These are the Top 30 coaches in college football as I see it. This is not exact it is just an approximation as I see it. I did not include many coaches with less than two years experience because the jury is still out. I do not have guys like Lloyd Carr, Mack Brown, et cetera who win alot of games and perhaps should be on the list but I think they are more caretakers for programs that are always going to win if the coach recruits well. I could be wrong. I haven't seen some of these guys coach in more than a few games in passing. I am going on the impression I have from their reputation as coaches. 1. Kirk Ferentz 2. Steve Spurrier 3. Bob Stoops 4. Pete Carroll 5. Frank Beamer 6. Phil Fulmer 7. Jim Tressel 8. Urban Meyer 9. Jeff Tedford 10. Bobby Alvarez 11. Tommy Tuberville 12. Pat Hill 13. Mark Richt 14. Mike Price 15. Houston Nutt 16. Bill Snyder 17. Ralph Friedgen 18. Dennis Franchione 19. Bobby Bowden (one of the greatest of all time but has lost a step) 20. Bobby Petrino 21. Al Groh 22. Les Miles 23. Dan Hawkins 24. Walt Harris 25. Randy Edsall 26. Joe Glenn 27. Rich Rodriguez 28. Fisher DeBerry 29. Sonny Lubick 30. Bob Pruett
How do you tell if Pat Hill or Joe Glenn are better or worse than guys like Bob Stoops and Pete Carroll? They have completely different programs to work with, but who is to say that they are not better coaches (or worse)? Ideas?
Tressel? Major powers do not go 7-4 in off years. they go 9-3. Tressel's just a bit too greasy for me. His Youngstown stunts aren't going to fool the NCAA. He maybe the 21st century Bobby Collins.
15. Houston Nutt - Nutt is a joke even among the most rabid Hog fans. They've been trying to get rid of him since he lost to UNLV in the Las Vegas Bowl. He does not recruit well, and his game day antics are laughable. When LSU was looking for a coach, Arky's were begging us to take him. The "Does less with more" label is completely exhausted. LSU!
Pete Carroll is the best coach in College football. You can argue with the fact that he gets all the top guys or that they play in a weak league, but the bottom line is he wins. Thats all that matters. Stoops is up there but when it comes to the big games the last few years his teams have stunk it up. They laid a complete egg against both LSU and USC in the championship games. Not to mention that embarassment againt the likes of K-State in the big12 cc. Kirk Ferentz is also a good one. Although he did have to get a lil luck to beat LSU. Then again, everyone needs a lil luck sometimes. I'm not sold on Urban Meyer. Ty Willingham is going to do good things at Washington. Thats a name I didnt see mentioned. He did well at Stanford and he did alright the first few years amid unbelievable pressure at ND. He's basically stepping into a no pressure, win/win situation with Washington.
Not sure how you can put Mark Richt that far down.... The man has won more games then any other SEC team the last 4 years and has won 2 East Titles and a SEC Title....and coached the D1's Winningest QB. I dislike UGA quite a bit dealing with them every day but respect Richt. Some say defense carried Richt and I agree but I also give him credit that he found Van Gorder in the first place and hired him out of...Western Michigan I think? Unlike Tubbs, it didn't take him 4 tries to find a good assistant
Alot of people say that Richt is a decent coach with good assistants & lots of talent. Not many people would say that Mack Brown is a good coach - but he's Texas' most winningest coach. All he has to do is recruit & he can win 8-9 games a year, add some decent coordinators and you've got consistent 10 win seasons. Ferentz is a coach who took a team not known for success & made them a consistent top 10 team, without especially high recruiting classes. Now that he's getting the recognition he'll start getting the recruits & it won't be long before Iowa has a National Championship with him. I agree with him being number 1. Tubberville doesn't deserve to be that high IMO. Take away last year and you are looking at a mediocre coach at best. Last year was something special & maybe he'll be able to build on it, but until he proves that I don't think highly of his abilities. It's hard to argue with Spurrier, Stoops & Carroll. We could be changing our mind about Spurrier though because he'll have to reprove himself at South Carolina. We'll see what he can do there. Stoops & Carroll both brought back once great teams to national prominence. Although I think once they started winning a few games their school's tradition made their road alot easier than it is for coaches at small schools that have never had a tradition of winning. I don't think you can put Meyer in the top 10 yet, because he hasn't proven himself in a major conference. He could very well prove himself with Florida, but he hasn't yet. The jury is still out on Miles & it's hard to say where you can put him on that list. What he did with OSU was impressive, but not as impressive as what other coaches have done with similar teams. How he does with LSU won't necessarily be a good indicator of his coaching abilities either, because hopefully, we are at a level where we can win games without superior coaching (like Texas). But what I'm really hoping is that Miles is the real deal - so we'll have superior athletes & coaching.
