Sporting News: Ranking college football coaches 1-130 for 2021 season (27. P.J. Fleck, Minnesota (23))

[BleedGopher]

per Sporting News:

30. Hugh Freeze, Liberty (47)
29. Dave Doeren, N.C. State (43)
28. Mike Leach, Mississippi State (19)
27. P.J. Fleck, Minnesota (23)
26. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss (39)

— Minnesota's P.J. Fleck slipped out of the Top 25 after a 3-4 season, but the bounce-back potential with the Gophers is real. Minnesota returns starting quarterback Tanner Morgan, but Fleck has a 15-19 record in conference play the last four seasons.

25. Clay Helton, USC | Sporting News

www.sportingnews.com

Big Ten coach rankings for 2021: Can anyone catch Ryan Day at Ohio State? | Sporting News

Big Ten coach rankings

www.sportingnews.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[spermophilus]

per Sporting News:

30. Hugh Freeze, Liberty (47)
29. Dave Doeren, N.C. State (43)
28. Mike Leach, Mississippi State (19)
27. P.J. Fleck, Minnesota (23)
26. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss (39)

— Minnesota's P.J. Fleck slipped out of the Top 25 after a 3-4 season, but the bounce-back potential with the Gophers is real. Minnesota returns starting quarterback Tanner Morgan, but Fleck has a 15-19 record in conference play the last four seasons.

25. Clay Helton, USC | Sporting News

www.sportingnews.com

Big Ten coach rankings for 2021: Can anyone catch Ryan Day at Ohio State? | Sporting News

Big Ten coach rankings

www.sportingnews.com

Go Gophers!!

Harbaugh at #15.

Who does less with more?

 

[Word]

Harbaugh at #15.

Who does less with more?

Frost?

 

[BTChamp]

Harbaugh at #15.

Who does less with more?

Les (as in Les Miles).

Joking about him, but a funny story. I was working in Mississippi a number of years ago, and everyone was either Alabama or LSU fans (refinery job - most people were from out of town). I saw a sign on Gameday for the Alabama-LSU game; "Les Miles, More Saban", so after Alabama won, I secretly wrote that on a whiteboard. It got quietly erased in a hurry with nothing said by our LSU fan safety guy.

 

[PMWinSTP]

Harbaugh at #15.

Who does less with more?

Whoever is the current Tennessee HC.

 

[denguegopher]

Ranking coaches would be difficult IMHO. But for now, I see Tom Allen, Mario Cristobal and Luke Fickell as being overrated.

 

[Some guy]

Whoever is the current Tennessee HC.

Kinda true but at the same time totally wrong. Michigan hasn’t done worse than the outback bowl under harbaugh in non pandemic season.

their worst season under him would be the gophers 2 or 3rd best in 50 years.

 

[Gophers1992]

Kinda true but at the same time totally wrong. Michigan hasn’t done worse than the outback bowl under harbaugh in non pandemic season.

their worst season under him would be the gophers 2 or 3rd best in 50 years.

Yeah Harbaugh's shortcomings get exaggerated greatly because he has to be compared to OSU. Almost anyone will fail by that standard. People also forget that he brought Stanford to a BCS bowl.

 

[PMWinSTP]

Kinda true but at the same time totally wrong. Michigan hasn’t done worse than the outback bowl under harbaugh in non pandemic season.

their worst season under him would be the gophers 2 or 3rd best in 50 years.

Oh I agree. Gophs would kill to have that kind of success. My Tennessee reference was that it seems systematic since Fulmer that they get great recruiting classes and underperform.

 

[Some guy]

Oh I agree. Gophs would kill to have that kind of success. My Tennessee reference was that it seems systematic since Fulmer that they get great recruiting classes and underperform.

Yes, and Michigan does a little. But TN does a lot

 

[hungan1]

Ranking coaches would be difficult IMHO. But for now, I see Tom Allen, Mario Cristobal and Luke Fickell as being overrated.

It will be easy if they have a standard way of ranking the success of a coach. All these rankings out there are subjective at best.

What determines success? Championships, number of players launched into the NFL, graduation rate, recruiting prowess, level of competition, number of wins?

Some coaches, there is no doubt they deserve the rankings they received.

