Of course, you can't rank Alabama right now. I don't want only to know who had the best record this year or last. By that standard, you could argue Larry Coker after his first two years was better than Bear Bryant. I mean taking into consideration the talent that they have, and judging them based on how well-coached their teams have appeared to be over their entire coaching tenure or the last five years when you see them play LSU each year. For example, Nutt has less talent than LSU or Auburn every year, but he manages to stay competitive many years, so I would say he coaches better than his talent. Some teams have great talent and coaching in my opinion like Florida and Ohio State. Vandy, Ms St., and Kentucky may be hard to rank, because they have less talent than the rest and we don't see many Vandy or Kentucky games. It seems to me there are four types of coaches. 1. Coaches that are bad at both recruiting and coaching: Hallman?, Scelfo? 2. Coaches that are excellent at both recruiting and coaching: Nick Saban, Bob Stoops 3. Coaches that better recruiters than coaching football: Mack Brown, maybe Pete Carroll; I would put Miles in this category right now, which isn't necessarily bad since Mack Brown was able to win a NC. 4. Coaches that are better football coaches than recruiters: Spurrier (He gets good talent but he isn't as good of a recruiter as he is at coaching offense in my opinion.)
Oops, a player... okie dokie... 1... best) Meyer. He won the SEC in his second year and is in the BCS Championship. How many of the others have done that? 2... worst) That guy at Alabama... what's his name... he got fired. How many of the others have done that? The rest are somewhere in the middle.:wink:
I think Meyer has great potential, but Im not sold on him. Just because they are going to the championship game doesnt make him great. His coaching nearly blew it for them. I understand he loves his flex system. Which is fine and understandable. Thing is, you must coach to your talent. Leak is his best QB, but he isnt comfortable in the option style attack. You cant force him to run what he doesnt feel comfortable with. As a coach you have to adjust. That would cut down a hell of a lot on their turnovers. Also, all the boneheaded penalties have to fall in part to coaching.
You can't deny what Meyer has done at Florida in two short years. He did change his offense to fit Leak's talents. We'll see his real offense next year with Tebow. Spurrier let the recruiting slide his last two years. Zook came in and was a total disaster. Now, they are in the NC game. The surprising thing is how strong they are on defense. They'll be really tough once he gets the type of offensive players he wants to run his system.
Hallman was actually a pretty good recruiter. Who do you think brought in the talent that DiNardo won with his first three years?
Meyer had great timing. He inherited an experienced Quarterback, Georgia is in a transistion period, freshman quarterback, young receivers that have not stepped up, and a Tightend that can't catch a cold. Tennessee is also a lesser team than they were a few years ago. In addition he played LSU mid season, before Miles had decided on punt returner and a starting running back. Florida also took advenatage of allowing the thugs to remain on the team if there was a tough game ahead. The guy who blocked the field goal and extra point vs South Carolina was suspended the following week after the game. Thomas, DT, allowed to play vs LSU then was kicked off the team. I wonder if they will be reinstated prior to the big game.i
I could be wrong but I'd like to know how big a part of a coach's "Perceived competance" is from the "Aura", or lack of, that surrounds their personna. Think about it.........I'll just use bayou_bandit74's list as an example: Spurrier and Richt have that "Coaches'" look about them, Tubberville is the scrauney little worm and Miles and Meyer have the "Clean cut" look. Does anyone else see what I'm referring to? Saban and Stoops have that coaches' aura I'm talking about. Perception is reality to fans. Had Miles lost to Kentucky and Vanerbilt, at home, there's no way most would have looked past the fact that we lost; yet, some are still rightfully giving Richt credit for being a good coach- cause he is. Tubberville lost to Ark and Georgia at home. Miles beat Ark. on the road but given this and Richt's year, we are still finding a lot of doubters. I understand the stipulation Max made about "Coaching" and not "Wins or losses" but had Miles had either one of these scenarios we wouldn't be excluding those variables.....on the contrary, to most fans, the bottom line is wins and/or losses. I like Miles but my first impression of him was sceptical.....I remember telling people I wasn't sure about what kind of coach he'd be but he was definitely the kind of guy you'd want your daughter to marry. What he's accomplished to now, I'm definitely on board with him. I thought that it was interesting that you included a rubric cause my experience I've found that when coaches win........it's because "They had a lot of talent" and when they loose it's because, "They don't know how to coach". This is commonly accepted in the ranks of coaches. I saw this so well one year I had a boys and a girls team. My boys team finished undefeated and Parish Champs but my girls team finished a little above .500. The parents of the boys team would tell me they hoped I didn't leave and the parents of the girls' team would call me every name in the book while sitting in the bleachers and for anyone who wanted to listen to hear. :grin:
