Rank your top 10 active college football coaches

[john4psu]

Who are your top 10 active college football coaches?

My top 10:
Saban
Meyer
Stoops
Fisher
Miles
Dantonio
Swinney
Harbaugh
Shaw
Kelly

Just to help out below is a list of 46 college football coaches at major college football programs: (Please let me know if I omitted someone worthy of being on the list for consideration)

Bret Bielema, Arkansas
Paul Chryst, Wisconsin
David Cutcliffe, Duke
Dave Doeren, NC State
Larry Fedora, North Carolina
Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
Jimbo Fisher, Florida State
Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern
James Franklin, Penn State
Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss
Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech
Todd Graham, Arizona State
Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
Jim Harbaugh, Michigan
Mark Helfrich, Oregon
Tom Herman, Houston
Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia
Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech
Butch Jones, Tennessee
Brian Kelly, Notre Dame
Mike Leach, Washington State
Gus Malzahn, Auburn
Jim McElwain, Florida
Bronco Mendenhall, Virginia
Urban Meyer, Ohio State
Les Miles, LSU
Jim Mora, UCLA
Dan Mullen, Miss St.
Pat Narduzzi, Pitt (for the Pitt trolls as he obviously doesn't belong in anyone's top 10)
Ken Niumatalolo, Navy - how ironic, alphabetically the coach that follows Quido Narduchi on this list coached circles around him in the Military Bowl. Oh, and Navy just scored again.
Gary Patterson, TCU
Chris Petersen, Washington
Bobby Petrino, Louisville
Gary Pinkel, Missouri
Mark Richt, Miami
Matt Rhule, Temple
Mike Riley, Nebraska
Rich Rodriquez, Arizona
Nick Saban, Alabama
David Shaw, Stanford
Bill Snyder, Kansas State
Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
Charlie Strong, Texas
Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
Dabo Swinney, Clemson
Tommy Tuberville, Cincinnati
Kyle Whittingham, Utah

 

[Wallace Breen]

I am going top five.

1. Jim Harbaugh
2. Mark Dantonio
3. Nick Saban
4. Brian Kelly
5. David Shaw

 

[Peetz Pool Boy]

I am going top five.

1. Jim Harbaugh
2. Mark Dantonio
3. Nick Saban
4. Brian Kelly
5. David Shaw

Trolls somehow have a way of outing themselves.

Seeing that you're such a longstanding member (3/11/16) of this esteemed board, I can only assume...based on your "rankings" that you're nothing other than "scUM troll"

 

[GregInPitt]

I still believe that Sabin is not top 10. He never really won big until he got a job where he could cheat. So I don't put any SEC coaches in my top 10. The best coaches win without top talent (i.e. a Domer coach would have to win MNC's about every other year to be a top coach), win at schools that really can't cherry pick top players, or win consistently where ever they coach.

1. Meyers
2. Rhule
3. Peterson
4. Snyder
5. Swinney
6. Niumatalolo
7. Mora
8. Ferentz
9. Fitzgerald
10. Harbaugh

 

[Wallace Breen]

Trolls somehow have a way of outing themselves.

Seeing that you're such a longstanding member (3/11/16) of this esteemed board, I can only assume...based on your "rankings" that you're nothing other than "scUM troll"

Harbaugh took .500 talent (significantly less than Penn State has) and got them to 10 wins playing in the toughest division in football. I think that kind of makes him the best.

 

[Lion8286]

Top 5:

1. Saban
2. Meyer
3. Petersen
4. Stoops
5. Dantonio

 

[fairgambit]

Harbaugh took .500 talent (significantly less than Penn State has) and got them to 10 wins playing in the toughest division in football. I think that kind of makes him the best.

And apparently his peers and the media agree with you as evidenced by his winning both national and Big Ten coach of the year honors. What? He wasn't the national COY? Dabo who? Seriously? And Kirk Ferentz won both Big Ten COY awards....are you kidding me?

 

[Lion84]

Harbaugh took .500 talent (significantly less than Penn State has) and got them to 10 wins playing in the toughest division in football. I think that kind of makes him the best.

