Yet another list to help divert us until August 30!

1. Bob Stoops (42), Oklahoma – (43-9, 4 years)
The numbers paint a staggering picture of Stoops’ career in Norman. A 43-9 overall mark. An 11-1 record versus top 10 teams. A 3-1 bowl record, which includes wins in the Orange, Cotton and Rose Bowls. Two Big 12 Championships. And, of course, a national championship. Stoops has it all, even if he’s occasionally slow to respond to an opponent’s offensive adjustments. As long as the fire continues to burn, he’s destined to be this generation’s most prolific head football coach.

2. Jim Tressel (50), Ohio State – (21-5, 2 years)
In an age of flash and hyperbole, Tressel has righted the Buckeye ship with common sense, patience and old-fashioned values. Last year’s national championship was the first for Ohio State in 34 years, and the back-to-back wins over Michigan hasn’t happened in more than two decades. In Ohio, Tressel’s already approaching icon status, meaning those top recruiting classes will be an annual fixture.

3. Ralph Friedgen (56), Maryland – (21-5, 2 years)
Friedgen’s accomplishments at Maryland have been nothing short of astonishing. In just two seasons, he’s energized a once-moribund program and created a stir at Byrd Stadium on a traditional ACC basketball campus. Few coaches can work a board room and a locker room as deftly as this lifelong assistant.

4. Nick Saban (51), LSU – (26-12, 3 years – 69-38-1 overall, 9 years)
A demanding, no-nonsense coach, Saban rescued the LSU program from a downward spiral when he arrived before the 2000 season. In just three years, he’s brought a winning attitude, an SEC title and some of the school’s best-ever recruits to the Bayou. If they can keep the NFL’s paws off Saban, the Tigers will have a gifted leader on their sidelines for years to come.

5. Mark Richt (43), Georgia – (21-5, 2 years)
Richt took a few lumps in his first campaign before responding last fall with a brilliant 13-1, SEC championship season, the school’s first in two decades. The former Seminole offensive coordinator exudes the kind of confident demeanor usually reserved for seasoned veterans. His stock will continue to soar as he gains more head coaching experience.

6. Mike Bellotti (52), Oregon – (67-29, 8 years)
More than any other coach over the past decade, Bellotti has helped restore the way outsiders look out at the Pac-10 conference. Before last season, his Ducks were improving every year, highlighted by an 11-1 record and No. 2 finish in both major polls in 2001. His strength lies with an offense that annually averages more than 30 points and 400 yards a game.

7. Tyrone Willingham (49), Notre Dame – (10-3, 1 year – 54-39-1 overall, 8 years)
Great head coaches aren’t defined by a single season, but Willingham sure gained plenty of supporters in 2002. In less than a year, he erased the malaise that had characterized the Bob Davie era and turned an average collection of talent into winners. Polished, positive and poised, Willingham is the consummate leader of young men. To remain in the top 10, he must improve on his 1-4 bowl record.

8. Dennis Franchione (52), Texas A&M – (1st year – 75-54 overall, 11 years)
Franchione’s abrupt and awkward departure from Alabama last December may have left a stain on his character. It did not, however, impact his ability to reverse the fortunes of floundering football programs. The year before the meticulous manager got to TCU, the Frogs were 1-10. Three years later, they were 10-1. In 2000, the Tide was 3-8. Last year, they were 10-3, despite being saddled with NCAA sanctions.

9. Frank Beamer (56), Virginia Tech – (117-69-2, 16 years – 159-92-4 overall, 22 years)
Year after year, Beamer’s Hokies are one of the most fundamentally sound teams in the country. His work with the special teams is well-documented, and his time-tested system has produced 93 wins and ten bowl games over the past decade. Too often, folks take for granted that Beamer’s turned a sleepy, hillside college into one of the game’s most consistent programs.

10. Phillip Fulmer (52), Tennessee – (103-25, 11 years)
In eleven seasons, Fulmer has amassed a spiffy resume, which includes an .811 winning percentage, two SEC championships, a national title in 1998 and appearances in eleven straight bowl games. Yet, when the nation’s top coaches are mentioned, his name rarely comes up. Much of that can be traced to his 3-8 career mark against arch-nemesis Florida.


imho Friedgen and Willingham don't belong in the top ten quite yet.

College Football News list

Friedgen maybe, but not at Number 3. And not that far ahead of Frank Beamer. Move up Phil Fullmer, too, while we're at it.

Willingham was a mediocre coach at Stanford that had a great first year for the Domers. Let's wait for the encore before putting him in the pantheon. I'd also have omitted Franchione ... who's run up a so-so record with programs that have run on auto-pilot.

Where's Larry Coker? Miami would be great even with Ray Goff or Gerry Faust, but still. I'd also have given Marshall's coach a serious look, whoever the hell he is. And since DCBucky didn't say it, I will: what about including Barry Alvarez?

[ July 14, 2003, 09:57 AM: Message edited by: Charlie in the Trees ]

Stoops is the best coach? come on folks...

