Monday Morning QB - The Decade In Coaching

No time for rhetorical window dressing--here’s one substantial yet unavoidably incomplete compilation of feats and failures from the past decade of FBS coaching. It would be hard to definitively establish a top 10 (or 20, or 30) list for many of these categories, so the MMQ will recognize most honorees without resorting to a system of rankings. Only the best coaches of the decade will be ranked.

By Matthew Zemek
 
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Balky and Brilliant Brains: A Decade of College Football Coaching

10 Coaching Clinics, Two Coaches In One Game

1) Auburn-South Carolina 2006, Tommy Tuberville and Steve Spurrier. Tubs designed and ordered up a perfectly executed chip kick – an aggressive variation of an onside kick – in the third quarter. Spurrier called his very best game as the South Carolina coach, wearing out the tight end (Jared Cook) on seam and drag routes. A classic.

2) Texas-USC, 2006 Rose Bowl: Mack Brown and offensive coordinator Greg Davis put the ball in Vince Young’s hands and got out of the way, coaching brilliantly by not coaching too much. Pete Carroll made the right move by going for it on that late 4th and 2. Anyone who criticized the decision doesn’t understand the essential differences between college ball and the NFL.

3) Louisville-Rutgers, 2006: Everything great about Bobby Petrino (as a play caller, not as a person) emerged in the first half, and the best qualities of Greg Schiano – as a defensive strategist and as a motivator of young men – emerged in the second half of this pigskin passion play in Piscataway, N.J.

4) USC-Notre Dame, 2005: This is the game from the past decade that moved football strategy into the 21st century. By going for first downs inside their own 30 in the middle quarters of play, Pete Carroll and Charlie Weis showed the nation that great offensive teams should rarely if ever feel constrained by their place on the field. If you’re good enough, and you know you need to win a game by scoring (and/or keeping the ball away from the opposition’s thermonuclear offensive attack), you should go for as many first downs as possible, even on fourth down, and even if the distance is more than a few inches.

5) Alabama-Florida, 2008 SEC Championship Game: The Crimson Tide and the Gators were both prepared, passionate, and precise for much of this game, a classic slugfest decided by Tim Tebow’s rise above the raucousness – and Bama’s defense – in a defining fourth quarter. Nick Saban and Urban Meyer showcased their best stuff at the same time, and the college football world took notice.

6) Boise State-Louisville, 2004 Liberty Bowl: Dan Hawkins and Bobby Petrino – in a statement game not just for their programs, but for non-traditional powers in college football – advanced the cause of the nouveau riche by producing a fabulous thriller in Memphis. The Broncos’ unerring instincts and the Cardinals’ adroit use of considerable offensive talent combined to forge a 44-40 football feast which expanded the power base in the sport.

7) Boise State-TCU, 2008 Poinsettia Bowl: The quality of play wasn’t great, as the Broncos and Horned Frogs committed a number of nerve-affected miscues, but Chris Petersen and Gary Patterson pushed the right buttons in a pulse-pounding prizefight. Petersen and offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin continued to draw up successful pass plays even when Boise’s ground game was nonexistent; Patterson trusted his running game and his offensive line in the crucible of the fourth quarter. The coaching matchup made Broncos-Frogs a compelling view in 2008, and it’s the best element of the upcoming rematch in the Fiesta Bowl.

8) Oklahoma-Texas A&M, 2004: In a game similar to the 2000 contest at Kyle Field, the Aggies gave it their best shot as an underdog in an attempt to deny OU a spot in the national championship game. Dennis Franchione created touchdowns for his A&M athletes by dialing up a successful fake punt and an equally productive fake field goal. Bob Stoops – in the kind of game his Sooner squads have won so often throughout the decade – had his team mentally ready to weather a storm on the road and persevere at crunch time.

9) Purdue-Minnesota, 2005: The four coordinators in this game – Purdue’s Jim Chaney and Minnesota’s Mitch Browning on offense; PU’s Brock Spack and UM’s David Lockwood on defense – engaged in a classic cat-and-mouse masterpiece for head coaches Joe Tiller and Glen Mason. Anyone who watched on TV or sat in the Metrodome stands was treated to a wholly satisfying Saturday in which cranial regions cranked out considerable quality.