500 talent - where in the hell did you get that from - not recruiting rankings that is for sure. Harbaugh is #1 in psycho quotient I will give you.

 

[AWS1022]

Harbaugh took .500 talent (significantly less than Penn State has) and got them to 10 wins playing in the toughest division in football. I think that kind of makes him the best.

This is a candidate for dumbest post of all time. UM had significantly less talent than PSU....holy sh!t, what a moron.

 

[Franklin_Restores_TheTradition]

Top 5:

1. Saban
2. Meyer
3. Petersen
4. Stoops
5. Dantonio

No Dabo Swinney or Jim-Bob Fisher (hate the guy's "character", but probably makes the list on coaching ability)? What about Shaw at Stanford - he's 54-14 (6th best in the nation since taking over in 2011 and only 2 coaches on your list are in front of him - ditto Swinney 56-12, 5th best over span and Jim-Bob 58-10, 2nd best over span)? What about Helfrich at Oregon - he's 33-8 since taking over in 2013?

 

[Connorpozlee]

I still believe that Sabin is not top 10. He never really won big until he got a job where he could cheat. So I don't put any SEC coaches in my top 10. The best coaches win without top talent (i.e. a Domer coach would have to win MNC's about every other year to be a top coach), win at schools that really can't cherry pick top players, or win consistently where ever they coach.

1. Meyers
2. Rhule
3. Peterson
4. Snyder
5. Swinney
6. Niumatalolo
7. Mora
8. Ferentz
9. Fitzgerald
10. Harbaugh

Yet you put Meyer(s?) at the top. He is essentially running an SEC program in the Big10. He and Saban belong at the top of that list. Harbaugh belongs near the top as well.

 

[BobPSU92]

Who are the the top-ten assholes among college coaches? Same list? Maybe a few changes and some shuffling.

 

[Ian]

Saban is clear number 1. Then I'd rank any of the B1G elite next. They are Meyer, Harbaugh, DAntonio, Fitzgerald, Ferentz. I like Shaw, Stoops, and Miles, too. Not a Jimbo fan. I loved Richt at Georgia. Cutcliffe and Riley are good coaches. So is Paterson.

 

[Franklin_Restores_TheTradition]

I still believe that Sabin is not top 10. He never really won big until he got a job where he could cheat. So I don't put any SEC coaches in my top 10. The best coaches win without top talent (i.e. a Domer coach would have to win MNC's about every other year to be a top coach), win at schools that really can't cherry pick top players, or win consistently where ever they coach.

1. Meyers
2. Rhule
3. Peterson
4. Snyder
5. Swinney
6. Niumatalolo
7. Mora
8. Ferentz
9. Fitzgerald
10. Harbaugh

Yet you put Meyer(s?) at the top. He is essentially running an SEC program in the Big10. He and Saban belong at the top of that list. Harbaugh belongs near the top as well.

Beyond that, he is completely full of $hit that Saban never won until getting to Bama. Saban took a MSU team that went 22-34-1 in the five years before he arrived for the 1995 Season and proceeded to create a winning tradition over the next 5 seasons (MSU went 35-24-1 from 1995-1999 seasons) during Saban's 5 year span Sparty never recorded a losing season despite MSU having ZERO above .500 seasons in the four seasons prior to Saban's arrival. In Saban's final season, 1999, Saban had shaped MSU into a top ten ranked team that finished the season 10-2, won their NYD Bowl and finished the season ranked #7 in both of the final editions of the major national polls, the AP's and Coaches'. Saban then went 48-16 at LSU from 2000-2004 and won a National Championship in 2003 before moving on to the NFL's Dolphins for 2 years in 2005-2006 and then Bama beginning in 2007! Simply absurd to say he did nothing or accomplished nothing prior to Bama......

 

[Wallace Breen]

500 talent - where in the hell did you get that from - not recruiting rankings that is for sure. Harbaugh is #1 in psycho quotient I will give you.

Recruiting rankings are BS.

