were 7-5, they won in 2000. Stoops is 7-5 against Brown by the way.
December 10th, 2010 at 3:14 AM ^
I meant 1998 and 1999 as the years when they arrived at their schools. My bad. Trying to include too much information in a sentence without proofreading.
December 10th, 2010 at 3:13 AM ^
Mack Brown's only BCS bowl loss was last year in the MNC against Alabama, with Colt McCoy knocked out of the game.
December 9th, 2010 at 2:44 PM ^
Is Mack Brown such a great recruiter? Texas is a football hotbed. I have to believe most high school football players in Texas have grown up dreaming of being a Longhorn. I have the (perhaps mistaken) impression that Mack Brown has the easiest recruiting job in the nation.
December 9th, 2010 at 3:15 PM ^
Texas has a lot of good players, but everybody else knows that too and it isn't like it is a recent development (though UT still struggled mightily in the decade plus before Brown took over). That program was never really relevant on the national stage under McWilliams and Mackovic. Brown came in and completely revamped how they recruited, he got on the good side of every high school coach in the state by inviting them to camps, clinics, etc. and he started getting his pick of players.
I don't think Brown or his staffs over the years have been all that impressive in terms of play calling, strategy, system, etc., but as a program architect there aren't many better and that is why you've seen them rack up double digit wins 9 years in a row and at least nine wins for 12 years in a row before this season.
December 9th, 2010 at 1:41 PM ^
Pat Fitz, Chris Peterson and Dexter McFartbutt.
December 9th, 2010 at 2:14 PM ^
had me at Dexter.
December 9th, 2010 at 1:41 PM ^
Saban (because he won at LSU, had his NFL fail, then did it again at Bama almost immediately), Tressel (because of his remarkable consistency) and then Stoops (same as Tressel).
What amazes me though, is how far coaches can fall and how quickly. Mack Brown would have probably been #2 last year and now he's not even the best in his conference.
December 9th, 2010 at 2:11 PM ^
Saban did not fail in the NFL. As a Pats fan, I can say we were seeing signs that we no longer had the only brilliant football mind in the division. Minor point, I know.
December 9th, 2010 at 1:42 PM ^
December 9th, 2010 at 1:49 PM ^
Saban is lowest level of pond scum sucking people on the planet. He cheats and he lies - which is a perfect fit for the SEC conference.
Saban lucked into the NC game at LSU and last year got the NC when Texas forfeited (Colt McCoy out) plus a blocked chip shot FG against somebody to win. I refuse to list him.
Go Blue !