30 Best Coaches (Rivals)
http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=937921
Ferentz - 5
Rodriguez - 11
Sweatervest - 13
JoePa - 15
Honorable Mention - Dantonio
This was amusing. Bobby Bowden, the winningest coach of all time is below legends such as Ferentz, Brian Kelly, Jim Grobe, Mike Riley, and Gary Pinkel among others.
Are Rivals' writers just ignorant or stupid or both?
April 21st, 2009 at 10:35 AM ^
is a much better coach than Bobby Bowden...
April 21st, 2009 at 10:37 AM ^
If I'm wrong, may the internet strike me dead, but I'm pretty sure Joe Pa has the leg up in the ancient-coach-who-refuses-to-retire-until-they-are-assured-most-CFB-victories-ever battle against Bowden. He might have an insurmountable lead if FSU has some victories stripped for their cheating scandal.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:37 AM ^
should be near the top ten as well...
April 21st, 2009 at 10:44 AM ^
aren't ranking their career accomplishments. They're probably ranking them based on if you were going to hire someone to coach your favorite program in 2009 (and they'd have the personnel they needed) who would you want and in what order?
Now I don't know why Ferentz is so high, but the rest of it doesn't seem so outrageous.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:55 AM ^
how can that be? This is obviously another case of ND bias in the media!
Seriously, I don't know why Ferentz gets a lot of love from everyone.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:15 PM ^
due to his schedule. Allows him to pull together a 10 win season every so often. He is a solid coach, but no way #5 in the country. His recruiting is not good enough to maintain the program year in/year out.
April 21st, 2009 at 11:09 AM ^
I know it's hard for some to accept this, but, Kirk Ferentz is considered one of the best football coaches in the nation by his peers, as is Jim Grobe.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:06 PM ^
because he makes New Year's Day games at Iowa? Just play "one of these things is not like the other" with the coaches in the top 5 and tell me what Ferentz has done that grants him an exception.
Specifically which part of his resume deserves this description?
"He has won big with talent that annually ranks no better than fourth in his league – at best – each season."
I'm not saying he's a bad coach. But I don't see how a guy whose only BCS appearance was a blowout loss 7 years ago is still considered a top 5 coach.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:24 PM ^
Exactly because he makes New Year's Day bowl games with considerably less talent than the upper tier teams in the Big Ten. He and his coaching staff are considered to be very good at developing talent by NFL front office execs and scouts. NFL GMs, scouts and other football coaches are probably more able and better suited to evaluate the merits of a particular coach than we as fans are.
Ferentz made New Years Day bowl games with less talent. Yeah, Iowa somewhat rebounded this year, but there was a pretty large stretch where Iowa reverted to turd status. You'd think that would take the luster off of those couple of 1- and 2-loss seasons.
the guy has the nation's biggest scam going. Every couple years he gets his NFL buddies to give him a call and feign some interest in hiring him to make everyone at Iowa to buy the idea that they ought to be grateful he's sticking around and only asking for $2.7 million a year.
April 21st, 2009 at 11:26 AM ^
Is this the same guy who did the big 10 list? Clueless!
April 21st, 2009 at 11:44 AM ^
Bobby Bowden was a great coach, no doubt about it, but I don't think he is anymore. Same for JoePa. These guys aren't robots. Just like anyone in any other profession, their ability to do their job rises and falls over time.
April 21st, 2009 at 11:47 AM ^
Dienhart is a no-talent assclown hack of a writer. Don't read any of his garbage because it's all shit. I'm not exaggerating, he really is terrible. I've read his crap at Sporting News and it was so atrocious I just avoided it at altogether. Avoid Tom Dienhart for your own good.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:16 PM ^
I agree that they got Jim Grobe right and Butch Davis seems underrated. I think that Mark Richt is a little overrated, but so was Georgia this year. I imagine the Fridge should be up there, although he can't recruit very well. Paul Johnson is underrated. Ferentz continues to be overrated this year, but otherwise the list isn't that bad.
I was about to hate on Tom O'Brien, but he really does seem to be a damn good coach. It was very fitting that NC State played Rutgers in a bowl game this year, because each team accomplished an amazing turnaround. Neither team looked like it would even make a bowl game halfway through the season. Well done.
April 21st, 2009 at 12:26 PM ^
actually strikes me as a decent list
Les Miles seems to be ranked rather low on this list IMO.
Les Miles is more of a CEO type head coach than what they've listed here. Which is fine and clearly works for him, but won't put him on this list.
Also, while Ferentz is regarded as a good coach by the NFL and others, I'd argue that he doesn't do THAT much more with less than the average mediocre team.
I don't see what Ferentz has done that at Iowa that is more admirable than the work done by Schiano or Brian Kelly. I mean, Hayden Fry set up some sort of tradition of success and they were still filling Kinnick during those rough transition years. It wasn't like he inherited a program that was completely dead.
I didn't even include the massive discipline problems at Iowa. So bad, BHGP was calling for firing the president/AD/something like that.
Plus isn't the doing more with less argument only good for your first few years, and then maybe everyonce in a while beyond that? I mean he's allowed to recruit, so it is his own damn fault if he has less talent, and if a coach consistantly puts less talented teams on the field he is not that good of a college coach, IMO.
But how much talent can you realistically expect the coach at Iowa to pull in? It's a very barren state when it comes to producing talented prospects (much worse than Michigan), and they have to share it with ISU, no less.
I mean your right, certainly you can't expect Iowa to pull in four or five 5* guys a year like the USC's and Texas's of the world, but it is a big ten school, and at this point a respectable program so they should be able to recruit nationally on some level. I guess overall my statement was meant more about any coach in general, not specifically Ferentz, who consistantly puts a less talented team on the field (as stated in above posts, not necessarily my opinion) should not be regarded as a top five coach in the country. My whole point was if he is supposedly that good of a coach he should be putting the most talented team on the field nearly everytime. Save the more, with less guys for 12-20 until they start winning a few BCS bowl games.
That's reasonable. I agree that top 5 is a little high for Ferentz.
IMO, among those...
Overrated - Mack Brown, Ferentz, Brian Kelly, Tom O'Brien,
Underrated - RRod, Tressel, Frank Beamer, Les Miles, Paul Johnson, Butch Davis
Judging by their listing, I bet these idiots would have had Charlie Weis in the top 10 two years ago, so no need to take them seriously
I really have to question how you can put Urban Meyer above Pete Carroll. Yes Meyer has 2 National Championships in 3 years but the first time was not even his team, this time was with his own kids so I give him props for that but if you were to look at the total body of work from the 2 you have to put Carroll above Meyer. USC has had the same record as UF over the last 2 years but the SEC has the world wrapped around their finger. I personally think that USC would have crushed UF but the BCS can't seem to get past this SEC worship. Give me my choice and I'd take Carroll over Meyer anytime.
If body of work weighed very heavily, B. Bowden would certainly be higher up. It seems like they are rating more on raw coaching talent, if there is such a thing.