 

[fmlizard]

These lists always have far, far too much standings bias without considering degree of difficulty nearly enough.

Are Lincoln Riley and Ryan Day really the 3rd and 4th best coaches in the country because that's where their teams finish? Or were they born on 3rd base thinking they hit a triple? Any credible major college football coach could keep those programs going at a high level for awhile with the riches they inherited. A random from a message board could probably win at least 9 games at Ohio State this year just listening to the assistants and making basic game management decisions.

I think dudes like Tom Allen, PJ Fleck, Lance Leipold, Matt Campbell, Pat Fitzgerald have achieved where many others have failed (in some cases more than once) and deserve a lot more credit.

 

[hungan1]

Those coaches who faced significant challenges like difficult locations to recruit to, and those who excelled at maximizing the talent that they have, and/or who are good at developing players deserve some recognition. But, yeah the Ryan Days of this world are always given more recognition. These super programs you can pretty much insert a new coach, and they are going to win because they are talent rich.

 

[Plato]

The only rankings that counts are what the coaches' ADs and donors think about him.
Conference wins, butts in the seats and donor generosity are the criteria that make for job security or insecurity.

 

[Some guy]

Those coaches who faced significant challenges like difficult locations to recruit to, and those who excelled at maximizing the talent that they have, and/or who are good at developing players deserve some recognition. But, yeah the Ryan Days of this world are always given more recognition. These super programs you can pretty much insert a new coach, and they are going to win because they are talent rich.

Not necessarily

see USC, Texas, Florida post urban.


I give Ryan Day and Lincoln Riley credit. But I do think they are a bit overrated

 

[hungan1]

Not necessarily

see USC, Texas, Florida post urban.


I give Ryan Day and Lincoln Riley credit. But I do think they are a bit overrated

I mean programs that reach dynastic levels where they win consistently.

But, yeah the sun has set on certain programs like USC. They have a coaching carousel. Many top California athletes are going to other conferences and not staying home like many of Minnesota's. Texas seem to have a lot of pressure from boosters and from malcontent fans. It also seems like too many turnovers in coaching can be problematic to a program that is struggling to get its glory days back.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

That's the real question - how do you evaluate or rate a HC in FB? Because the role of a HC can vary from program to program.

Some HC's serve as de-facto coordinators, where they are basically running the offense or defense, and they have a much more direct impact on game-planning and strategy.

Other HC's act more like the CEO of the program - the coordinators do most of the actual game-planning and play-calling, while the HC handles big-picture stuff and game-day decisions.

So how do you compare those two types of coaches?

And, how does any 'outsider' really know what the HC does behind the scenes, as compared to the contributions of the coordinators and assistant coaches?

For all we know, there could be some HC at a 6-6 or 7-5 team that is just coaching his butt off, and without him, the team would be terrible. conversely, there may be a HC at a 9-3 team that just sits back and lets his coordinators do all the heavy lifting.

 

[fmlizard]

For all we know, there could be some HC at a 6-6 or 7-5 team that is just coaching his butt off, and without him, the team would be terrible. conversely, there may be a HC at a 9-3 team that just sits back and lets his coordinators do all the heavy lifting.

The real "best head football coach" who does the most for his program is probably some D2 or D3 guy busting his butt off recruiting with no clear advantages, coaching up average talent, calling the plays, raising the funds, and doing it all with a fraction of the help.

 

[Some guy]

That's the real question - how do you evaluate or rate a HC in FB? Because the role of a HC can vary from program to program.

Some HC's serve as de-facto coordinators, where they are basically running the offense or defense, and they have a much more direct impact on game-planning and strategy.

Other HC's act more like the CEO of the program - the coordinators do most of the actual game-planning and play-calling, while the HC handles big-picture stuff and game-day decisions.

So how do you compare those two types of coaches?

And, how does any 'outsider' really know what the HC does behind the scenes, as compared to the contributions of the coordinators and assistant coaches?

For all we know, there could be some HC at a 6-6 or 7-5 team that is just coaching his butt off, and without him, the team would be terrible. conversely, there may be a HC at a 9-3 team that just sits back and lets his coordinators do all the heavy lifting.

The last paragraph is 100% true


But also, if you can put a system in place where your assistants coach you to success…. That’s a good model too