The 10 best head coaches in the country

You forgot June Jones.

Number 9 should read “Vince Young”

Great post (I love lists!) Some thoughts-

10. Tedford- any consideration of Bellotti for this spot? Maybe not the scheme genius as Tedford, but perhaps a better overall manager.

9. There are three jobs that it seems like any couch should be successful at, but only a very few are- USC, Notre Dame, and Texas. Fan expectations are ridiculous, media and booster demands on time are never-ending. Texas is a demanding management job, and Mack has excelled at that aspect.

8. Erickson- You can’t plug him into any program. The blue bloods would never stand for his shenanigans, or the troubled souls he is happy to suit up. He’ll always have a place at the desperate schools, though, with chips on their shoulder.

7. Stoops- I want to trademark this phrase- “The single most important strategic decision a coach makes is which offense to run.” Stoops has excelled at this, despite his defensive background. He brought the spread to OU, and has updated it annually. He doesn’t hire OCs for their resumes; he hires them for their offenses.

6. Rodriguez- After Dykes was fired, the TT coach search in 2000 yielded these two names, in this order- Rodriguez and Leach. Think that was a good search?

5. Saban- Has he really been at a place enough to establish this position?

2. Carroll- I think he is too in love with the pro-set.

Overall, you seem to emphasize scheming abilities over managerial abilities. You may be right. I tend to view these kinds of lists through the prism of “How would this guy do at Texas?”, which is unfair.

The top 5 on your list have something in common: great eye for coordinators. They continue to find them once they leave for good jobs. The issue with Stoops is that he hasn’t found anyone close to the level of the coaches employed when he won the NC. It doesn’t hurt him when he matches up against the dynamic duo of Akina and Davis. That is why I have high hopes for the one year that Muschamp is at Texas.

How’s about that dude from Bwozie State?

argument for Urban Meyer … Nikki Meyer

Too in love with the pro-set?

The spread is not a shiny new toy that was discovered in the past 4-5 years. It’s been around a while. It’s had various forms, but it’s not as magical as you make it out to be, Taylor.

Pete Carroll just wins with his offense and his guys. He’s had different coordinators, but essentially the same amount of success depending on injuries. If you told him he could only run a spread type offense, he would be just as successful.

But he has been so successful, why should he change?

Buddy Garrity- I second that.

I wouldn’t want to imagine what a Mangino daughter would look like…

The reason USC only has one crystal football is because of their inconsistent offense. There is definitely room for improvement there.

The 2004/2005 teams had incredible talent everywhere, including the OL. They could’ve run anything. John David Booty and anyone who isn’t Joe McKnight can’t do that.

“10. Tedford- any consideration of Bellotti for this spot? Maybe not the scheme genius as Tedford, but perhaps a better overall manager.”

Actually I started writing it as him because I couldn’t think of anyone else. But his record has too many 7-8 win seasons on it, and he gets minus points for being terrible with Dennis Dixon before his new OC fixed things by focusing on the run game.

He just seems like he’s only as good as his coordinators, and doesn’t have the Mack like ability to recruit to make up for it.

Solid list. Reveals an offensive bias though, which isn’t unreasonable given that most head coaches cut their teeth on that side of the ball. But you may have given short straws to Beamer, Grobe, Tuberville because of it. Head coaching is more than clever offensive napkin calligraphy, young paduan.
 
So, let me badger you:
 
Is Nick Saban’s resume really that unassailable? Really? He had a number of years at Michigan St and (people forget) LSU where he did nothing but pull on his dick. If he restores Bama to juggernaut status somewhere other than the recruiting rankings, I’ll be more swayed. He has an excellent sense of timing, I’ll give him that.
 
I think you could advance strong arguments for Petrino (given your love of playcalling), Tommy Tuberville (he does a hell of a lot with 2nd tier recruits), Bellotti, and Frank Beamer (obvious) for inclusion on that list.
 
Your worst omission is Jim Grobe. Wake Forest was Kansas while Mangino was still going 3-5 in the Big 12 North. If you know anything about Ohio University, Grobe’s job preceding Wake, what he did there was nothing less than miraculous. Ohio was the perpetual bitch of the MAC - 9 wins over 6 seasons preceding Grobe’s tenure - the team he inherited had gone 0-11 and the school was literally on the verge of disbanding the team. He had one rocky season and then guided them to a winning record in each of his last five years.
 
Wake has gone 20-7 over the last two years. Fucking Wake Forest.
 
Last year’s Cal team was a disgrace and Tedford mismanaged every aspect of the season. Unless they rally significantly this year in a pathetic Pac-10, he needs a boot from your list.
 
Kirk Ferentz has seen his reputation blow up fairly spectacularly, hasn’t he?
 
Brian Kelly could make a run on that list one day.
 
Paul Johnson is a really good coach who will need a bigger stage to prove his mettle.

The spread as “magic”? No. What is happening now is what happened in the ’40s when the “T” became the dominant formation (in several variations- “split T”, etc.), replacing the single wing. The “T” was new, and had more possibilities than the played out single wing. Basically, every team had to switch or have a darned good reason not to.

You saw a lot of coaches retire in the ’40s, replaced by young “T” formation specialists like Tatum, Wilkinson, and Bryant. Some single wing coaches stuck around and had success (Sanders and Neyland), but most switched or retired.

That’s what is happening today. There are a lot of new things happening out of spread formations, and you have to be blind to not see it as the dominant offense. Michigan, for example, had been pointing for years to 2007 as their special year. They had all the needed talent to run a top notch pro-set- Henne, Hart, and Manningham. They were upset by a D-1AA spread team, pounded by bellotti’s spread option, and replaced their coach with Rich Rodriguez. Do you think they learned?

Grobe, Beamer, Belloti, and Tedford were the finalists for that last spot. Any one of them would be fine.

I had 1-9 written and ready to go, and say scanning a list of all the teams in the country for maybe an hour or two over the course of the day. There are a lot of guys you could put there and I wouldn’t have a problem with any of them.

Honestly after thinking about it I would probably put Beamer, since he’s done it for longer.

There is an offensive bias because that’s the easiest route to respectability. You score, you attract attention, you attract defense. A lot of these guys will need to take that step before their legacies are cemented.

I lean to Beamer for two reasons:

1. He built a power from relative obscurity — this university was left behind at the formation of both the SEC and the ACC and was forced to be an Independent for years. Plus, I tend to think they regress to the mean after his departure.

2. He put his stamp on college football by proving Special Teams were in fact worthy of 1/3 of all snaps. That is a defining moment on his record.

Ahem…

I second Scipio’s nomination of Jim Grobe.

Talk about a program where failure is an institutional birthright, the Deamon Deacons are the poster boy for collegiate ineptitude.

In 106 years of collegiate football, Wake Forest has a 41% winning percentage. Grobe is 46-39 at Wake Forest, and is the only coach in school history to win 9 or more games in a single season. The high before Grobe got on campus? In 1979, the Deamon Deacons won 8 games under John Mackovic.

