Stewart Mandel of Sports Illustrated lists the 10 best and five worst coaches in college football.
The 10 best are:
- Pete Carroll @ USC
- Urban Meyer @ Florida
- Jim Tressel @ Ohio State
- Mack Brown @ Texas
- Bob Stoops @ Oklahoma
- Frank Beamer @ Virginia Tech
- Jim Grobe @ Wake Forest
- Rich Rodriguez @ West Virginia
- Mark Richt @ Georgia
- Gary Patterson @ TCU
Note, the Huskers line up against the very best and the seventh best coach this September. Hey, challenges are good.
The five worst college coaches are:
- Al Groh @ Virginia
- Dennis Franchione @ Texas A&M
- Tommy Bowden @ Clemson
- Bill Doba @ Washington State
- Karl Dorrell @ UCLA
You’ll no doubt notice that BC did not make this list, but hold it…Mandel has a “Just Missed” list to go with his main dish.
Just missed: Georgia Tech’s Chan Gailey (who gets a one-year reprieve for winning a division title, even if he did still manage to lose his requisite five games), Nebraska’s Bill Callahan, Arizona’s Mike Stoops, Illinois’ Ron Zook and Arkansas’ Houston Nutt.
Mandel says he picked the worst coaches by “simply gauging who’s doing the least with the most.”
July 13th, 2007 at 6:09 am
I must admit I’m a little surprised, even though many of us have been calling for a new Huskers Head Coach for many different reasons, to read that BC just missed being named under the “worst 5″ coaches in College Football. Even I didn’t think that he was “bottom-of-the-barrel” before, just not the right guy for the Huskers. This article may add more fuel to our collective fires, I think.
July 13th, 2007 at 6:19 am
His piece is actually a bit deceptive. By adding the “Just Missed” addendum, Mandel is saying BC is one of the 10 worst coaches in college football.
July 13th, 2007 at 7:07 am
Wow. Mandel’s article is another eye-opener, just like the recent article where Broderick Thomas spoke out so adamantly about the current coach & AD on behalf of many alumni, ex-players and coaches. These articles continue to validate what many of us have been blogging about for quite some time. I agree that a true Husker should be sought out & installed as a head coach to guide our team again, but like Jeff touced upon, one who brings with him both a traditional set of Husker values and a modern approach to today’s passing/offensive capable game. I also would like to see Turner Gill among the candidates if Callahan has another bad year.
Now that Jim Grobe has made Mandel’s “best” list at #7, I’m more convinced that the Wake Forest game will be a challenge. In a way, it’s probably good that that game in the second week is on the road…less of a temptation (for the fans, too) to look past it to the following week’s huge home game vs USC.
July 13th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
I’m a little confused….is BC in the just missed for the worst coaches or the best? Could someone inform me.
July 13th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
Pete,
He just missed being named one of the five worst coaches in the nation.
July 13th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
Pete, BC’s in the worst category, just missing the “bottom 5″, or as BugEater pointed out, definitely ranked and/or considered (by Mandel, who is an experienced and kneledeable college football writer/analyst) to be one of the 10 worst college head coaches in the country. That’s real bad and embarassing to make that list…and Callahan is in control of our beloved Huskers.
July 17th, 2007 at 7:49 am
Bravo, SI, Bill C IS DEINITELY among the worst coaches in the nation, AND DEFINITELY the worst football head coach at Nebraska in the last 50 years -C’mon, 19-15 against Div. I teams in 3 years, for us that’s absolutely awful (and embarassing)!! This isn’t Missouri, Colorado, KU or K-State, it’s NEBRASKA! Get rid of him and Steve P ASAP, he’s an outsider and a proven failure in Lincoln. We haven’t had this bad of a 3-year record in a half century.
July 17th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
Does Mike D. stand for Ditka? Because you have a good football mind!
I’m still not ready to jump ship from Callahan, but as I’ve said before I’ll make that decision after USC. But if someone else were to come in with a Proud Past, we need to understand that a modern plan needs to accompany them.
July 17th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
Sorry, one more thing.
The way I look at it, in response to anonymous, Callahan is part of our beloved Huskers. Whether he should be a part or not will be determined. For now, “WE” should all support him and hope he goes undefeated this year. I don’t think anyone will disagree with that.
To the point that he’s an outsider with a 19-15 record (I didn’t double check to make sure this is accurate, but probably is) would it make a difference if Gill had the same record, e.g. Callahan is only an outsider because some of the Husker Nation has refused to let him in; what does this say about the “Good Life”.
July 18th, 2007 at 5:33 am
Thanks for the compliment, Jeff. I agree that we all should be rooting for an undefeated season (and also to Anonymous, I think you’re rooting for the same thing deep down, but you are definitely letting Callahan’s record sour your support for the team), for all the players and whoever is the coach, every year. Jeff, those fans at the game whom you witnessed as rooting against the team so that Callahan would get fired are not true Husker fans. Especially at home vs a team like Nicholls State, don’t they realize what a damaging loss that would have been to the entire program, not only to Callahan? That game was a blowout in our favor anyway, so there was never really any danger, except from that type of “fan” mindset.
I am certainly one who believes that someone like Turner Gill (being a long-term Husker) may get a 3 or 4 year “Free pass” if he were to get the Head Coach position, but ultimately it comes down to Wins and Losses for any coach, particularly because we are Nebraska. 15 losses in the first 3 years for any coach here would raise a warning red flag, just as it has for Callahan. I am wondering how much public perception has been influenced by Mandel’s SI article, he is well-known and oft-read college football columnist, and it is extremely eye-opening that Callahan has made his list of wortst coaches in the Nation. I’m curious to hear how Husker Nation will take that verbal black-eye, and knowing that we’re striving hard to get back to our formerly elite status. Is the current perception now that we have a third-rate coach leading a second-rate team?
As has been said by Pete, Jeff and others here, this year will be the final measuring stick. I sincerely believe that a 3-0 start could propel us to a great season in the top 10! We could have a lot of momentum if we beat USC, and if we can beat USC, we can obviously beat Texas and have an undefeated or 1-loss season.