Interesting: Who are the 5 best coaches in college football?

Donate To GopherHole
Gophers1992 said:
Off the top of my head:

Kirby
Deboer
Sark
Kelly
Riley
Day
Franklin
Wittingham
Gundy
Kiffin
Lanning
Campbell
Fleck
Brohm
Ferentz
Rhule
Leipold
Norvell
Drinkwitz
Klieman
Fickell
Dabo


And probably some others I'm missing, are all guys who you could spin an argument for them being in the top 10. I wouldn't agree with all of them by any means, but it just goes to show how subjective these rankings are.
Click to expand...

Exactly, and that was more or less my point with starting the thread.

I happened to be listening to KFAN yesterday afternoon, and the subject came up briefly, as sort of an aside, a joke. It made the think about it, though, and I pondered my own Top 5. I quickly realized that the question was a lot harder to answer now that Saban and Harbaugh are out of the picture.

Also, we have to consider new factors like NIL, conference realignment, huge TV money coming in, and so on. The landscape is changing. The picture becomes even murkier.
 

RememberMurray said:
How would Ryan Day do if he took over Minnesota next season?

How about Sarkasian... what would he accomplish at Minnesota?
Click to expand...
I think both would attract a noticably higher level of talent and coaches, with improved results showing up on the field in year two or three.
 

Surprises me more people aren’t mentioning Lanning. We’ll see for sure what he’s got this year, but he’s been great thus far.
 

Gophers1992 said:
Off the top of my head:

Kirby
Deboer
Sark
Kelly
Riley
Day
Franklin
Wittingham
Gundy
Kiffin
Lanning
Campbell
Fleck
Brohm
Ferentz
Rhule
Leipold
Norvell
Drinkwitz
Klieman
Fickell
Dabo


And probably some others I'm missing, are all guys who you could spin an argument for them being in the top 10. I wouldn't agree with all of them by any means, but it just goes to show how subjective these rankings are.
Click to expand...
Some real rogue guys in here.
Campbell won one division title in the Covid year (never did at Toledo) when he had breece hall and Brock purdy during the Covid season. Otherwise really nothing to write home about with a 5 games over.500 at Iowa state

Drinkwitz another interesting one with one good year where they lost to good teams and beat I guess k state and Tennessee. Otherwise had one year at app state that he was great.

Brohm middle of the road at Purdue and fell apart when they played any good team at Louisville last year.

Rhule won the AAC once and had one good year at Baylor but lost to Oklahoma twice and their best win is over Texas who went 8-5 before coaching another inept Nebraska team.

Same argument could be made for PJ.

Just are some odd guys included with others I’d have well ahead of that grouping
 

RememberMurray said:
If we're going with the theory that just about anybody can win at Ohio State (because of the built-in advantages enjoyed by the Buckeye football program), then Luke Fickell really laid an egg in his one season as head coach there. 6-7 overall, 3-5 in the B1G.
Click to expand...

Year Zeros 🤷🏻‍♂️
 


Can one truly assess how good a coach actually is when he coaches at a helmet school? The built in advantages are unreal in some cases.
 

mngg11 said:
Can one truly assess how good a coach actually is when he coaches at a helmet school? The built in advantages are unreal in some cases.
Click to expand...
Well we also need to overinflate their records at mid tier conferences to balance out
 

mngg11 said:
Can one truly assess how good a coach actually is when he coaches at a helmet school? The built in advantages are unreal in some cases.
Click to expand...
I think it's harder to win at those schools than people acknowledge though. Brady Hoke has been successful everywhere but Michigan. Rich Rodriguez was fantastic at West Virginia then flopped at Michigan. Do those schools have major advantages? Yes of course - but it's still very difficult to sustain success at any school.
 

Surprised to see multiple Norvell mentions. No mentions of Tedford and Calhoun. Calhoun may be the most underrated HC out there.
 



Day and Franklin have underperformed for their talent collection, Day has had the talent for a Natty and failed every year. Franklin has had the talent to win the B1G but fails consistently.