Grobe’s 2006 Wake Forest team finished 11-3 and ranked 18th in the final AP Poll. That is the highest final ranking for any Wake Forest football team.

Again as Scip mentions, he did a helluva job at Ohio U. where he was 33-33.

Pretty damn good considering the two guys before him (one Cleve Bryant 9-44-2 and a Todd Lichtenberg 8-45-2) had won 16% of their games.

If Eric Taylor had stayed at TMU, he’d surely be on this list.

Great pic of Mangino up top…he makes the Orange look tiny. I wonder if he’s ever considered lap-band?

Has anyone ever seen Mangino and Mad Dog in the same room at the same time? I’m thinking I’m smelling something fishy as Kansas uptrends and UT downtrends their respective programs…oh gawd, will our enemies stop at nothing?

I’d love to see what Beamer could do at a real school

It’s good to see any best coaches list that doesn’t include Steve Spurrier.

I’ll play devil’s advocate here on Grobe.

Yes, he’s a program builder and needs to be applauded for quality and consistency.

But he lost to Bill Callahan. Twice. What other coach has done that?

If Mack were to retire tomorrow, would you be comfortable handing the reins to Grobe?

I checked the Barking Carnival archives, and found that we had a similar list from the summer of 2003. It was:
1. Jim Tressell
2. Larry Coker
3. Bob Stoops
4. Kirk Ferentz
5. Dennis Erickson
6. Bobby Bowden
7. Frank Beamer
8. Tyrone Willingham
9. Phil Fullmer
10. Mike Bellotti

Lesson- the competitive landscape changes quickly, and it’s tricky job for a head coach to balance needed flexibility with fundamental core principles.

Inarguable?

Leaving Grobe off for Tedford is bad. And then no mention of Mark Richt?

Richt is 72-19 as a head coach with 3 BCS bowl appearances in 8 years. He is 64-15 over the same time frame as Tedford’s 50-26. Tedford has two 7 win seasons, including last years stinker.

In other words, Richt is Vince Dooley without the MNC?

Steven:
 
Richt has proven himself to be a good overall coach, but you just compared records of a guy coaching at Cal to a guy coaching at Georgia?
Really?

Parlin: If Mack were to retire tomorrow, would you be comfortable handing the reins to Mangino?

Urban sure didn’t have an answer for Michigan in the Cap One bowl. I rank Carroll above him. Ha ha, I say that and watch, Florida will win it all this year.

Also, where’s Les Miles?

TaylorTRoom,

Dooley was at Georgia for 17 seasons before winning a National Championship.

Hopefully, Richt can go 4-0 (in order, Erikson, Saban, Meyer and then Carroll or Tressell) against guys on this list this season and then maybe he will crack your Top 15.

Scipio Tex:

All Ted Tedford has to do is lose to USC and whatever other Pac Ten team is having a good year that year, and he’s guaranteed a winning season. Even when he does a pitiful job, like in 2007, he gets a winning record.

Richt has to win 5 to 6 difficult annual battles every year; and usually does so to the tune of 10 wins (on average) every year.

It’s much easier to win at Cal than at Georgia, even without the same talent as Georgia gets every year, simply because being in the Pac Ten makes it so.

jc25: I’d be more happy if Mangino had the bit between his teeth and someone else was guiding the plow.

No knock on Grobe—he’s a fine coach and has done more with less than most folks. I just think that the great ones win big games they’re not supposed to, and I haven’t seen Grobe do that.

Here’s a good factoid on Richt vs. Meyer:

… Urban Meyer is, I believe we can all agree, an outstanding head coach. (His performance in the BCS title game against Ohio State was the single greatest tactical job I’ve ever seen.) In three seasons at Florida, Meyer has lost more road games (five) than Richt has lost in seven seasons at Georgia. [Emphasis added.] Think about that.

Leaving Richt and Grobe off are are oversights that demand a beat down. Tedford? Won one big game in how many years at Cal? Mangino? One good season out of how many? Meyer was a blocked field goal against South Carolina away from crying after a game for the SECOND time and then having explain to the FL crackers why he can’t beat Spurrier. Crappy list.

In three seasons at Florida, Meyer has lost more road games (five) than Richt has lost in seven seasons at Georgia. [Emphasis added.] Think about that.

Only because Richt’s five losses to Florida occurred at a neutral site.

Since Richt arrived in Athens (2001), UGA has the second highest winning percentage in the SEC, 7th highest in the nation, and the highest winning percentage in the SEC on opponents’ fields, 2nd in the nation. 2-1 in BCS bowl games, 5-2 in all bowls (the Big East curse). Three SEC championship game appearances, 2 SEC championships. Under Richt, UGA has averaged over 10 wins per season.

No. 1? Probably not. Top 5? Maybe not. Top 10? Inarguably yes.

Georgia also hasn’t traveled outside of Georgia for a non-conference road game since the early 80’s. This will be the first year in a while.

Does the SEC website have some kind of web monitoring program that scans the internet for college football posts that fail to show sufficient respect for the SEC?

You’d think they would have caught this.

I love lists, but only when they are accurate and not compiled by a jackass. It’s not even really about who you left off, it’s about who you have on. Mark Mangino!!!!! Jeff Tedford!!!!!!! You MUST be joking. I mean, they’re not bad head ocaches, but they ain’t top ten nationally either.

I’ll echo the sentiments of some other voices of reason in the comment section and say that your two most glaring omissions are 1.) Mark Richt, and 2.) Jim Grobe. Richt’s career resume’ as a head coach dwarfs that of Mangino or Tedford. He’s won 2 SEC titles in seven years while at UGA! Think about that for a minute. Guess how many other SEC coaches have won that many titles in the past seven years? Uhhh…..zero. And Scipio Tex, why is it that Richt’s accomplishment’s are bogus because they come at a school with a large natural talent base and plentiful resources (“Richt has proven himself to be a good overall coach, but you just compared records of a guy coaching at Cal to a guy coaching at Georgia? Really?”), but this same judgment has not been applied to other coaches on the list at natural powers such as Urban, Carrol, Saban, and Stoops. That, my friend, is total hypocrisy. Are you really saying that if you had to start a football team tomorrow you would want Jeff Tedford as your coach instead of Mark Richt??? Really? Richt clearly belong here and it’s not even debatable.

And onto Grobe, well, he dwarfs mangino because he has actually won a conference title, something Mangino hasn’t, at a school with worse resources and a smaller fan base. And he actually beat other teams to do it, including a shut out of FSU on the road and a decent GT team in the ACC title. He didn’t load up on the softest big time schedule of any BCS school in recent memory a la big Mangino.

What’s inarguable? The fact that your list is pathetic and in no way a reflection of sane/logical thought. I officially revoke your privilege to write and/or watch college football ever again.

Fellow bloggers, I just re-read my post, and realized it came across quite acerbic and for that I apologize. I got a little worked up over a difference of opinion, and I hope you’ll accept my apology.