Bellotti (however you spell it)... Turned a program around to make them a consistantly good team. The guy has STAYED at the program when he could go to a major university... ect ect... that's a class coach. w/l records are great, but how many points do they give for class? Where is JoPa?

The MD coach? come on, that team is a joke, they play one good team a year.... please...

I know most of these lists are designed to create controversy and illicit strong responses but after reviewing the complete list (116 D-1 coaches are ranked, of which DCBucky listed the top 10) the credibility of the author (CollegeFootballnews.com) deserves to be SERIOUSLY questioned....how can ANYONE rank Joe Paterno (#39) and Bobby Bowden (#40) (and I'm sorry to tell you this, GatorJamie, but Ron Zook is ranked at #49) BEHIND such "esteemed" coaches with "long track records of success" the likes of Urban Meyer (at Utah with a grand total of ONE YEAR of head coaching experience), Dan Hawkins (Boise State), Jim Leavitt (South Florida), and Jeff Bower (So. Miss.)?....nothing against these smaller "mid-major" schools but you've got to be kidding! eek!

Don't even get me started on Lou Holtz being ranked as the 20TH best coach in the country today after he has "ONLY" been successful at EVERY school he has ever coached at for 30+ years (William & Mary, NC State, Arkansas, Minnesota, Notre Dame, and South Carolina) including leading an 0-11 Gamecocks program to two consecutive New Years Day bowl games (and defeating Ohio State on both occasions in the two years immediately preceding their National Championship) within two seasons....I don't care if Holtz, Paterno or Bowden are 100 years old -- they can all outcoach half of the guys that are listed ahead of them any day of the week....I'm all for stirring up controversy but these rankings are ridiculous!

[ July 14, 2003, 10:23 AM: Message edited by: gamecock ]

No problem, gamecock. You're right about the pollsters' credibility being questionable (hey, I love the Fridge, too, but he ain't #3, and Richt still chokes on Gator tail), so I'm not gonna get my knickers in a twist about Zookie. He did, after all, invite a LOT of criticism with bonehead play-calling in the Outback Bowl, but he took appropriate responsibility and hopefully learned from it.

Does that earn him a cellar-dwelling ranking? Probably not. But that guy has enough pressure on him already - I'm gonna give him another year, and maybe even TWO, before I pass judgment on him. Gotta let the guy get his own kids in there.

That said, I agree that Stoops is awesome -- top 5, maybe -- but to fail to place Holtz, Paterno, and yes, even King Hypocrite Bobby Bowden in a higher position is ludicrous. All three of those guys have had tough years of late, but they were coaching when Stoops was a twinkle in his daddy's eye. "Top" college coaches should count for more than "what have you done for me lately."

Of course, if you're talking about all-time best college coaches, you're going to have to include a certain master of the offense who now coaches an NFL team and resides in Loudoun County, Va. :cool:

gj

I can see Bob Pruett as a top 30 coach.

If he was at a bigger school, he'd be top 10 or 15

I am not even going to honor that article with a response, other than to say it is a JOKE!!! I think the poll would be more amptly named "The Media's Favorite Coaches."

Exfballplayer

Lou Holtz beating Ohio State in the two years before OSU won the national championship is not much of a trophy, because Ohio State wasn't that good during those years. That's why they ended up playing South Carolina two consecutive years in the Citrus Bowl, or whatever they call it now.

Wrong game... they played in the Outback Bowl in Tampa, not the Citrus Bowl in Orlando (or whatever corporation gets the bid this year).

[ July 22, 2003, 08:34 PM: Message edited by: BikeJocks ]

I beg to differ with ya, Buckeye....OSU might not have had Clarrett two years ago but they were still a top-notch team -- and were it not for a few last minute nail-biters last season (most notably against Purdue, Cincinnati and Illinois) the Buckeyes could easily have suffered 2-3 losses....I am taking nothing away from what Tressel has accomplished in Columbus but I see no reason to denegrade the phenomenal job that Lou has done at South Carolina either (which is not surprising given his virtually unparalleled track record of success everywhere Holtz has been over the past 30 years).

Besides, the Outback Bowl (NOT the Citrus Bowl, as you referred to it) is now arguably considered to be the FIFTH best postseason game behind only the Orange, Sugar, Rose and Fiesta -- as reflected by its New Years Day scheduling....maybe the Bucks and 'Cocks will meet again following this season so Lou's boys can make it three in a row over the Big Ten's "finest".

The Outback bowl is the fifth best bowl? How does one arrive at that conclusion when the bowl pits Big Ten # 3 against SEC # 3 (or perhaps it is the # 4 spots, even, I can't remember). The game starts at like 11:00 in the morning -- nobody is even awake. Those victories for South Carolina were great wins over Ohio State and great wins for Lou Holtz, who I believe never beat Ohio State at any of his previous coaching jobs. John Cooper got fired because of that game. The message to all current and future coaches at Ohio State: "Ohio State does not lose to South Carolina."