Top 10 Coaches Heading into the Season

[Calinative]

I think a good question to look at is who are the guys you'd be least happy with FSU hiring next year once Norvell is fired? Mark Stoops and Dave Aranda would be two guys that clearly are in line to get hired at a more premiere school, that I really wouldn't want FSU to hire. Hugh Freeze maybe next? Obviously I wouldn't see any top 10 coach on LCE's list going there...

 

[Memnon]

I'm really interested in the coordinator matchups in our game with TAMU this year.

It’ll come down to our ability to neutralize their pass rush & win matchups vs their talented secondary.

Steele knows what to do to stop the Jumbo offense giving he’s faced it a number of different times going back to his Bama, Clemson & Auburn days, plus their offense is pretty simple to slow down anyway, just double up the seams putting a LB & Safety on the TE & cover the flats for the RB’s out of the backfield & stop the Run & you got’em lol.

 

[Memnon]

But alas, Kyle doesnt recruit at that level. Last time I checked recruiting is a big part of being a CFB coach and Jimbo is one of the best. Ultimately you are judged on your results and reality is his resume is one of the best in the game. As time goes on and he doesnt produce at the clip he used to, then his reputation will in fact slide. He needs to do something with ATM in the next two years, no doubt.

Recruiting isn’t all equal at every program.

It’s pretty obvious the difference between recruiting at Utah & Texas A&M...

The point is, Kyle Whittingham despite not having billionaire boosters & a multi-hundred million dollar program makes Utah a viable team, if he had the same resources & access to recruits I’m sure he would do the same if not even better.

You do realize that TAMU is literally the most profitable program in college football right? TAMU & Texas make more money than Bama, UGA, OH ST & Michigan & that’s not even off conference payout, that’s just merchandise, ticket sales, licensing & internal revenue. They are literally a Gold-mind school, it’s kinda hard to not recruit well there when you’re in the backyard of the arguably most talent rich state in the Nation in terms of recruits.

Again, I don’t deny that Jumbo is a good coach, but I also don’t think he’s in the same class as others who still win without having an abundance of talent.

 

[Lazarre]

I agree.

I think people view him as a top 5 coach because of recruiting, but 3 seasons with 4 or more losses in his first 4 years puts into perspective how overrated he actually is because despite great recruiting the results haven’t matched with the signing classes.

It’s really his offense, he runs an old antiquated Offense that he used to run in his LSU & Auburn days & it actually neutralizes the talent advantage he has over most teams.

If you gave a guy like Kyle Whittingham a TAMU type roster, he probably wouldn’t lose a game.

You hit the nail on the head with the offense. That will be Jimbo downfall. While it makes QBs efficient, it doesn’t generate enough offense now if days. Crab Legs took the offense to another level because he was going to push the ball no matter Jimbo would say. All the other QB go with the routine. That why Jimbo QBs always bust in the NFL.

 

[bobbydigius]

Recruiting isn’t all equal at every program.

It’s pretty obvious the difference between recruiting at Utah & Texas A&M...

The point is, Kyle Whittingham despite not having billionaire boosters & a multi-hundred million dollar program makes Utah a viable team, if he had the same resources & access to recruits I’m sure he would do the same if not even better.

You do realize that TAMU is literally the most profitable program in college football right? TAMU & Texas make more money than Bama, UGA, OH ST & Michigan & that’s not even off conference payout, that’s just merchandise, ticket sales, licensing & internal revenue. They are literally a Gold-mind school, it’s kinda hard to not recruit well there when you’re in the backyard of the arguably most talent rich state in the Nation in terms of recruits.

Again, I don’t deny that Jumbo is a good coach, but I also don’t think he’s in the same class as others who still win without having an abundance of talent.

Yeah but Kyle never made the jump to a bigger program and I think a good chunk of that was by choice. Also, until the last few years, Jimbo made his name at FSU and left because they were cheap. Jimbo is a top tier recruiter, an MNC winner, and has produced 4 1st round QBs. I fvckin hate myself for having to defend this cuck but ****.

 

[E1k]

Tell us about his genius defensive coaching, other than having highly ranked 5 stars 3 deep at every defensive position.

Tell me exactly what kind of genius schemes he runs, how he adapts those schemes situationally, and about his genius schematic designs.

See everyone just thinks u put the talent out there and poof you have a championship level team. For example we lost to fiu,duke, la tech etc etc. You gonna tell me we dont have more talent than them and majority of the coastal? Yea ok go look at all the different fronts, creepers ,sim pressures, all the different coverages they roll into at Georgia and then look at our **** from the last 20 years or **** near any other defenses besides a few and tell me coaching not playing a big part into maximizing that talent

 

[nystateofmind]

Look, it’s one thing if you don’t like Kirby Smart as a person.