All that said, I still respectfully disagree with some of your selections. :)

OK, here’s a revised list of the nation’s Top 10 coaches for unhappy readers:

1. Urban Meyer
2. Nick Saban
3. Marc Richt
4. Steve Spurrier
5. Paul Johnson
6. Tommy Tuberville
7. Les Miles
8. Phil Fullmer
9. Bobby Petrino
10. (tie) Sylvester Croom
11. (tie) Rich Brooks
12. (tie) Houston Nutt

5 of those guys have MNC’s in the past 12 years and another one coached an undefeated team.

Also, Paul Johnson is not at an SEC school. Well they haven’t been in the SEC since Moses was in short pants, at least.

Meyer over the last 7 years:
2001: 8-3
2002: 9-3
2003: 10-2
2004: 12-0
2005: 9-3
2006: 13-1
2007: 9-4

Saban over the last 7 years:
(taking out his 2 NFL years)
1999: 9-2
2000: 8-4
2001: 10-3
2002: 8-5
2003: 13-1
2004: 9-3
2007: 7-6

Richt over the last 7 years:
2001: 8-4
2002: 13-1
2003: 11-3
2004: 10-2
2005: 10-3
2006: 9-4
2007: 11-2

All three have one 13-1 season during that time. Meyer of course has the unbeaten year at Utah, which gives him an edge.

Richt has more wins than either coach during this time. He also has more 10 win seasons(5) than Meyer(3), and Saban(2!). Saban has orchestrated a 10 win season only TWICE in the past seven years of his college coaching career. His inclusion on this list and others of its type are a product of inexplicable hype.

Meyer’s hype is understood due to his success at Utah before going to UF. Saban’s best year at Michigan St was a 9-2 season that resulted in a third place finish in the Big Ten. The hype around this man is based on nothing.

Also, I am sure someone will say that Meyer and Saban have national titles where Richt does not. As all college football fans know, the national championship in div-1A football is MYTHICAL. It can not be used as a measure of success in college football. Conference championships are earned on the field. National titles are handed out by voters and computers. Hardly an exact science.

Keep in mind that Saban and Meyer both won national titles in years that they lost 1 game. Richt also had a 13-1 season, the only problem is that there were two major unbeatens that year which kept UGA out of the picture.

Finally, as was mentioned above, Meyer has lost more road games in three years than Richt has in 7. That is a HUGE stat that can not be overstated. As for the person who mentioned that UGA’s losses to UF were in Jacksonville, that is not a road game. Its a neutral site with ticket sales split down the middle. We still have an overall lead in that series in Jacksonville. Florida people like to pretend that NCAA and SEC history begins in 1990, but it doesn’t.

The bottom line is that leaving Richt off this list is absurd and basically strips you of any credibility to discuss the subject.

I’m pretty sure you can use a national championship as a measure of success in college football.

Bo Pelini of course is indisputably #1 in the country. Name anyone above who is undefeated as a head coach. Bo is. Goddamn right.

Besides that, it is stupid, not to mention downright goddamn dangerous to leave him off this or any other best coaches list. Since this isn’t a national media outlet, say like SI or TSN, he won’t bother with jogging down there himself to tear your spine out of back Mortal Kombat style.

What he will do is dispatch one of his home-bred pit-fighting-trained chupacabras to treat your carcasses like Lindsey Lohan treats her friends’ parents’ wet bars. There won’t be enough of you left to make a small bag of Oberto with Teriyaki seasoning.

On the other hand, I’m in mourning today as I have just found out that IT appears Marques Slocum flunked out of Richrod U. That’s right.

No more fuck lion.

http://mgoblog.com/content/amorous-lion-winter

Jesus wept.

WTF happened here?

Look, Mark Richt is Jeff Bowden with a great defense. The only good move he’s made so far was hiring Brian VanGorder when he got to UGA.

There is a reason he hasn’t won dick in his time there. His DCs win games for him.

Chris:
 
Richt is a HEAD coach. He needs to be evaluated in totality. Your opinion of him as an offensive coordinator is irrelevant except for the fact that Georgia has run a fair amount of offense that makes our eyes bleed. Richt has clearly done a hell of a job at UGA and he’s done it with recruiting, defense, and solid hires. That’s what HEAD coaches do.
 
As I pointed out above, you’re a little too caught up in the napkin calligraphy.
 
Richt isn’t a middle manager anymore. He’s the head of the enterprise.

Who do you think hired the DC’s, genius?

Van Gorder left in ’04, since then UGA has gone 10-3, 9-4, and 11-2 with one SEC title.

You say Richt hasn’t won anything? He’s won the SEC twice in three tries and the Sugar Bowl twice as well. The man has lost 4 road games in 7 years!!! He is also 1-1 against Meyer, who according to you is the best coach in the nation.

Comparing him to Jeff Bowden once again displays your embarrassing lack of knowledge when it comes to football. Please name one accomplishment that Jeff Bowden has in his career. Just one. I’ll be waiting.

Meant to say 1-2, obviously. I tried to black out the ’05 game.

He’s not a bad coach. If the list were expanded to 25 or so, he’d be on it.

Fact is that if you’re a head coach who is totally uninvolved in the defense, and your main claim to fame is offensive fireworks, then you can’t be judged highly for what you’ve “accomplished” in the last 6-7 years.

mdr above going nuts is a great example of an overreation. Richt made a great hire in VanGorder. He hired him because when Richt was at FSU, he had a tough time dealing with the mighty Central Florida defense. It doesn’t make him a bad coach to not be on this list, but making a great hire doesn’t make him a great one, either.

Once the OL and the WRs went away, FSU fell like a brick. Richt would’ve suffered the same fate Jeff Bowden did, had he stayed. Instead he used his reputation and great defensive hire to build a good program at UGA.

He’s a good coach. Not top 10 material. Anybody on this list could better his record at UGA.

“Please name one accomplishment that Jeff Bowden has in his career. Just one. I’ll be waiting.”

Exactly.

You think Mack would have done better at Georgia than Richt has? Toss-up, at best (for Mack).

I love how you accuse me of overreacting since you can’t dispute a single thing I said.

Your list is bunk. Saban is the most overrated coach in America and Meyer has so far posted TWO 3 or more loss seasons in his first THREE years at Florida. Meyer also has every recruiting advantage in the world since the state of Florida has enough d1 talent to fill 10 rosters every year and his two top competitors in state (Miami and F$U) have been down a while. If he has another 3 or more loss season, will he still be the best coach in the land?

The head coach runs the entire team, not just the offense or the defense. You are letting your bias against Richt as a coordinator, due to his last couple of seasons at F$U, cloud your judgment about his head coaching abilities and resume.

Finally, just to reiterate, Van Gorder is long gone from UGA. In his absence, UGA is 30-9 with an SEC championship and two BCS appearances. We are also coming into this season LOADED and figure to build on the success of last years extremely strong second half. Van Gorder is and was a great defensive mind, but we haven’t suffered a bit since he took off.

Did Bill Little take a job in the UGA SID? (BTW- I liked the subtle implication that Georgia should have been playing for the MNC in 2002 with one loss, instead of one of the undefeated teams)

Look, Richt has a chance this year to earn his way on the list. If he can’t win a MNC when everybody is picking Georgia #1, everybody needs to settle down on him for another year.

The consistent Georgia SID inspired talking point touting their AMAZING ROAD RECORD is one of the funniest things I’ve read in a while. It is the political season, I suppose.
 
As if choking a home game to a piece of shit South Carolina team is somehow laudable or losing to Florida at a neutral site every year is more palatable.
 
You guys would love our SID.

Chris:
 
Fact is that if you’re a head coach who is totally uninvolved in the defense, and your main claim to fame is offensive fireworks, then you can’t be judged highly for what you’ve "accomplished" in the last 6-7 years.
 
It doesn’t matter. Jesus Christ you’re stubborn. He’s the HEAD FUCKING COACH. No one gives a damn about how he wrangled the job once the big whistle is around his neck. It’s about the results. If it wasn’t about the results, Mack Brown wouldn’t be in your Top 50. Richt has done a very nice job. That he doesn’t appeal to your aesthetics is a personal problem.

Taylor:

There was no implication in any of my posts that UGA should have been in that game in ‘02. You are missing the point of that entirely. All I was saying is that a bit of luck is required to win a national title. Saban and Meyer were lucky in their 12-1 years that there were not two unbeaten teams ranked ahead of them. Richt was not so lucky. You are reading something that simply isn’t there.

As for me being the UGA SID, I wish. The fact is, no one can give me a good reason why Richt isn’t on this list. He’s been a head coach for seven years in a major conference and has posted five 10 win seasons. Neither Saban nor Meyer can say that.

Chris, it seems to me one of your main beefs with Richt the HC is that his forte is on offense, yet defense has carried his teams at times. This leads you to believe that Richt’s success is not so much a product of his genius, but rather a product of his DC’s genius.

I find this perspective interesting because the coach who you rank number one on your list is Urban Meyer. Yet I seem to remember Urban’s squad in 2006, his banner year as a HC, being carried almost entirely by a ferocious defense.
Applying your Richt-ian standards to Meyer, more credit for his success at Florida should go to Charlie Strong, who was a great hire as defensive coordinator. Yeah, Meyer has coached a great offense at Florida, but what did it get him…a 9-4 season. How can you reconcile those apparently divergent standards?

If Mark Richt was the OC at UGA the last seven years (and he was for 6), and you were compiling a top 10 coordinators list in which he was left off, I don’t think you’d hear many complaints. But as a head coach his accomplishment over the last 7 year stack up with almost anyone not named Carrol. That much is undeniable as the statistics strongly back it up.

I am also curious as to why you think other coaches could have done so well at UGA in the same time period. What type of assumptions are you basing this on? No coach in UGA history has been as successful as Richt (save Dooley during the Walker years), and it’s not like the program is on auto pilot to finish top 10 no matter the HC. If I remember correctly the dogs were pretty bad during the ’90’s. Richt has certainly elevated them to a level never before seen.

I guess I look at it like this…If you have a coach of a team who finishes in the top 10 in recruiting every year and finishing in the top ten of the polls every year, why wouldn’t that be have a top 10 coach?

And one mor epoint I’d be interested in…if you were an AD at a BCS school and both Richt and Tedford came on the market at the same time are you telling me you would pick Tedford as your HC??

“Richt has done a very nice job. That he doesn’t appeal to your aesthetics is a personal problem.”

You are exactly right about this. It’s not a top 20 or 25 list. Lots of coaches have done nice jobs.

Richt isn’t elite.

“if you were an AD at a BCS school and both Richt and Tedford came on the market at the same time are you telling me you would pick Tedford as your HC??”

Yeah, if my choices are just those two.

So you are saying Richt is the Barack Obama of head coaches?

I’m afraid I don’t understand that.

Fair enough. I probably wouldn’t make that choice but we can agree to disagree on that.

I would still be interested in your response to my other points. Why not judge Meyer, an offensive guru who was carried to a championship by his defense, by the same standards as Richt?

And if your annually to 10 in recruiting, and annually top ten on the field, why are you not a top 10 HC?

OK.

1. Meyer created a unique and effective offense and led a Mountain West teams to one of the most statistically dominant seasons in the modern era.

Then he won an MNC in his second season, had a Heisman winner in his third, and is recruiting his balls off.

He is everything you’d want out of a coach, even if he does cry too much.

2. There are other coaches who could do it better.

As a Texas fan I find myself empathizing with the arguments from Georgia fans. Probably because I’ve seen the exact same arguments made in defense of Mack Brown by Texas fans.

I think you might be giving Urban a little too much credit there. I think it’s #6 on your list, Rich Rod, that “created” the spread offense. I mean, Urban has helped developed it but to give him credit for the genesis might be a bit much. And I would agree that Urban is an exceptional coach.

I just think that discounting Richt’s accomplishments as a HC largely because offense hasn’t carried his teams, while at the same time giving glory to Urban for ‘06 when his offense was almost nonexistent and the defense carried him to a MNC is a gigantic hypocritical stance that you can’t logically reconcile.

For the record, I don’t discount Meyer’s accomplishments in ‘06 because the D was the stronger unit…but at the same time I don’t discount Richt for the way his teams have achieved victories at Georgia either.

In UF’s MNC season, they won the UTn game despite Chris Leak, lost Auburn because of Chris Leak and were essentially mediocre all season on offense, despite flashes of Tebow just bowling guys over. Their qb play and rb play in 06 was average.

Their only decent performance offensively was against Ohio State and they had a month and a half to prep.

Despite winning a Heisman, their offense consisted of Tebow left, right, up the middle and Percy Harvin left, right, and deep, when healthy.

Urban Meyer created the spread now? Wow. Even Florida fans don’t claim that.

Nowhere does Applewhite claim Meyer created the spread. Some of you clearly enjoy tilting at windmills.
 
From Applewhite’s write-up on Rich Rod above:
 
Legend has it he came across the zone read at Glenville State after his QB messed up in practice. That may or may not be true, but it’s indisputable that he was one of the earliest adopters of the spread option offense, along with guys like Randy Walker and Urban Meyer.
 
Some of you need to end your hysterical hell-hath-no-fury-like-a-Bulldog scorned act and read the entire thread before commenting.
 
Look, we get it. Georgia is resurgent. You finally beat Florida. We notice you. Whether you want to admit it or not, a national championship is an important piece of validation. Get one and Richt’s legacy is assured.
 
Until you demand the next one :)

“1. Meyer created a unique and effective offense”

Quoted verbatim.

Fact is, national championships never entered into this guy’s argument. I am amazed that you even bother defending him. Leaving Richt off this list is indefensible any way you want to look at it. Five 10 win seasons in seven years as an SEC coach speaks for itself.