 

[Nittany Ziggy]

Who are the the top-ten assholes among college coaches? Same list? Maybe a few changes and some shuffling.

LOL! Correct, just shake them up like ping pong balls in any lottery....

 

[Wallace Breen]

Saban is clear number 1. Then I'd rank any of the B1G elite next. They are Meyer, Harbaugh, DAntonio, Fitzgerald, Ferentz. I like Shaw, Stoops, and Miles, too. Not a Jimbo fan. I loved Richt at Georgia. Cutcliffe and Riley are good coaches. So is Paterson.

If Saban has a decent graduation rate, he would be top dog without a doubt. There are three (really four when you include fund raising) parts to college coaching. Off the field. On the field and recruiting. He checks two but fails miserably at the other and if he were genuinely interested in that one, it is much easier to graduate players and Alabama and LSU than Michigan State and he didn't do well at any of them.

 

[Wallace Breen]

Harbaugh inherited less talent from Hoke than Franklin inherited from Fly'in Ly'in O'Brien??? Ummm, let's just ignore the fact that Harbaugh inherited a full-roster of scholarship athletes (not half the NCAA limit) and while were at it, let's just act like Hoke's recruiting classes weren't ranked near the top of the NCAA versus the bottom-half.... Not only a flaming, trolling POS scUM fan, but a flaming, trolling @sshole scUM fan on crack - awesome, aren't we lucky and so fortunate!?!? Uuuummmm, hey monitors can you please flush this "traditional b1g shizhole" scUM piece of $hit?

CAUTION, POSING-TROLL ALERT!!!!
Slippery When Slimy Slug Troll X-ing​

Perhaps the monitors should flush you. You are a troll who can't accept opinion or even points that differ from your own.

 

[AWS1022]

Perhaps the monitors should flush you. You are a troll who can't accept opinion or even points that differ from your own.

You calling someone else a troll....that's funny, I don't care who you are.

 

[Nittany Ziggy]

Actually, if we are considering A$$HOLES in college football coaching, this better illustrates it (think - It's Raining Men) ........

 

[Franklin_Restores_TheTradition]

Saban is clear number 1. Then I'd rank any of the B1G elite next. They are Meyer, Harbaugh, DAntonio, Fitzgerald, Ferentz. I like Shaw, Stoops, and Miles, too. Not a Jimbo fan. I loved Richt at Georgia. Cutcliffe and Riley are good coaches. So is Paterson.

There is no other active CFB Coach in the b1g shizhole who is at Meyer's level. Meyer and Saban are comparable given their accomplishments at multiple schools (e.g., winning National Championships with multiple programs), but utter laughable nonsense to claim Dantonio, Fitzgerald, Ferentz or Harpuke are on Saban's and Meyer's level in regards to being both an "active CFB Coach" and accomplishments to-date. Beyond laughable really and a notion that could only be postulated by an ignorant, myopic, parochial "traditional b1g shizhole" fan (any of them as they all typically meet this "homer", absurdly and hopelessly biased description). Just to "keep it real", here are the Top 5 Winningest Programs over the past 5 years:

1. Bama (62-7)
2. F$U (58-10)
3. Oregon (57-11)
4. tO$U (56-11)
5. Clemson (56-12)

And FYI, I fully realize that Meyer didn't take over tO$U until the 2013 season, but his prior accomplishments at Florida, Utah and BGU......and his lifetime overall records of 154-27, 10-2 in bowl games and 3 National Championships (2 at UF and 1 at tO$U) in 14 years as a DI-A CFB Head Coach is pretty damn impressive (ditto Saban's overall lifetime record). Dantonio's lifetime record in 12 DI-A seasons (9 of the 12 total at MSU) is 105-50, 5-5 in bowls and ZERO National Championships. You have to be on some pretty serious b1g shizhole crack to believe that Dantanio (or the other b1g shiz shlook you listed are on par with Meyer and Saban) is even remotely comparable to Saban or Meyer in terms of "best active CFB coaches" based on ACTUAL accomplishments!

 

[Franklin_Restores_TheTradition]

Recruiting rankings are BS.