But to still be denying he’s a good coach after he won a Natty is pretty foolish.

 

[OldhamA]

[clears throat]

Say it with me.

I don't want Mario Cristobal to be ranked until he proves he can stay ranked.

 

[Canegrad89]

Recruiting isn’t all equal at every program.

It’s pretty obvious the difference between recruiting at Utah & Texas A&M...

The point is, Kyle Whittingham despite not having billionaire boosters & a multi-hundred million dollar program makes Utah a viable team, if he had the same resources & access to recruits I’m sure he would do the same if not even better.

You do realize that TAMU is literally the most profitable program in college football right? TAMU & Texas make more money than Bama, UGA, OH ST & Michigan & that’s not even off conference payout, that’s just merchandise, ticket sales, licensing & internal revenue. They are literally a Gold-mind school, it’s kinda hard to not recruit well there when you’re in the backyard of the arguably most talent rich state in the Nation in terms of recruits.

Again, I don’t deny that Jumbo is a good coach, but I also don’t think he’s in the same class as others who still win without having an abundance of talent.

I agree with LCE that certain coaches succeed in large part because they're fortunate to land at one of the premier programs in the country (and benefit significantly from the additional resources, rabid booster support and the brand). The coaches that do more with less are under-represented on the original list (which currently reads more like a list of top programs in the country).

Coaches that achieve good to great results with far less like Bill Snyder used to do at K-State are great coaches. There's no two ways about it. Dude could flat out coach a bunch of 2 & 3 stars and make them play really solid ball as a unit. As LCE said, Kyle Wittingham ain't messing around at Utah. They are a tough & well coached team that maximizes the lower quality talent available to them. Jim Grobe (former coach at Wake) did more with less. That's a heck of an accomplishment to get them to 11 wins. That list needs at least one of these types. Who do you think it should be?

 

[rekofred]

I pray our coaches and players see **** like that and feel disrespected as **** and just fuel the fire. Fvck em. Get to work mofos
Anybody can make a dam list. Even i made a list for Winn Dixie this morning. I can push any item I want to the top if I want it bad enough

 

[AlexCane]

1. You cannot discount recruiting when factoring a coach’s ability. Recruiting is a part of the job. (Also, some of you are downplaying coaches because they stack talent yet referring to Mario’s recruiting ability when talking up Mario. Cant have it both ways.)

2. I love Mario. I championed Mario. He was my number one guy throughout. However, he is not top five and likely not top 10. Not yet at least.

3. Mario is being overhyped in this thread. He will never be more liked than he is right now because he hasn’t coached a game here yet. Once he loses a game, if we have this same discussion, the discussion will probably center around whether he’s top 25 or not! “Miami went cheap, bro.”

 

[grover]

1. You cannot discount recruiting when factoring a coach’s ability. Recruiting is a part of the job. (Also, some of you are downplaying coaches because they stack talent yet referring to Mario’s recruiting ability when talking up Mario. Cant have it both ways.)

2. I love Mario. I championed Mario. He was my number one guy throughout. However, he is not top five and likely not top 10. Not yet at least.

3. Mario is being overhyped in this thread. He will never be more liked than he is right now because he hasn’t coached a game here yet. Once he loses a game, if we have this same discussion, the discussion will probably center around whether he’s top 25 or not! “Miami went cheap, bro.”

Mário is going to go through the tech cycle where a new product is hyped beyond all reasonable expectations, then there’s a crash of despair as reality sets in that the product is only 1.0 and there’s a long way to go for it to change the world.

But I expect he’ll crash back through that ceiling. Like an Amazon or Tesla, he just needs some time before it all comes together.

I’ll support him even if, as is most likely, CIS becomes a dumpster fire in the down cycle. He’s top 5, just needs time to work his magic.

 

[AlexCane]

@grover he's not top 5. I sure hope to put him there some day, but not yet.

I won't rank (outside Saban) coaches but rather group them. Tell me where I'm wrong:

The undisputed best coach in CFB
1. Saban

Consistently puts teams in CFB playoff within last 3-5 years
Dabo
Kirby
Lincoln Riley
Ryan Day

Sustained, demonstrated success over many years; flirting with CFB playoffs on a regular basis
Jimbo
Harbaugh
Brian Kelly
Fickell

Proven, competent head coaches but unlikely to regularly compete for playoffs due to school/locale
Whittingham
Mike Gundy

That's 11 coaches right there. I got Mario in the next tier.

Solid, competent head coaches but some questions (character, lack of proven, sustained history, etc.)
Cristobal
Lane
Freeze
Aranda
Mark Stoops?

I think it's safe to say Mario is likely a top 15-20 guy with room to jump. I'm not sure where you'd put guys like Paul Chryst, Jamey Chadwell, Bill Clark, James Franklin(?) in comparison to Mario.

 

[JustAFanHTX]

My top 10:

1) Nick Saban
2) Dabo Swinney
3) Kirby Smart ()
4) Lincoln Riley
5) Mike Gundy
6) Ryan Day
7) Kyle Whittingham
8) Paul Chryst
9) Mario Cristobal
10) Lane Kiffin

Honorable Mention: Jim Harbaugh, Brian Kelly, Mark Stoops, Hugh Freeze, Dave Aranda, Luke Fickell, Kalani Sitake, Billy Napier, Jamey Chadwell, Blake Anderson, Jay Norvell, Brady Hoke

Coaches I think are set to breakout: Jeff Traylor, Sonny Dykes, Josh Heupel, Eli Drinkwitz, Shane Beamer, Joey McGuire, Rhett Lashlee, Tyson Helton, Timmy Chang, GJ Kinne

What’s yalls top 10?

I put chadwell where Mario is and Brian Kelly where gundy is. And I slide gundy to 7 in place of whittingham

 

[JustAFanHTX]

It’ll come down to our ability to neutralize their pass rush & win matchups vs their talented secondary.

Steele knows what to do to stop the Jumbo offense giving he’s faced it a number of different times going back to his Bama, Clemson & Auburn days, plus their offense is pretty simple to slow down anyway, just double up the seams putting a LB & Safety on the TE & cover the flats for the RB’s out of the backfield & stop the Run & you got’em lol.

I don’t think we can hold up on the outside either with their wideouts. Luckily jimbo don’t believe in airing it out as much as he should

 

[Genghis Cane]

I don’t think we can hold up on the outside either with their wideouts. Luckily jimbo don’t believe in airing it out as much as he should

We need another big-time CB transfer to hang with them.

 

[Stylie]

Those are 2 national title winners. One just won when all these message boards of envious fans said UGA was fraudulent…but I’m old enough to remember the 2010s and even prior. Wayyy before the message board hysteria that tells us jimbo and Kirby are products soley of their situations now. Jimbo was always regarded as a top notch coach..there were ppl saying Saban would lose a step after Kirby left..y’all need to stop lol. Jimbo and Kirby are top 10 coaches in CFB.

I was too ripped last night to respond. Sorry for the delay. Kirby is above avg. He had a ton of talent on his team vs the field. (Bought and paid for) Jimbo was on the chopping block before Jameis saved his ***. He really hasn't done anything since. Jimbo is also a first class piece of ****. Biggest scumbag in CFB.

 

[OriginalCanesCanesCanes]

Mack Brown won a national championship too, yet no one ever mentions him in any conversation among the top coaches in college football...

Why is that?

If you can answer that question, that will give more insight as to why I don’t hold Jumbo to as high esteem as some may do, regardless of the Natty he won.

Perfect example.

What’s the common denominator of these types of coaches?

Average corches with generational talent type quarterbacks under center. I don’t mean to speak for EL, but here are other examples.

Obviously Jumbo/Jameis and Mack/VYoung, since that’s the topic of conversation.

Chizik/Cam Newton is another example. There are others.

 

[OriginalCanesCanesCanes]

See everyone just thinks u put the talent out there and poof you have a championship level team. For example we lost to fiu,duke, la tech etc etc. You gonna tell me we dont have more talent than them and majority of the coastal? Yea ok go look at all the different fronts, creepers ,sim pressures, all the different coverages they roll into at Georgia and then look at our **** from the last 20 years or **** near any other defenses besides a few and tell me coaching not playing a big part into maximizing that talent

The point is you take an average coach with that kind of talent and he’ll make the college football playoffs more years than not. No decent coach is going to roll out a bunch of five stars and think he’s just going to play a cover 2 straight up every day, every play, and win. Not even Kirby is that dumb.

Plus, I hate the ******, and I’m looking for reasons why he’s not a good coach. He may end up being an average corch long term. Only time will tell.

 

[bobbydigius]

The point is you take an average coach with that kind of talent and he’ll make the college football playoffs more years than not. No decent coach is going to roll out a bunch of five stars and think he’s just going to play a cover 2 straight up every day, every play, and win. Not even Kirby is that dumb.

Plus, I hate the ******, and I’m looking for reasons why he’s not a good coach. He may end up being an average corch long term. Only time will tell.

The big part of the equation though is recruiting and talent evaluations. It’s what set Butch apart from others cause otherwise he was an average at best game day guy but nobody says he was just an average coach.