If it was all about championships, RichRod and Tedford would never even sniff a list like this. Fact is, WVU’s choke job against Pitt last year was WAY worse than UGA losing to SCarolina. UGA was slumping badly when SC game to town. That loss wasn’t even surprising to anyone that was paying attention. WVU lost with EVERYTHING on the line. All they had to do was beat a mediocre Pitt team and they were set to play for it all. How can the orchestrator of that choke job make your list?

“He’s been a head coach for seven years in a major conference and has posted five 10 win seasons. Neither Saban nor Meyer can say that.”

That might mean more if the non-conference schedule during those seven years wasn’t a pastry-filled, home-cooked concoction like the rest of the SEC.

Richt is 25-0 in non-conference games, with exactly one of them played out of state, and that one was all of 80 miles down the road to Clemson.

Even counting the travel to Atlanta to play Ga. Tech every other year, the Dawgs have traveled less than 300 miles for their non-conference games under Richt.

The schedule includes three 1-AA teams and a list of 1-A teams with a combined 126-129 record in the years that Georgia played them.

I like the “Richt has done X in 8 years in the SEC, none of the other coaches have done that” when none of the other coaches like Urban have been there that long.

I don’t really agree with Tedford being on that list but there are a lot of borderline #10 guys. I think Richt should be considered for the 10th spot and Mangino and RichRod knocked down a peg. It’s not absurd to have Richt not in that spot.

“"1. Meyer created a unique and effective offense"

Quoted verbatim. "

He has. UF and WVUs offenses have very little in common.

When did travel mileage suddenly become an issue in whether or not you play a tough schedule? That is a ridiculous argument. We could travel the country and play cupcakes, but instead we see Tennessee, Florida, Auburn, LSU, Bama, etc… What difference does the distance between the teams campuses make? Also, if you want to talk schedule strength, lets take another look at #4 up there.

Putting aside the Mark Richt drama for a second, what is the case for Tedford over Bobby Petrino as the token non spread option/shotgun spread offensive guru?

Wow.

I’ve never laughed so hard at a top-10 list since Letterman last night. HA!

Let me get this straight, Tedford, Erickson and MARK MANGINO ahead of Mark Richt? What? Do you even watch college football or were you just throwing hatchets blind-folded at their pictures?

After ALL of the compelling evidence I have read, I’m just throwing this out there…

Mark Richt is one of nine head coaches in the 70-in-7 club, having 70 wins in their FIRST seven HC-ing seasons. Others on that list include Urban Meyer your (1), Pete Carroll your (2) and Bob Stoops your (7)…Not included on that list,

ANY OF THE OTHER COACHES ON YOUR LIST.

Just throwing this out there too, yes, Mark Mangino won National Coach of the Year this year(and got a big raise as well) congrats on that seriously(the award, not the raise).

However, he also took Kansas to their first New Years Day bowl since 1968. And their second-highest finish in the polls(#7) since that same year(they finished 6th in ’68).

2007 was the first year the Jayhawks even appeared in the polls since 1996.

Here is Kansas’ record over the five years prior to 2007,(a once-in-a-half-century season by Kansas standards) compard to Mark Richt’s record, I won’t even label them Chris, but please tell me which one you would hire if you were an AD. Please.

2002: 2-10 2002: 13-1
2003: 6-7 2003: 11-3
2004: 4-7 2004: 10-2
2005: 7-5 2005: 10-3
2006: 6-6 2006: 9-4

So that means Richt has won more games in 3 CONSECUTIVE seasons than Mangino in 5 seasons.

Thats not counting 2007. I repeat.

Oh yeah, and beside Mark Richt’s name it would say (70-19), 3 Sugar Bowls(2 wins), 3 SEC Championship games(2 wins), 2-time SEC coach-of-the-year, also coached 2 Heisman Heisman trophy winners, and finished 2007 with the #2 National ranking.

So for this list not to include Mark Richt is obsurd. For this list to have Jeff Tedford ahead of him is just rediculous. And for this list to have Mark Mangino anywhere near it just makes me laugh, a lot.

I feel you owe the Bulldog Nation:
 a)some credit
 b)some respect
 c)an apology

And seriously Chris, who would you hire?

GO DAWGS! SICK’EM!

Mangino in a heartbeat. It’s fucking Kansas, dude. Kansas. They went from 2-10 to beating Virginia Tech in a BCS game.

UGA went from a defense fueled 13-1 season to a bunch of good but not great 3 loss seasons. Notice UGA’s win total declined all 5 years.

Nice win over a WAC team, btw.

“So for this list not to include Mark Richt is obsurd. For this list to have Jeff Tedford ahead of him is just rediculous”

Is this parody? Seems that way.

“Putting aside the Mark Richt drama for a second, what is the case for Tedford over Bobby Petrino as the token non spread option/shotgun spread offensive guru?”

There were 5-6 guys I considered for #10. The tiebreaker was that Cal was a pathetic program forever. Just awful. Now, or at least when they get good QB play, they can beat anyone in the country. Just not13 times in a row.

It’s really hard to take nothing programs in big conferences and turn them around. It’s a lot less hard in the pre-RichRod/Schiano Big East.

Sooo…That’s the best argument you have, huh?

“It’s fucking Kansas, dude. Kansas”

First of all, it took them 6 years to bail out that sinking ship of a program. In the Big 12, there’s Texas and Oklahoma, that’s it. No other teams.

So that makes you “#4” coach? By beating teams like Toledo, Southeastern LA, Baylor, Iowa State and a terrible Nebraska?

Just let me refresh your memory, last year Georgia beat down defending champs Florida(with your #1 coach and the Heisman Trophy winner), destroyed Auburn(who also beat Florida), shut down Kentucky(who beat LSU)and Alabama, and even opened up with win vs. Oklahoma State(a Big 12 Team).

And as for that little WAC team from Hawaii, well, I’m pretty sure that you and every other pundit in America tried to pick them to pull off the upset and confirm that the Mid-majors could hang with the real teams. But it didn’t happen. Unlike, Oklahoma’s choke job(s)—(in more than one bowl game I might add).

Instead, Colt Brennan, who was super-hyped up until the first snap of that game, left the game crying and injured.

Georgia made them look pathetic. It was sad. And you know it.

True, the win total did drop over those years, but NEVER to 2,6 or 7 wins. NEVER. Even with a freshman QB starting. Even in the SEC.

Parody? More like, just another year in the SEC. The BEST conference in college football, and that, is inarguable.

GATA

Who is Mark Richt?

Good call on the omissions of Beamer and Grobe. I don’t have a clue why Grobe is hanging on to Wake Forest. Eventually the lack of talent will catch up.

“OU has descended as a threat since then, due mostly to poor reactions to being out recruited by Brown, poor QB play”

Huh? You’ve got some convincing to do here. Outside of 2005 (Bomar), when has there been poor QB’ing? Hybl was pretty good, and took a beating behind an average offensive line and Thompson won the conference after coming in from wideout. The other two have been pretty fucking good.

