Somebody is going to have to explain this to me 8) It's top 10 was 1. Nick Saban (Alabama), 2. Urban Meyer (Ohio State), 3. Bob Stoops (Oklahoma), 4. Frank Beamer (Virginia Tech), 5. Chris Petersen (Boise State), 6. Chip Kelly (Oregon), 7. Gary Patterson (TCU), 8. Steve Spurrier (South Carolina), 9. Brian Kelly (Notre Dame) and 10. Lane Kiffin (USC). How did Brian Kelly make the Top Ten? Ranked ahead of Mark Dantonio, Mack Brown, Brady Hoke. I'm an Irish fan but don't ask me to explain this one. :lol:
He's got a better PR Agent. Or it could be people recognize he took a team of soft, entitled, Rudy's and is molding them into a lean mean fighting machine.
Kiffin??? WTF HAS HE WON....YET? He may do well at USC....has recruited well ( who couldn't at USC ) but we'll see if he can coach a team to a championship like most on that list have done. Surely Les Miles should be there on the list before Kiffin is. Have to agree with the top 2 in that order and I think Spurrier has done a helluva job at SC......winning a ton of very high profile SEC games if not the championship for the Gamecocks.
I am NOT a Kiffin fan but you have to take your hat off to him for the job he did last year. That USC team really overachieved and I think they might have been the only team at the end that could have beaten the Tide. This year they will be the team to beat.
I don't think anyone would have beaten the Tide in Jan. Let's see what USC does this year......then maybe we'll give LK some slack. But given what he has done to date no way he gets on the list before Miles. I understand though why Miles gets no love after his coaching nadir in New Orleans.
I would take LK over the Mad Hatter every day of the week, and I actually like Kiffen less than Les... which is saying something. You say 'who couldn't win at USC'... well, Pete Carroll knew he couldn't and skipped to the NFL where he could because the NCAA was knocking at the door. I'd take Pete Carroll way ahead of Les. Flip that and ask yourself.. if LK was at LSU (literally in a state in which everyone is willing to bend over backwards and bend any rule for you), how well would Kiffen be doing? Personally, I think it's still a bit early to be judging Lane too definitively one way or the other. Remember, he's probably younger than most coordinators. (He's 36). He took over quite possibly the least talented Tennessee team that I've seen in a long time and a program that had been emasculated of it's identity and he turned them into a winning ball club that was scrappy as hell and went down fighting to the wire in every game. He was the biggest asshole in the sphincter division of the SEC and that's saying something. He successfully got under the skin of every coach in the SEC and only Saban managed to stay out of the hysterics....barely...all before coaching a game in Orange. He took over a program on NCAA probation and has managed to keep them in a prominent national position and sweet jesus.. people are actually talking about them as a team in the top 5.. in their third year on probation.. think about that. I guess we'll see about him, but one thing is for sure, I wouldn't bet against him.
In that environment he would flourish of course. What I said was who couldn't recruit at USC. Not every coach can win at high levels even if they have talent on hand ( ask Ron Zook ). When and if Kiffin can show he can keep a team motivated and coached up to win a championship then I'll give him his dues.
I remember back when we started doing this and the various fans of the confederate states of college football laughed at the dead USC program or its ability to come back. JOCO and I warned people and no one laughed through the Pete Carroll years. Now you're saying 'Who couldn't recruit at USC?' Well, before Carroll there was: Paul Hackett Larry Smith Ted Tolner John Robinson was great and John McKay a legend, before them was a guy named Don Clark, he couldn't get it done. Point being, there's been several who couldn't do it.
I am hopeful that our guy Coach Champ will make that list within a couple of years. His job was a lot more difficult than a lot of people realized. At the NFL draft last week the Gators had a total of 2 players drafted, one in round 4 and one in round 5. And our roster last year was only about 68 players. So much for him inheriting a loaded roster. Sorry for the rant, it's a bit off topic. As to the list, I sure agree with Saban being the best and most of the other guys on the list are pretty good also. I don't understand Brian Kelly being there yet and I do understand Kiffin being there but still don't like him.
George, Full disclosure. My wife is not a fan of Brian Kelly. Nothing I can do about it but remain silent when she assertively expresses her opinion. :wink: I told her about the Athlon coach ratings and your reaction. She said, "George is my friend." At that moment, you rated higher in my household than I. :lol:
To me this list is so lame, how do you not have Mack Brown in the top 10? But over the next 4 months of football offseason we'll be reading ratings of coaches, best tailgating, loudest most intimidating stadiums, best uniforms, best cheerleaders, best fans, best college towns, hot seat coaches, etc.
Terry what has Mack Brown done to deserve a higher ranking than the great Lane Kiffin? LK has won all of 25 games as a college coach while losing only 13. Now that's a record worth gettin excited about!!! :wink: 8)
LOL! That is the same strategy I use when Anne and her sisters converge during the Holidays and talk politics. Signed, Skybox Vichymale
Talk about sisters....I know for sure I"m not crossing Krebs, I believe his sisters would knee cap me if I did!
Terry I would put Muschamp as slightly ahead of Mack Brown.....what do you think? He has "potential" and look how well he recruits!!!!
When Muschamp was at Texas his nick name was Coach Boom...for the way he went off on players, just like Brian Kelly except he didn't get purple in the face. When did he morph into Coach Champ? Until last 2 years Mack had not won fewer than 9 games as the coach at Texas, quite a remarkable string. Of course he has always been criticized as being just a recruiter and who couldn't win with all that Texas talent. Well with the NFL draft this year we know why we haven't won, we had no first round draft picks and only 3 guys over all starting in the 4th round. That's why we've been mediocre. I tend to think it's partly due to closing out the recruiting so early that you don't have a chance to see how kids develope over their Sr. years and not developing them when they get to campus. Hopefully that has now come to an end. Most Texas people think that Manny Diaz is a better DCoord than Muschamp. We should have an top 10 or top 5 defense this year.