10) Oregon-Arizona, 2009: Oregon coach Chip Kelly – the mastermind of the Ducks’ dynamic offense – and Arizona offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes chose the right plays at the right times, and used combinations of attack routes (“routes” referring not to passing plays, but to angles used on both runs and throws) to pry open opportunities for quarterbacks Jeremiah Masoli and Nick Foles.

30 Coaching Clinics, One Coach In One Game


1) Gary Barnett, Colorado – vs. Nebraska, 2001.

2) Mike Stoops (defensive coordinator), Oklahoma – vs. Florida State, 2001 Orange Bowl

3) Jim Tressel, Ohio State – vs. Michigan, 2006

4) Philip Fulmer, Tennessee – vs. Florida, 2001

5) Nick Saban, Alabama – vs. Florida, 2009 SEC Championship Game

6) Mike Bellotti, Oregon – vs. Colorado, 2002 Fiesta Bowl

7) Bill Snyder, Kansas State – vs. Oklahoma, 2003 Big 12 Championship Game

8) Bobby Bowden, Florida State – vs. Virginia Tech, 2005 ACC Championship Game

9) Pat Hill, Fresno State – vs. USC, 2005

10) Mack Brown, Texas – vs. Oklahoma, 2006

11) Jim Harbaugh, Stanford – vs. Oregon, 2009

12) Chip Kelly, Oregon – vs. USC, 2009

13) Jim Tressel, Ohio State – vs. Michigan, 2001

14) Bobby Petrino, Louisville – vs. West Virginia, 2006

15) Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia – vs. Georgia, 2006 Sugar Bowl

16) Mark Richt, Georgia – vs. LSU, 2005 SEC Championship Game

17) Pete Carroll, USC – vs. California, 2006

18) Randy Walker, Northwestern – vs. Michigan, 2000

19) Lloyd Carr, Michigan – vs. Ohio State, 2003

20) Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech – vs. Wake Forest, 2009

21) Mark Mangino, Kansas – vs. Virginia Tech, 2008 Orange Bowl

22) Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech – vs. Miami, 2004

23) Urban Meyer, Florida – vs. Arkansas, 2006 SEC Championship Game

24) Pete Carroll, USC – vs. Auburn, 2003

25) Randy Edsall, Connecticut – vs. Notre Dame, 2009

26) Mike Riley, Oregon State – vs. USC, 2008

27) Chris Petersen and Bryan Harsin, Boise State – vs. Oklahoma, 2007 Fiesta Bowl

28) Kyle Whittingham, Utah – vs. Alabama, 2009 Sugar Bowl

29) Paul Johnson, Navy – vs. Notre Dame, 2007

30) Mike Leach, Texas Tech – vs. Texas, 2008


30 Coaching Disasters: Single-Game Nightmares


1) Ron Zook, Illinois – vs. Iowa, 2007

2) Chan Gailey, Georgia Tech – vs. Wake Forest, 2006 ACC Championship Game

3) Rich Ellerson, Army – vs. Navy, 2009

4) Mack Brown, Texas – vs. Colorado, 2001 Big 12 Championship Game

5) Bob Stoops, Oklahoma – vs. Boise State, 2007 Fiesta Bowl

6) Jim Grobe, Wake Forest – vs. Virginia, 2007

7) Jeff Tedford, California – vs. USC, 2006

8) Jon Hoke (defensive coordinator), Florida – vs. Tennessee, 2001

9) Bill Callahan and (defensive coordinator) Kevin Cosgrove, Nebraska – vs. Texas Tech, 2004

10) Callahan and Cosgrove, Nebraska – vs. Kansas, 2007

11) Jeff Tedford, California – vs. Oregon State, 2007

12) Les Miles, LSU – vs. Arkansas, 2007

13) Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech – vs. Georgia Tech, 2006