The “being out-recruited by Brown” assertion is fishy too. Even? Sure. Out-recruited? Strong words. Why has Bob won five conference titles, then?

I am shocked that this post has disintegrated into an SEC versus all other conferences argument. I mean, what are the chances of an SEC fan getting offended over a random article on the internet…?

There are two ways of looking at this list. First, has Mark Richt accomplished enough in the recent past to be a Top 10 coach? Has Mark Richt accomplished more the last five years than all but nine other coaches? I don’t think so. Five other coaches won MNCs (Miles, Meyer, Brown, Carroll, and Saban), two other coaches won as many games, played for MNCs, and had won MNCs before (Stoops and Tressell). Basically, you have to argue that Richt is one of the top three of Grobe, Tedford, Rodriguez, Mangino, Fullmer, Peterson, and Bellotti. I don’t know…maybe, maybe not.

A second way of looking at it is whether you expect him to accomplish more in the near future than all but nine other coaches. I dunno. Does he have the right offense? When he has a chance to win it all, will he keep from spitting the bit? I just don’t feel certain that he has the formula for dominance figured out.

I beg to differ.

“Five other coaches won MNCs (Miles, Meyer, Brown, Carroll, and Saban), two other coaches won as many games, played for MNCs, and had won MNCs before (Stoops and Tressell). Basically, you have to argue that Richt is one of the top three of Grobe, Tedford, Rodriguez, Mangino, Fullmer, Peterson, and Bellotti. I don’t know…maybe, maybe not.” -TaylorTRoom

Okay, and to that I will rebut with:

Under Richt’s direction at FSU as OC(1993-2000), the FSU offense had been a national leader. In seven years as offensive coordinator, the Seminoles finished in the nation’s top five in scoring offense on five occasions, top 12 in total offense five times, and top 12 in passing offense five times. His 2000 offense finished the regular season ranked first nationally in total offense (549.0 ypg), first in passing offense (384.0 ypg), and third in scoring offense (42.4 ppg).

Not to mention National Champs in ‘93 and ’00, but also Orange Bowl Champs in ’94 and 96’ and Sugar Bowl Champs in ‘95,’98 and 2000. All under Mark Richt as OC.

Please feel free to post any stats that you feel even come close to that resume…the evidence is over-whelming.

Pete Carroll, Mack Brown, Jim Tressel, Bob Stoops, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer are all top 10 coaches. No Doubt.

But believe me, Mark Richt is 10 times the coach as Erickson, Tedford and especially Mark Mangino, who before last season had only beaten 2 ranked teams as a HC, ever.

Wow. Mangino at #4. Ha!

Face the facts.

Looks like plenty out of TaylorT’s list have “spit the bit”. Every one of the coaches on his list has the chance to “win it all”. Only Fulmer has. Bellotti? Good grief, boy. Can’t even win their own conference. Tedford? Ditto,even when recruiting in talent uber rich Cali. Rich Rod had the galaxies in alignment for him last year and swallowed the effen bit. The ONLY conference championship Mangino will win is one for eating.

Christ, Richt hasn’t won the MNC, but he doesn’t have to be a top ten coach. You’d better be OSU or have a freakin leprechaun in your pocket to get to the MNC. Don’t believe that? See OU vs. LSU, UF even playing in the game vs. OSU and LSU in as two loss team last year. Richt’s resume is top shelf, some of you need pull your heads out of your arse and wipe the doo doo off your eyes to see it.

“Please feel free to post any stats that you feel even come close to that resume…the evidence is over-whelming.”

Yep his resume as an OC is over-whelming. However we are talking about his resume as a Head Coach on this thread.

“Richt’s resume is top shelf, some of you need pull your heads out of your arse and wipe the doo doo off your eyes to see it.”

Okay, you win. I think Applewhite should include Richt on his list — tied with Tommy Tuberville.

Tuberville is one better in SEC play (41-15) to Richt’s 40-15, but Richt leads their personal rivalry 4-3, so why don’t we just call it a wash?

There you go on that resume’ as a head coach. Again, this is a great, not pretty good resume, for a head coach in the SEC which is one of the best two, if not the best and toughest conference in the nation.
 
Oh yeah, and beside Mark Richt’s name it would say (70-19), 3 Sugar Bowls(2 wins), 3 SEC Championship games(2 wins), 2-time SEC coach-of-the-year, also coached 2 Heisman Heisman trophy winners, and finished 2007 with the #2 National ranking.

Tommy T’s a damned good coach, too.

I’d hire Mangino as a test subject for cattle scales. Kansas beat VT team in a bowl game! Mangino’s a God. Not. He’s shat himself every year at KU, except last. Oh, and last year the thing that got him by was the schedule. In five more years he still won’t have a winning record at KU.

What more can I say? Mangino’s Kansas teams started from nothing and got better and better until they won a BCS game. They are trending up.

Before last year UGA won less and less. They are trending down. The main reason you guys managed to get back up into double digit wins last year was that you dodged LSU and drew and easy BCS opponent. The only three good SEC teams you had to play were UT, UF and Auburn. Those last two were only OK. Auburn couldn’t score and UF couldn’t stop anyone.

Don’t make fun of Kansas’ schedule is what I’m saying here.

“And as for that little WAC team from Hawaii, well, I’m pretty sure that you and every other pundit in America tried to pick them to pull off the upset and confirm that the Mid-majors could hang with the real teams.”

You need to hang around here more. UGA beating on those clowns was the least surprising thing that happened all year.

here: http://barkingcarnival.fantake.com/chrisapplewhite/weclome-to-the-bcs-hawaii

Oh, and you lost to the best team you played, Tennessee.

Try and hide your QB this year, see what happens. Arizona State, at LSU and Auburn, and Florida and Alabama should both be better.

We’ll see.

“—Huh? You’ve got some convincing to do here. Outside of 2005 (Bomar), when has there been poor QB’ing? Hybl was pretty good, and took a beating behind an average offensive line and Thompson won the conference after coming in from wideout. The other two have been pretty fucking good.”

Hybl, White, Thompson . . . all terrible. White has a Heisman for the same reason Chris Weinke and Andre Ware do. He was the reason you guys got beat by every decent defensive team you played while he was the QB.

“The "being out-recruited by Brown" assertion is fishy too. Even? Sure. Out-recruited? Strong words. Why has Bob won five conference titles, then?”

Are you suggesting that Bob and Mack are on even ground when it comes to coaching said talent?

Bob has more rivals stars because they carpet bomb offers to the Rivals100 and take whoever accepts. Mack gets better players, and is a much better evaluator.

When the coaching was even Texas beat OU (Davis vs. the awful Chuck Long). When it’s not, the better staff wins. That staff is usually OU.

I still want some convincing evidence about this:

“The main reason you guys managed to get back up into double digit wins last year was that you dodged LSU and drew and easy BCS opponent.”