After your last statement, you're going to label somebody else's "qualified opinion" as BS? LMFAO, what a typical "traditional b1g shizhole" scUM-bag tool.....

 

[BobPSU92]

LOL! Correct, just shake them up like ping pong balls in any lottery....

I proposed some changes simply because bielema isn't in the top ten based on ability.

 

[Franklin_Restores_TheTradition]

Perhaps the monitors should flush you. You are a troll who can't accept opinion or even points that differ from your own.

$hit "traditional b1g shizhole" opinions, especially when posted while fraudulently posing as a PSU fan on a PSU board for the purpose of propagating your troll BS "traditional b1g shizhole" propaganda, deserves to be flushed like the crap it is via the POS that produced it.

CAUTION, POSING-TROLL ALERT!!!
Slimy b1g Shizhole Slug-Trail Alert​

 

[Nittany Ziggy]

$hit "traditional b1g shizhole"

Is that a Kindle in the troll's left hand?

 

[Franklin_Restores_TheTradition]

Is that a Kindle in the troll's left hand?

Not sure - hey Wallace Breen is that a Kindle in your left hand?

 

[Nittany Security]

Saban being Saban

 

[BobPSU92]

View embedded media

Saban being Saban

On a holiday weekend.

 

[Franklin_Restores_TheTradition]

View embedded media

Saban being Saban

Same could be said of the "win regardless of means", including sacrificing integrity, coaches in the b1g shiz such as Urbs and Harpuke.... b1g shiz is probably the most zenophobic conference in the land - it's okay to be a zero-integrity puke in the "traditional b1g shiz" cuz that's the traditional programs' birth-right, don't you know?

 

[sdwcpa]

There is no other active CFB Coach in the b1g shizhole who is at Meyer's level. Meyer and Saban are comparable given their accomplishments at multiple schools (e.g., winning National Championships with multiple programs), but utter laughable nonsense to claim Dantonio, Fitzgerald, Ferentz or Harpuke are on Saban's and Meyer's level in regards to being both an "active CFB Coach" and accomplishments to-date. Beyond laughable really and a notion that could only be postulated by an ignorant, myopic, parochial "traditional b1g shizhole" fan (any of them as they all typically meet this "homer", absurdly and hopelessly biased description). Just to "keep it real", here are the Top 5 Winningest Programs over the past 5 years:

1. Bama (62-7)
2. F$U (58-10)
3. Oregon (57-11)
4. tO$U (56-11)
5. Clemson (56-12)

And FYI, I fully realize that Meyer didn't take over tO$U until the 2013 season, but his prior accomplishments at Florida, Utah and BGU......and his lifetime overall records of 154-27, 10-2 in bowl games and 3 National Championships (2 at UF and 1 at tO$U) in 14 years as a DI-A CFB Head Coach is pretty damn impressive (ditto Saban's overall lifetime record). Dantonio's lifetime record in 12 DI-A seasons (9 of the 12 total at MSU) is 105-50, 5-5 in bowls and ZERO National Championships. You have to be on some pretty serious b1g shizhole crack to believe that Dantanio (or the other b1g shiz shlook you listed are on par with Meyer and Saban) is even remotely comparable to Saban or Meyer in terms of "best active CFB coaches" based on ACTUAL accomplishments!

Actually to be accurate Urban took over in 2012 and his record is 50-4

 

[JoeDidntKnow]

After your last statement, you're going to label somebody else's "qualified opinion" as BS? LMFAO, what a typical "traditional b1g shizhole" scUM-bag tool.....

Yup, typical b1g shizhole. Inbred hick and probably living in a trailer park married to his sister

 

[Lion84]

Recruiting rankings are BS.

So it doesn't help 'Bama to get a top 5 class year after year- they would still be as good with the #50 class then - um OK. The SPitters are usually the ones that say class rank doesn't matter since they recruit so poorly.

 

[thecoolestfish]

Harbaugh took .500 talent (significantly less than Penn State has) and got them to 10 wins playing in the toughest division in football. I think that kind of makes him the best.

Your troll game is worse than michigan's ugly helmets.

 

[Franklin_Restores_TheTradition]

Actually to be accurate Urban took over in 2012 and his record is 50-4

Good enough, but the point stands that Saban and Meyer clearly have the best track-records of active coaches in Major College Football...and Dantonio, Fitzpatrick, Ferentz, blah-blah-blah... in the big shizhole are not "elite coaches" with similar credentials.

 

[Wallace Breen]

So it doesn't help 'Bama to get a top 5 class year after year- they would still be as good with the #50 class then - um OK. The SPitters are usually the ones that say class rank doesn't matter since they recruit so poorly.

See, the problem with recruiting class rankings are the massive amounts of bias and negative impacts of omission. The sources of bias have been well documented in various places so I won's rehash them here but the impacts of omission are significant. Given that you accept recruiting class rankings as the end all be all (which is foolish), why isn't Tennessee a top five program? Why isn't Michigan? Why isn't Florida? If a top five ranking means a top five team as you just said, why don't those schools field top five teams regularly? How can Michigan State and Stanford field top five teams with striking consistency?

Discuss? Answer? I have asked those questions and with a little hard work, have some interesting answers. I am not doing the work for you but demographics say that it is nearly impossible for the south to have more talent than the mid-Atlantic much less the Big Ten region in general.

And yeah, Michigan had a .500 roster last year. They had a few star players but the average player was well below Penn State's. The difference was good coaching. Harbaugh is a D-bag but he can coach. How many teams would have fallen apart after the punt against Michigan State yet they managed to capitalize on stupid mistakes by Northwestern and Minnesota to scratch out wins. That is good coaching.

 

[Wallace Breen]

Your troll game is worse than michigan's ugly helmets.

Not a troll but maybe your are.

 

[Wallace Breen]

Actually to be accurate Urban took over in 2012 and his record is 50-4

How many scholarship players did Urban have in 2012 or 2013?

 

[Option Bob]

Urban Meyer is the clear choice as the #1 college head coach in the country. While Nick Saban deserves tremendous acclaim because of all the titles he has gotten at LSU and Bama, I don’t feel his record at MSU merits his overtaking Meyer.

At MSU, Saban’s records were as follows:

1995 – 6-5-1. Lost Bowl game to LSU

1996 – 6-6 Lost Bowl game to Stanford

1997 – 7-5 Lost Bowl game to Washington

1998 – 6-6 no bowl

1999 – 10-2 Won Bowl game over Florida

Yes, Saban had that 10-win season in 1999 (thanks in small part to Arrington’s injury and the mystifying PSU meltdown after the Minnesota loss). But it took him 5 full years to do it. Also, Saban inherited a team that won 5 games in 1994 (MSU did have to forfeit the wins, but it won them on the field). Saban did not take over a team with 20+ fewer scholarship players and a roster nearly void of depth.

For those calling Saban the Best HC in the country, were you thinking similar thoughts in 1997? How about in his 4th year, with a full roster of his own recruits? Still pulling that lever for Nick as #1? If he’s #1, then he must also be a great recruiter; yet look at MSU’s record the 3 years after he left (when his recruits were primarily the key players): 5-6, 7-5, 4-8. Perhaps you’ll then say that those years prove Saban is a great coach, because his successor floundered with similar talent.

Then how is it that James Franklin cannot get the same consideration that Saban gets? Nick had 5 years to get to 10 wins and to a Bowl victory; James got to 7 in 2014 with a Bowl win despite a depleted roster.

The other point about Saban is that his successor (JL Smith) couldn’t continue winning with the same talent Nick recruited. IMO, this shows that Saban is very good at developing the talent he has and managing the games. But why does this same idea not follow for James Franklin? His successor at Vanderbilt has still not won with the same talent James had.

For the record, I am not anointing James Franklin as the #2 or 3 HC in the nation. Three years at Vanderbilt and 2 sanction-depleting seasons at PSU provide too little evidence to rank him among the elite just yet. But I think it should be clear to unbiased observers that he is an excellent coach who could very well become elite once everything in the conference is equal.

 

[Franklin_Restores_TheTradition]

See, the problem with recruiting class rankings are the massive amounts of bias and negative impacts of omission. The sources of bias have been well documented in various places so I won's rehash them here but the impacts of omission are significant. Given that you accept recruiting class rankings as the end all be all (which is foolish), why isn't Tennessee a top five program? Why isn't Michigan? Why isn't Florida? If a top five ranking means a top five team as you just said, why don't those schools field top five teams regularly? How can Michigan State and Stanford field top five teams with striking consistency?

Discuss? Answer? I have asked those questions and with a little hard work, have some interesting answers. I am not doing the work for you but demographics say that it is nearly impossible for the south to have more talent than the mid-Atlantic much less the Big Ten region in general.

And yeah, Michigan had a .500 roster last year. They had a few star players but the average player was well below Penn State's. The difference was good coaching. Harbaugh is a D-bag but he can coach. How many teams would have fallen apart after the punt against Michigan State yet they managed to capitalize on stupid mistakes by Northwestern and Minnesota to scratch out wins. That is good coaching.

Your elevating "moron" to a whole new level.....

CAUTION, POSING-TROLL ALERT!!!​

Slippery Ahead - Slimy b1g Shizhole Slug Trail Crossing​

 

[Franklin_Restores_TheTradition]

Urban Meyer is the clear choice as the #1 college head coach in the country. While Nick Saban deserves tremendous acclaim because of all the titles he has gotten at LSU and Bama, I don’t feel his record at MSU merits his overtaking Meyer.

At MSU, Saban’s records were as follows:

1995 – 6-5-1. Lost Bowl game to LSU

1996 – 6-6 Lost Bowl game to Stanford

1997 – 7-5 Lost Bowl game to Washington

1998 – 6-6 no bowl

1999 – 10-2 Won Bowl game over Florida

Yes, Saban had that 10-win season in 1999 (thanks in small part to Arrington’s injury and the mystifying PSU meltdown after the Minnesota loss). But it took him 5 full years to do it. Also, Saban inherited a team that won 5 games in 1994 (MSU did have to forfeit the wins, but it won them on the field). Saban did not take over a team with 20+ fewer scholarship players and a roster nearly void of depth.

For those calling Saban the Best HC in the country, were you thinking similar thoughts in 1997? How about in his 4th year, with a full roster of his own recruits? Still pulling that lever for Nick as #1? If he’s #1, then he must also be a great recruiter; yet look at MSU’s record the 3 years after he left (when his recruits were primarily the key players): 5-6, 7-5, 4-8. Perhaps you’ll then say that those years prove Saban is a great coach, because his successor floundered with similar talent.

Then how is it that James Franklin cannot get the same consideration that Saban gets? Nick had 5 years to get to 10 wins and to a Bowl victory; James got to 7 in 2014 with a Bowl win despite a depleted roster.

The other point about Saban is that his successor (JL Smith) couldn’t continue winning with the same talent Nick recruited. IMO, this shows that Saban is very good at developing the talent he has and managing the games. But why does this same idea not follow for James Franklin? His successor at Vanderbilt has still not won with the same talent James had.

For the record, I am not anointing James Franklin as the #2 or 3 HC in the nation. Three years at Vanderbilt and 2 sanction-depleting seasons at PSU provide too little evidence to rank him among the elite just yet. But I think it should be clear to unbiased observers that he is an excellent coach who could very well become elite once everything in the conference is equal.

Laughable, MSU's record for the 5-year period prior to Saban's arrival was 22-34-1 (78th out of 106 teams that played DI-A during the entire 5-year span). Beyond that, MSU had exactly ZERO winning seasons in the prior 4 seasons to his arrival (MSU was 14-31 in the 4 seasons from 1991-1994). Just absurd to claim that his turning MSU into a winner during his 5-year tenure (MSU had a winning record while Saban was there and recorded zero sub-.500 seasons) and a Top 10, 10-2 team (#7 in the final poll of both AP and Coaches Polls) in his last year was not an incredible transformation and coaching job.