A great coach exceeds his team’s ability on a consistent basis. Otherwise we are just debating recruiting and NIL abilities which has more to do with the school than the coach.

Put Bielema at OSU and you probably get your Natty! He probably could win the B1G for PSU.

So, if you want to rank B1G coaches, start with Fatty, Ferentz and Shiano after that it’s hard to debate who consistently outperforms their talent level.

If you look at it this way, you would realize how lucky we are to have Fleck.
 

Otis said:
Day and Franklin have underperformed for their talent collection, Day has had the talent for a Natty and failed every year. Franklin has had the talent to win the B1G but fails consistently.

A great coach exceeds his team’s ability on a consistent basis. Otherwise we are just debating recruiting and NIL abilities which has more to do with the school than the coach.

Put Bielema at OSU and you probably get your Natty! He probably could win the B1G for PSU.

So, if you want to rank B1G coaches, start with Fatty, Ferentz and Shiano after that it’s hard to debate who consistently outperforms their talent level.

If you look at it this way, you would realize how lucky we are to have Fleck.
Click to expand...
Ok but isn't part of a college football coach's job to recruit and retain talent?
 

Otis said:
Day and Franklin have underperformed for their talent collection, Day has had the talent for a Natty and failed every year. Franklin has had the talent to win the B1G but fails consistently.

A great coach exceeds his team’s ability on a consistent basis. Otherwise we are just debating recruiting and NIL abilities which has more to do with the school than the coach.

Put Bielema at OSU and you probably get your Natty! He probably could win the B1G for PSU.

So, if you want to rank B1G coaches, start with Fatty, Ferentz and Shiano after that it’s hard to debate who consistently outperforms their talent level.

If you look at it this way, you would realize how lucky we are to have Fleck.
Click to expand...
Bielema was an absolute failure at Arkansas. He's a decent coach but nothing special.
 

Otis said:
Day and Franklin have underperformed for their talent collection, Day has had the talent for a Natty and failed every year. Franklin has had the talent to win the B1G but fails consistently.

A great coach exceeds his team’s ability on a consistent basis. Otherwise we are just debating recruiting and NIL abilities which has more to do with the school than the coach.

Put Bielema at OSU and you probably get your Natty! He probably could win the B1G for PSU.

So, if you want to rank B1G coaches, start with Fatty, Ferentz and Shiano after that it’s hard to debate who consistently outperforms their talent level.

If you look at it this way, you would realize how lucky we are to have Fleck.
Click to expand...
You lost me with Shiano.
 




When you see the list of the other top coaches...how many would you really feel better about than PJ?
Several other places have geography (both climate and a large number of recruits nearby) and a boosters bonus that give the coaches a pretty big advantage over the job at Minnesota.
 


GopherEnEspaña said:
The fact that Ryan Day isn't competing for a national title every year with that talent is downright embarrassing.
Click to expand...
I mean how are you defining "competing for a national title" because he has pretty much been in the running every year at OSU. If you mean literally playing in the title game ok but 8 losses in 6 years is impressive no matter where you are, especially when 4 of those losses came in NY6 games, and 3 of the regular season losses came against teams that were playoff teams.
 

Gophers1992 said:
I mean how are you defining "competing for a national title" because he has pretty much been in the running every year at OSU. If you mean literally playing in the title game ok but 8 losses in 6 years is impressive no matter where you are, especially when 4 of those losses came in NY6 games, and 3 of the regular season losses came against teams that were playoff teams.
Click to expand...
I'm absolutely defining it as "playing in the national title game." Although, I do agree he has been elite and the OSU fans calling for his firing are delusional. I just think some of those rosters have been the best in the country aside from Georgia.
 


GopherEnEspaña said:
I'm absolutely defining it as "playing in the national title game." Although, I do agree he has been elite and the OSU fans calling for his firing are delusional. I just think some of those rosters have been the best in the country aside from Georgia.
Click to expand...
Well yeah his rosters have been elite, as have Georgia's, Michigan's, and Alabama's, among others. They can't all make the title game every year.
 