BACK up into double-digit wins, BACK. Not for the first time as a head coach(Mangino).

As a matter of fact, I would put last years Georgia team up against any team in the nation and would but my house on them. LSU, OSU, USC, Choklahoma and ESPECIALLY Kansas.

Richt has a .791 winning percentage, is 5-2 in bowl games(7 straight, and I might add that Kansas has a TOTAL of 11 in their school history), 2 of those 5 being BCS bowls, has put over 50 players in the NFL, coached the winningest QB in college football history(David Greene 42 wins), is one of 5 coaches in SEC history to record 4 straight 10-win seasons, a 2-time SEC coach of the year, has a total of 4 road losses on his record, and you don’t have to preface what you say with “Say what you want about his ethical makeup” about him. (which you used about 3 different times)

And that’s not elite? WOW.

Another quote:

“The only three good SEC teams you had to play were UT, UF and Auburn. Those last two were only OK. Auburn couldn’t score and UF couldn’t stop anyone.”

Well, according to you, Urban Meyer is the best coach in the nation. Right?

And yet, even you admit that UF couldn’t stop anyone. They went 9-4, lost to Michigan, Georgia, Auburn and LSU, all the while having a QB they claim to be Superman(who UGA sacked 6 times and then cryed on national TV-superman crying?what?-chomp chomp)…So that qualifies you to be the best coach in the nation, huh? Makes sense.

And I really like this:

“Try and hide your QB this year, see what happens. Arizona State, at LSU and Auburn, and Florida and Alabama should both be better.”

Try and hide your QB, What does that even mean? ASU will look like Hawaii after that game, mark my words. I promise you that every player on our team knows that UGA hasn’t played across the country in 40 years and will use the Devils to set an example early on.

I’ll never predict wins in the SEC, you just never know what will happen. But hopefully, come January 8th or so, I’ll be posting another BCS win to Richt’s record and maybe if they win the NC you would actually admit he IS ELITE.

But, instead you’ll probably be saying that Ralph Friedgen is your new number 8 on that top-10 list, is an offensive guru/genious. He will rank ahead of Pete Carroll and is well on his way to being the next Bobby Bowden, Paul “Bear” Bryant or maybe even the next Mark Mangino. HA!

“We lost to the best team we played, Tennessee” Didn’t UT lose by a combined 60 points to Florida and Alabama, two teams UGA beat away from Athens?

Yeah, UGA is going to “hide that qb” that is being projected to be the first qb taken in next year’s NFL draft.

Utah, the Mountain West, Alex Smith - a major feather in Meyer’s cap according to you though they didn’t beat ANYBODY, yet you downplay Richt’s consistent success vs SEC competition. Unbelievable.

Stick to your day job.

HJ and I were talking about that last night. Neither one of us could figure out why Stafford was projected #1. He’s been awful. He made pass happy Richt go with a run first offense, he’s so bad. His numbers against an awful Hawaii defense were terrible.

“So that qualifies you to be the best coach in the nation, huh? Makes sense.”

It was one season, and a season played a defending national champions. I’m not sure what that proves. Everybody has to rebuild at some point.

Good luck against LSU.

Chris—-Hybl, White, Thompson . . . all terrible. White has a Heisman for the same reason Chris Weinke and Andre Ware do. He was the reason you guys got beat by every decent defensive team you played while he was the QB

On White. We got beat by LSU because we couldn’t block them. Got beat by USC because they were better and played a perfect game (two one handed catches for TDs, etc..) The guy won 25 games in two years playing on half a fucking leg. He oughta be on the list for "toughest SOB to ever take snaps. He threw 60 or so TD’s and less than a dozen picks, while Kejuan Jones stood behind him. Kejuan Jones!

Is the measure of the recruiter (and talent evaluator) what they are in Rivals or what they become? Mack and Bob have both gotten their share of Rivals studs. Some work out (Vince, AD), some don’t (Bomar, Simms). It’s the guys at the end of your class that make the evaluator. For this I submit Derrick Strait (Austin kid you didn’t want), Mark Clayton, who was virtually unrecruited, and, currently, Austin English. I’m sure Mack has some of those stories too.

I guess at the end of the day, if you are saying and truly believing that Mack is the better recruiter and better evaluator, then Mack and Bob cannot be one place separated from each other on your list.

I agree on Chuck Long!

Everybody has rags to riches stories in recruiting. Picking three guys doesn’t really do much for me.

OU churns out effective players, but not always good ones, if that makes sense. Like, the OL is effective, but guys like Johnny Dingle abuse them if the refs call holding calls properly. White was incredibly production, but a bad player. When forced to make good old fashioned football plays, he failed 100% of the time. He was tough, I’ll give you that.

“if you are saying and truly believing that Mack is the better recruiter and better evaluator, then Mack and Bob cannot be one place separated from each other on your list.”

If the list was ‘Best evaluators and recruiters’ then Mack would be #1 and Stoops would not be on it. Richt would be in the 300s.

There is more to it, of course.

I went out of town for a day and I am way to lazy and uninterested to read all the responses since I left.

Suffice it say, once again, this list is retarded. Mangino will go down in history as a guy who had one good year. They snuck up on people in a weak conference and still failed to win the only important game they played all year (Mizzou). They will be right back to a 7 or 8 win season at best starting this year. Along the way to that BCS at-large berth, Kansas played and defeated such powerhouses as Central Michigan, Toledo, SE Louisiana, Florida International, Baylor, and Iowa St. I can’t believe you have the nerve to bring up schedule strength.

btw, your argument for Tedford being here is retarded as well. What have Mangino or Tedford done that Grobe hasn’t at Wake? Are you trying to tell me that little tiny Wake Forest has an advantage in recruiting over The University of Fucking California???

You talk about a downward trend for UGA? I will say this one final time. Mark Richt has posted FIVE 10+ win seasons in SEVEN years as a head coach. That fact alone puts him ahead of about 5 guys on your “inarguable” list.

I’m done.

Too bad, you were just starting to sway me.

The way Alzheimer’s sways old people.

If you can separate great production from a good player, go for it. You’ve lost me.

And if Mack is #1 on recruiting and evaluating and Bob isn’t on the list, then, ok, Bob has to be WAY above Mack on your best coaches list. A guys who’s SOOO much better as a recruiter and evaluator can’t lose 6 of 8 to a guy who isn’t a good recruiter or evaluator.

Thanks for tolerating a (Dallas) Sooner on your blog. I love what you guys do and visit a couple times a week. I hope you’re repeating your hilarious team by team previews of last year. That’s what got me on you…..and I’ll never forget 2007 “Stoops has chinks in his armor and Hispanics in his backfield (Gutierrez).” You’ll never see that in Lindy’s.

If you are going to make a joke, please at least attempt to make it funny.

Great job backing up your list.

(sarcasm meter exploded)

ok, I can’t help myself.

A couple of posts up you said if this list was best recruiters and evaluators Richt would be in the 300s.

I present to you Rivals team recruiting rankings from 2002-2008.

2002 - UGA was 3rd
2003 - UGA was 6th
2004 - UGA was 6th
2005 - UGA was 10th
2006 - UGA was 4th
2007 - UGA was 9th
2008 - UGA was 7th

So far UGA has 12 commitments for 2009 including 2 of the Elite 11 camp QBs and a running back who scored 58 touchdowns as a junior.

Once again, your inexplicable personal bias against the Dawgs and their leader clouds your judgment and shows you to be a fool.

I would say I’m done again, but this is amusing to me and a great way to kill time at work so I will most likely be back.

I’m actually glad I discovered this blog. I could give you shit all day. :)

I’m actually glad I discovered this blog. I could give you shit all day.
 
Coincidentally, giving him shit is how we pay him. So Chris Applewhite, consider this a raise.

Well, there’s a feather in his cap.

mdr - Shoot me an email at sailorripley AT barkingcarnival DOT COM

Thanks.

Did it. First non liveblog post to hit 100 comments.

My work here is done.

Chris, have you noticed that there is a direct correlation between between the mass number of comments on this post and your flippant use of the word “inarguable?”

Oh that’s right, you ignore facts.

“Chris, have you noticed that there is a direct correlation between between the mass number of comments on this post and your flippant use of the word "inarguable?"

Oh that’s right, you ignore facts."

Maybe, just maybe, if you substitute the word “sarcastic” for “flippant” you might have a better grasp of the obvious.

“Fact is that if you’re a head coach who is totally uninvolved in the defense, and your main claim to fame is offensive fireworks, then you can’t be judged highly for what you’ve "accomplished" in the last 6-7 years.”

Mangino, anyone? Let me know how the defense looks this year with the DC on his way to better things.

“Defense is the hardest thing to build in college, since speed is relatively limited, but he’s managed to field a team that will shut your ass down with players nobody else wanted.”

Who precisely has he shut down that fielded an offense worth anything? Missouri? Nope. Oklahoma State? Gave up 28. Who on the 2007 KU schedule was a potent offensive threat that KU shut down?

You know what made OU’s 2000 offense really incredible? Josh Heupel. Mangino called plays…and the majority of the time, Heupel disregarded him and called his own play at the line. How else does a QB who threw 18 TD’s and 11 Int’s damn near win the Heisman? DC’s weren’t worried about Mangino in the least.

I’ll put it this way, Chris. Give Oklahoma State the KU schedule, and they’re 10-2 or 9-3. Give UT the KU schedule, and they’re playing Ohio State for the national championship. Mangino meets your definition of luck perfectly. He prepared his team well, and he got lucky by drawing the single weakest schedule in the Big 12.

I said it before, and I’ll say it again. If Mangino pulls 9 wins out of his schedule this year, he’ll have earned the knob-slobbing you’ve laid on him. Until then, save the stupidity.

In my list, Stoops moves up to 4 or 5 (Rich Rod takes the other spot), Mangino moves smooth off the list with his 38-37 record, and Grobe takes the 9 spot with Tedford staying at 10.

Also…how did Paul Johnson get left off this list? All he did was win 73% of his game at freaking NAVY. He’s what you actually meant when you were buried in your man-crush for Mangino: an offensive wizard who gets the whole team ready and gets more out of less talent than anyone.

No, you’re right, it’s really easy to win at Kansas. His 38-37 should be judged the exact same way as everyone else because all teams have the exact same money, location, facilities, support, tradition, and talent.

Was that too flippant?

I think my next 5 replies are just going to be this:

KANSAS JAYHAWKS FOOTBALL TEAM BCS WIN

All I’m saying is that for this to be an inarguable list, there sure is a lot of arguing.

…and that putting Mangino at (4) on a top-10 list of head coaches while leaving Mark Richt off is blasphemy.

Does anyone have any thoughts on Obama and McCain?

I do but you’d electroshock me if I said anything.

Good list, though I’d have to put Stoops ahead of Saban for sure and Mangino—despite LY’s agreed miracle—needs to show me some follow-up this fall. Not sure I’d rate him quite that high even if he does, though he could arguably be top ten material. (though no more so than the Wake coach)

Fun stuff, regardless. I give Richt more credit than you do, but I also got a kick out of that one guy’s repeated chanting of his road record. Hell, omitting our annual thumpings the first half this decade to OU would have been sweet, too.

Weird that you didn’t think of Mark Richt, that coach out of Georgia. Seems like an argument could be made that he should be on this list.

He was totally going to put Richt on the list, but circumstances beyond his control prevented it.

“Weird that you didn’t think of Mark Richt, that coach out of Georgia” -is that where that guy coaches? ;)

Did you not consider Mark Richt for your list? I think you might want to include him on there. I’ve heard the guy has an unbelievable road record since he’s been at Georgia.

 In all seriousness….

 I do quibble with your definitions of spread option. What RichRod runs is the spread option, what Meyer runs is spread single wing. Meyer started studying running the option from the shotgun while at Notre Dame. He also studied Louisville’s spread passing game. He figured by combining the spread passing game with the power running game of the single wing, he’d have an unstoppable offense.
 If you look at what he ran at Utah versus what he rns now, the scheme doesn’t change, they just use certain series more often with Tebow versus Smith.
 Tebow is running a buck lateral series from the single wing, not a “wedge offense”. Even Florida’s short yardage package doesn’t feature the wedge. They run a balanced formation that is incredibly similar to Steve Owen’s old A-formation. They have an unbalanced line to one side, balanced by an overload of backs to the other. Tebow just counts and runs to the side with the numbers advantage. It is very simple and damned effective.

And yet, Florida went 9-4. Real effective.

As defending national champions.

Beergut - honest question. Was the last time you played football in the 1950s?

Contrary to popular belief, Chris Leak was the starting QB for the Gators NC team. “Superman” was the backup.

And yes, 9 and 4. As defending National Champs.

Very effective indeed.

Sounds like a #1 coach to me.

NATEHEUPEL SAYS:

“I’ll put it this way, Chris. Give Oklahoma State the KU schedule, and they’re 10-2 or 9-3.”

-Kansas went into Stillwater and blew them out by 15 points. Takes care of that one.

“Give UT the KU schedule, and they’re playing Ohio State for the national championship.”

-UT lost badly to K-State at home, while Kansas won at K-State. UT also lost at Texas A&M, while Kansas won there.

Takes care of that one.

“Mangino meets your definition of luck perfectly. He prepared his team well, and he got lucky by drawing the single weakest schedule in the Big 12.”

-It ain’t luck when you score 40ppg (in conf as well) and beat VaTech in the Orange Bowl.

This might be the best top coaches list I’ve ever seen. Kudos to you, ChrisApplewhite.

Wow, as I scroll down the comment section, it’s crazy to see so much doubt of Saban. Is there serious doubt that he’s among the top three coaches in the country, along with Carroll and Meyer?

No coincidence that these three guys are the three best recruiters in the country, either.