14) Steve Spurrier, South Carolina – vs. Vanderbilt, 2007

15) Tommy Bowden, Clemson – vs. Maryland, 2006

16) Lloyd Carr, Michigan – vs. Appalachian State, 2007

17) Les Miles, LSU – vs. Ole Miss, 2009

18) Charlie Weis, Notre Dame – vs. Navy, 2007

19) Jeff Tedford, California – vs. Maryland, 2008

20) John L. Smith, Michigan State – vs. Illinois, 2006

21) Al Groh, Virginia – vs. North Carolina, 2005

22) Pat Hill, Fresno State – vs. Utah State, 2006

23) Houston Nutt, Ole Miss – vs. South Carolina, 2009

24) Pete Carroll, USC – vs. Washington, 2009

25) Tommy Bowden, Clemson – vs. Wake Forest, 2008

26) Dirk Koetter, Arizona State – vs. Oregon, 2006

27) Dennis Erickson, Arizona State – vs. UNLV, 2008

28) Bob Stoops, Oklahoma – vs. USC, 2005 Orange Bowl

29) Mark Richt, Georgia – vs. Auburn, 2001

30) Dave Wannstedt, Pittsburgh – vs. Oregon State, 2008 Sun Bowl


20 Great Feats: Single-Season Masterpieces


1) Bobby Johnson, Vanderbilt, 2008

2) June Jones, SMU, 2009

3) Al Golden, Temple, 2009

4) Robb Akey, Idaho, 2009

5) Chris Petersen, Boise State, 2006

6) Kyle Whittingham, Utah, 2008

7) Bob Stoops, Oklahoma, 2000

8) Urban Meyer, Florida, 2006

9) Nick Saban, Alabama, 2009

10) Brian Kelly, Cincinnati, 2009

11) Kirk Ferentz, Iowa, 2002

12) Ralph Friedgen, Maryland, 2001

13) Jim Grobe, Wake Forest, 2006

14) Mark Mangino, Kansas, 2007

15) Bill Snyder, Kansas State, 2003

16) Tommy Tuberville, Auburn, 2004

17) Greg Schiano, Rutgers, 2006

18) Ron Turner, Illinois, 2001

19) Mike Bellotti, Oregon, 2001

20) Mark Richt, Georgia, 2002


10 Profound Failures: Single-Season Train Wrecks


1) Mike DuBose, Alabama, 2000

2) Jeff Tedford, California, 2007

3) John L. Smith, Michigan State, 2005

4) Charlie Weis, Notre Dame, 2007

5) Steve Kragthorpe, Louisville, 2007

6) Tommy Bowden, Clemson, 2004

7) Dennis Erickson, Arizona State, 2008

8) Bill Callahan, Nebraska, 2007

9) Dennis Franchione, Texas A&M, 2005

10) Ed Orgeron, Ole Miss, 2007


The Ledger Sheet: Most Conference Championships

1) Boise State, 7 WAC titles -- 4 titles won by Dan Hawkins, 3 by Chris Petersen.

2) Pete Carroll/USC, 6 Pac-10 titles -- 7 titles if you count a “losing share” in 2002 with Washington State, but the MMQ doesn’t believe in “losing shares”; an acceptable “shared title” would be Iowa’s share with Ohio State in the 2002 Big Ten race, since Iowa did not play (and hence, did not lose to) the Buckeyes.

3) Bob Stoops/Oklahoma, 6 Big 12 titles -- 2008 title tainted by dubious BCS tiebreaker.

4) Jim Tressel/Ohio State, 4 Big Ten titles -- 6 titles if you count “losing shares” to Penn State in both 2005 and 2008.

5) Bobby Bowden/Florida State, 4 ACC titles

6) Darrell Dickey/North Texas, 4 Sun Belt titles

7) Urban Meyer/Utah and Florida, 4 conference titles -- 2 Mountain West championships with Utah, 2 SEC championships with Florida

8) Miami (FL), 4 Big East titles -- 3 titles won by Larry Coker, 1 by Butch Davis

9) 3 conference championships won by the following coaches at the following schools: Frank Beamer/Virginia Tech; Nick Saban/LSU and Alabama; Larry Blakeney, Troy; Brian Kelly/Central Michigan and Cincinnati.

NOTE: A number of schools – BYU, Louisville, Central Michigan, Utah, Cincinnati, Florida and LSU – won 3 conference championships in the past decade, but not under the same coach. The list of FBS coaches to win three or more conference titles in the past decade is as follows: Carroll, Stoops, Tressel, Bowden, Dickey, Meyer, Hawkins, Petersen, Coker, Beamer, Saban, Blakeney, and Kelly. That’s a total of 13 men. Only the first seven men on that list (through Hawkins) have won four or more conference titles. Only the first two coaches – Carroll and Stoops – have won at least five legitimate conference titles, with Tressel having a claim to four legitimate titles and two additional Big Ten crowns (“losing shares”) that are technically recognized in the history books but possess no real-world merit.

The Ledger Sheet: Most BCS Bowls

1) Tie, Carroll/USC, Tressel/Ohio St., Stoops/Oklahoma, 7 BCS bowls. -- RECORDS: Carroll 6-1; Tressel 3-3, 2010 Rose Bowl TBD; Stoops 2-5.

4) Tie, Mack Brown/Texas, Meyer/Utah & Florida, Saban/LSU & Alabama, and Bowden/Florida State, 4 BCS bowls. -- RECORDS: Brown 3-0, 2010 BCS National Championship Game TBD; Meyer 3-0, 2010 Sugar Bowl TBD; Saban 2-1, BCS title game TBD; Bowden 0-4.

8) Tie, Larry Coker/Miami, Mark Richt/Georgia, Beamer/Virginia Tech, and Lloyd Carr/Michigan, 3 BCS bowls. -- RECORDS: Coker 2-1; Richt 2-1; Beamer 1-2; Carr 0-3.

The Ledger Sheet: BCS National Championships

1) Meyer, two; 2) seven tied with one apiece*

* = The manifest flaws in the BCS system would give the following coaches legitimate gripes in the past decade’s various national championship controversies: Butch Davis, Miami (2000); Mike Bellotti, Oregon (2001); Carroll, USC (2003); Tommy Tuberville, Auburn, and Meyer, Utah (2004); Carr, Michigan (2006); Richt, Georgia (2007); Brown, Texas (2008); Brian Kelly, Cincinnati, and Gary Patterson, TCU (2009).

The Verdict: 10 Elite Coordinators -- No Rankings

1) Bud Foster, Virginia Tech

2) Mike Stoops, Oklahoma

3) Norm Chow, USC

4) Bryan Harsin, Boise State

5) Charlie Strong, Florida

6) Norm Parker, Iowa

7) Will Muschamp, LSU/Auburn/Texas

8) John Chavis, Tennessee

9) Dan Mullen, Utah/Florida

10) Dick Bumpas, TCU

The Verdict: 10 Great Coaches, But Not The Greatest – No Rankings

1) Chris Petersen, Boise State

2) Larry Blakeney, Troy

3) Darrell Dickey, North Texas

4) Brian Kelly, Central Michigan/Cincinnati

5) Kirk Ferentz, Iowa

6) Mark Richt, Georgia

7) Gary Patterson, TCU

8) Mike Bellotti, Oregon

9) Bobby Bowden, Florida State

10) Bill Snyder, Kansas State

The Verdict: The 10 Best Coaches of the Past Decade -- Ranked In Order

10) Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech: He might have only three ACC titles compared to Florida State’s four conference crowns, but winning in Blacksburg is a lot harder than succeeding in Tallahassee. Beamer has turned the Hokies into a consistent high-level winner, so much so that this year’s 9-3 season was viewed as a grave disappointment. That shows how high the bar has been raised at Virginia Tech. It’s all because of Beamer and his trusty sidekick, Bud Foster.

9) Paul Johnson, Navy and Georgia Tech. It’s not as though Johnson pulled off a quick turnaround at Navy and parlayed his success in Annapolis into a meteoric rise up the charts. Johnson stuck around at Navy for five straight bowl seasons before the Yellow Jackets finally plucked him. Now in the Orange Bowl, Johnson has shown that his naval expertise can carry over to the realm of the power conferences. Few men have had a better run this past decade than the master of the triple option.

8) Lloyd Carr, Michigan. Go through the record books, and you’ll find that Carr’s career compares quite favorably with Bo Schembechler. Even though he consistently lost to Jim Tressel, Carr still reached Rose Bowls (while Ohio State played in the BCS title game) and maintained Michigan’s place as a top-two Big Ten program. The Maize and Blue’s profound struggles under Rich Rodriguez have made Carr’s worst seasons – 2001 and 2005 – seem positively delightful by comparison. The retired Wolverine’s high-level consistency looks better as the years go by.

7) June Jones, Hawaii and SMU. The same man who was tarred as a finesse coach unfit for the NFL has developed quite the resume over the past decade in the college game. What sneaks up on evaluators when trying to assess Jones’s overall portfolio is the fact that he did so much more than produce winning seasons at two underequipped programs in Honolulu and Dallas. Jones denied BYU a shot at a BCS bowl game in 2001, and then plucked a premium postseason prize with the Warriors in 2007. At SMU, Jones didn’t merely deliver a bowl season in 2009; he – not anyone else before him – led the Ponies out of the shadows of the NCAA Death Penalty, a feat which will become only more remarkable with the passage of time. No coach – with the possible exception of Chris Petersen (and he has an ideal situation in Boise) - did more outside the realm of the power conferences over the past 10 seasons than June Jones. It’s not that close, either.

6) Mack Brown, Texas. The master recruiter and leader is the perfect embodiment of the modern college football coach, the man who knows how to perform each and every facet of the job on and off the field. Brown’s X-and-O chops have grown over the decade, a result of Vince Young’s mentally liberating effect on the former North Carolina coach. His amazing ability to generate 10-win seasons and make difficult tasks seem automatic (they’re not!) paints Brown as an upper-tier sideline sultan, without question. He’s not higher on this list, though, because a lot of his bowl wins are Holiday Bowl wins. Moreover, if an extra half second had slipped off a Cowboys Stadium clock on Dec. 5, Brown would have just one – yes, one – Big 12 championship despite his consistent excellence in Austin.

5) Urban Meyer, Utah and Florida. The questions about Meyer’s ability to recruit, scheme and win in the SEC? They were put to bed a long time ago. Meyer took the college football world by storm in the just-ended decade, earning more national titles than any other man in the FBS (though Nick Saban or Mack Brown will tie him in a few weeks). Meyer’s not higher on this list because of a lack of longevity. It will be interesting to see if Florida’s coach can find another Tim Tebow in the future; Steve Spurrier never did find the second coming of Danny Wuerffel, and that’s why the Gators found tough sledding after their previous run of sustained dominance. We’ll see if Meyer can keep the freight train rolling in Gainesville.

3) Tie, Nick Saban, LSU & Alabama, and Jim Tressel, Ohio State. Saban is superior in bowl games, and has won three titles in the SEC. Tressel has won more conference crowns, but in a comparatively weaker league, the Big Ten. Saban’s won big at two schools, while Tressel has singlehandedly turned an archrival (Michigan) into a bowl of emotional mush. Tressel owns more BCS bowl appearances and coached in the college game throughout the decade, while Saban scratched his NFL itch (again) with the Miami Dolphins. Tressel’s body of work and longevity merit a slight advantage, but if the city of Pasadena, Calif., witnesses an Ohio State loss on Jan. 1, 2010, followed by an Alabama win on Jan. 7, it would be quite reasonable to elevate Saban over Tressel. If both men win or lose, this rating should stay the same. If the Buckeyes beat Oregon and Texas upsets Alabama, Tressel would claim third place and bump Saban to the fourth spot.

2) Bob Stoops, Oklahoma. He’s not the hottest coach around, to be sure; Mack Brown has caught him in the Red River Rivalry; bowl games have been disasters; the 2008 Big 12 title was heaven sent, courtesy of a lame-brained Big 12 office that ceded power to a national mechanism in order to resolve a local dispute. Yet, with all this having been said, the fact remains that only two men have won more than four legitimate conference championships this decade (again, ignoring the “losing share” in a technically split title), and Stoops is one of them. If you wanted to be technical about it and say that Pete Carroll shared two Pac-10 crowns at USC (in 2006 with Cal and 2007 with Arizona State), Stoops would be the only man to have won at least five outright conference championships in the past decade. You might like your chances if you coached against him in a 2011 bowl game, but in terms of his body of work, this Oklahoma icon has been Stoop-endous in the past decade.

1) Pete Carroll, USC. Yes, it would have been nice if non-Big Ten teams played USC in bowl games. The Rose Bowl Committee should have brought Georgia to Pasadena for the 2008 event, but that decision – like so many other postseason considerations – was taken out of Carroll’s hands. Given the teams and matchups placed before him, the NFL refugee has come to dominate his conference and the bowl game world with ridiculous regularity. Carroll’s 2009 Rose Bowl waxing of Penn State enabled Carroll to supplant Joe Paterno as the sport’s resident January genius. Yes, he loses far too often in the Pacific Northwest, but that’s the only substantial blemish on an otherwise sparkling resume. When one also considers the fact that the Pac-10 crowns a true champion based on a full league schedule of nine games (no loopholes exist, unlike the Big Ten, where Iowa and Ohio State avoided each other in 2002), USC’s uninterrupted stretch of superiority becomes that much more impressive. Pete Carroll is, by any reasonable measure, the best coach of a decade that’s about to be done and dusted.