GopherEnEspaña said:
I'm absolutely defining it as "playing in the national title game." Although, I do agree he has been elite and the OSU fans calling for his firing are delusional. I just think some of those rosters have been the best in the country aside from Georgia.
Click to expand...
this criteria is absolutely asinine. Only 2 can make it every year to play in the title game. He's on the hot seat because he's lost to Michigan (at home for the first time since 2000 and their first 3 game losing streak since the 90s) and Michigan won a title. By this same criteria, Clemson should fire Dabo (way more ammo there and his classes are just as good), Sark should be toast (Texas is always in the top 5 and plays in an easier conference), and Kirby now has 2 years to make another title game or he's out.

If you said make the playoff, I can get on board with that. At that point though, every game is at best 60/40.

I am not wowed by Day at all, but they've been top 5 every year he's been there. Their losses under him (non bowl) are Michigan x3 and Oregon. That's it. That's the list. It's otherwise Clemson in the semis in the Trevor Lawrence-Justin Fields duel that Fields threw a late pick after Lawrence led a game winning drive, 2020 they lost the final to Bama, the 2022 Semi to Georgia prior to them obliterating TCU in the final, and last year Missouri after everyone opted out. Had he finished the job against Bama, he'd look very similar to Urban in year 5.
 

Crazy that Coach sweater vest was ejected into obscuria for not going to war on an autograph scandal.. and Harbaugh laughed his cheatin’ ass to a better job in coastal paradise. Behavioral conditioning…

How much money to turn staff and players, looking for an advantage.
 

fmlizard said:
Fair point. Fleck did more in the MAC than Leipold did, and also took the Gophers further than Leipold has taken Kansas thus far. Fleck inherited a far better situation here than Kansas was.

There is an argument that Fleck is a top 5-10 coach that won't get you thrown out of a bar.
Click to expand...
Top 5-10 coaches don’t lose to BG at home. I like fleck and think he’s good, but in my opinion 5-10 is about 20 spots too high
 

upnorthkid said:
this criteria is absolutely asinine. Only 2 can make it every year to play in the title game. He's on the hot seat because he's lost to Michigan (at home for the first time since 2000 and their first 3 game losing streak since the 90s) and Michigan won a title. By this same criteria, Clemson should fire Dabo (way more ammo there and his classes are just as good), Sark should be toast (Texas is always in the top 5 and plays in an easier conference), and Kirby now has 2 years to make another title game or he's out.

If you said make the playoff, I can get on board with that. At that point though, every game is at best 60/40.

I am not wowed by Day at all, but they've been top 5 every year he's been there. Their losses under him (non bowl) are Michigan x3 and Oregon. That's it. That's the list. It's otherwise Clemson in the semis in the Trevor Lawrence-Justin Fields duel that Fields threw a late pick after Lawrence led a game winning drive, 2020 they lost the final to Bama, the 2022 Semi to Georgia prior to them obliterating TCU in the final, and last year Missouri after everyone opted out. Had he finished the job against Bama, he'd look very similar to Urban in year 5.
Click to expand...
You wrote this entire response, apparently, without reading that I said "fans who are calling for his firing are delusional."
 



gopherbadgerman said:
Yes he did in 2007, in his first year. And won multiple NC's after that. I guess if Fleck did the same I could overlook the loss and put him in the top 5.
Click to expand...
There’s only a few active HCs that have won even one NC.
 

GopherEnEspaña said:
You wrote this entire response, apparently, without reading that I said "fans who are calling for his firing are delusional."
Click to expand...
It is in response to the “competing for national championships” as only being playing in the title game.
 

gopherbadgerman said:
Top 5-10 coaches don’t lose to BG at home. I like fleck and think he’s good, but in my opinion 5-10 is about 20 spots too high
Click to expand...
I agree with you but was suggesting that there's an argument that he could be, largely predicated on his peak seasons and the idea that the Gophers are a Very Difficult Job that some people have. I think it's an average difficulty job.

Most of the top coaches have a bad loss or three in their history, especially the ones who have been program builders and didn't take over an established top 10 program.
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom