Now that all are in place, who are your top 10 coaches?

[Codaxx]

They were the favorites in the Big 12 but they weren't playoff favorites. The other 4 conferences were all represented ahead of the Big 12, two of them represented twice. Hell in the coaches poll, there were 2 ACC, 2 B1G, and 2 Pac12 teams along with Bama ranked ahead of OU to start the year. Them making the playoff was definitely a surprise based on what they were supposed to do at the beginning of the year.

Exactly 2 of them were represented twice, meaning it was unlikely to play out that way. Most bobbleheads had OU no worse than just outside. Only 3 teams had a higher expected win total in Vegas. Either way it doesn't matter. OU won around what everyone expected and putting a coach that has not even had his 1st recruiting class on campus in the top 10 is ridiculous. He may get there, but there is not enough data to support top 10. I don't think even OU fans would say he is the best coach in the Big 12 today

 

[Across The Field]

Exactly 2 of them were represented twice, meaning it was unlikely to play out that way. Most bobbleheads had OU no worse than just outside. Only 3 teams had a higher expected win total in Vegas. Either way it doesn't matter. OU won around what everyone expected and putting a coach that has not even had his 1st recruiting class on campus in the top 10 is ridiculous. He may get there, but there is not enough data to support top 10. I don't think even OU fans would say he is the best coach in the Big 12 today

The way he coached against OSU in the Shoe in such a massive game is enough for me to put him in. He was supposed to lose that game, no questions asked. Right now, if you told me I had to pick a guy to coach OSU, he's my first choice from the Big 12 just given everything he learned from Stoops. Maybe he's just a flash in the pan, I'm not sure. I have no interest in that asshat Patterson, Snyder is too old, and everyone else is just "meh".

 

[Codaxx]

The way he coached against OSU in the Shoe in such a massive game is enough for me to put him in. He was supposed to lose that game, no questions asked. Right now, if you told me I had to pick a guy to coach OSU, he's my first choice from the Big 12 just given everything he learned from Stoops. Maybe he's just a flash in the pan, I'm not sure. I have no interest in that asshat Patterson, Snyder is too old, and everyone else is just "meh".

He also blew a 13 pt halftime lead to ISU at home. Blew a 14 or lead to Georgia, with some odd questionable decisions. Give it time

 

[kburjr]

He took over an 11-3 team and went 10-3 in season 1. Going deeper than that Wisconsin still has the same blue print. They run the ball well, play good defense, and struggle passing the ball. Not to mention Pitt has a slightly better year record, since he left. Its hard to separate how much is Chryst growing as a coach, from how much is he benefiting from Alvarez's influence..

Last year was the first team that you could call truly a "Chryst" team. His recruits dominated the roster. He had to overcome the Anderson recruiting method. 13-1 is the proof. Of and when he repeats that will be the measure.

Just my opinion.

 

[NolePride]

Stanford was young they only had a 14 recruit class this season. 247 and Scout has them in the late 30s . Stanfords one of those teams you can't judge by star rankings.
2011 11–2
2012 12–2
2013 11–3
2014 8–5
2015 12–2
2016 10–3
2017 9–5
Thats 73 wins since 2011. Mark Dantonio who you have at #6 has 67 wins since 2011 and Dantonio doesn't have to deal with academics of Stanford in trying to get kids in.

That academics stuff gets a bit over-rated. Being forced to take nothing but smart kids
is not a negative.

Your recruiting has to be more wide-spread, but I'd take a field full of intelligent players
and compete with anybody in the country.

Intelligent folks tend to be more disciplined...take instructions...understand and follow the plan.

You can make tough, strong linemen. You have to play power football, but you can
dominate the l.o.s. Granted you may not have the speed to outrun somebody else to the
edge...but with proper scouting and training...you can be waiting for them at the edge.

Having intelligent players will never be a bad thing

 

[4down20]

1. Saban
2. Meyer
3. Swinney
4. Jimbo
5. Peterson
6. Dantonio
7. Patterson
8. Franklin
9. Richt
10. Kelly

 

[7Samurai13]

That academics stuff gets a bit over-rated. Being forced to take nothing but smart kids
is not a negative.

Your recruiting has to be more wide-spread, but I'd take a field full of intelligent players
and compete with anybody in the country.

Intelligent folks tend to be more disciplined...take instructions...understand and follow the plan.

You can make tough, strong linemen. You have to play power football, but you can
dominate the l.o.s. Granted you may not have the speed to outrun somebody else to the
edge...but with proper scouting and training...you can be waiting for them at the edge.

Having intelligent players will never be a bad thing

Yes but not being able to select higher athletic dumb kids is a huge negative. Some kids may not be book smart but they are game smart and can read defenses. So they can’t get into Stanford but can get into 98% of other schools. Knowing physics and differential equations doesn’t help on the field of play.

 

[socaljim242]

That academics stuff gets a bit over-rated. Being forced to take nothing but smart kids
is not a negative.

Your recruiting has to be more wide-spread, but I'd take a field full of intelligent players
and compete with anybody in the country.

Intelligent folks tend to be more disciplined...take instructions...understand and follow the plan.

You can make tough, strong linemen. You have to play power football, but you can
dominate the l.o.s. Granted you may not have the speed to outrun somebody else to the
edge...but with proper scouting and training...you can be waiting for them at the edge.

Having intelligent players will never be a bad thing

LOL. Where do you get that anyone would argue having smart football players is a bad thing? No one would argue that.
The problem is finding players talented enough to play at that level but are also true student athletes who take real classes and are capable of getting into Stanford and keeping those grades up. You have no clue how hard that is apparently. I'm a USC fan so I'm not a Stanford homer but I know plenty of 4-5*athletes who attended really good academic high schools here who couldn't get into Stanford and had no problem getting into UCLA or USC or most any other college in the country .
And I'm not saying Shaw is Saban or Meyer but he is at least the equal to Petersen and Dantonio

 

[Across The Field]

And I'm not saying Shaw is Saban or Meyer but he is at least the equal to Petersen and Dantonio

I wouldn't say that's fair, at least not Dantonio. I'd argue recruiting kids to East Lansing is every bit as difficult as bringing kids to Stanford for different reasons. Stanford was built up by Harbaugh into a program that was pulling top 25 recruiting classes on a regular basis. Hell they had back-to-back top 10 classes just a few years ago. Fact is, while it's not easy finding kids that can get in to Stanford, if they're actually smart enough to, more often than not they will. They can pull kids from all over the country due to their academics. Not only that but you're right on the Pacific Ocean in a beautiful, temperate area just south of one of the largest cities in the nation. What's the draw for Dantonio to get kids to go to EL? It's in the middle of a freezing cold state 90 miles away from the largest metropolitan area, and that area is Detroit. There's a reason they only won 10 games twice in their entire history before 2010.

I'd also argue that Harbaugh is showing just how much harder it is to win in the B1G East than in the Pac 12. There's no reason to believe Shaw would be doing any better than Harbaugh right now if he took over at michigan, for example.

 

[ericd7633]

1. Saban
2. Meyer
3. Dabo
4. Dantonio
5. Peterson
6. Shaw
7. Franklin
8. Jimbo
9. Patterson
10. Helton

 

[BigRedMoe]

To the dunces posting the top 3 and then saying "everyone else" afterwards, the title of the thread spells out what the thread is for pretty clearly. That's just flat out laziness.

TL;DR

 

[Chewbaccer]

1. Saban
2. Meyer
3. Dabo
4. Dantonio
5. Peterson
6. Shaw
7. Franklin
8. Jimbo
9. Patterson
10. Helton

Helton?

The guy who's been on the job the same amount of time as Kirby Smart, is coaching at a blue blood and has yet to take his team to the playoffs, let alone the NCG, and hasn't pulled in recruiting classes near what Kirby has?

If a coach with 2 years on the job is gonna be in the top 10, it's Kirby Smart.

 

[belcherboy]

Dantonio’s big problem is recruiting. He had several great seasons but was unable to turn that into anything on the recruiting front with only one top 20 class. I don’t know if it is his inability to connect with top recruits or if it is something with Michigan State in general but he will always have issues with consistency when you are rarely ever pulling top 25 classes.

I wonder how good a coach Dantonio would be in a bigger program (a team that is MUCH easier to recruit) or even an NFL team (I'm not sure his style would translate well to the NFL though). He has definitely out-coached Harbaugh with lesser recruits, and has looked better than Meyer for much of the past 5-6 years. I mean, when comparing recruiting classes, there is no reason that he should have had as much success against either team as he has had. He has overachieved.

This year was probably one of his best coaching jobs, as I thought they were done after the 2016 season. Michigan was recruiting VERY well, especially in the state, and MSU was coming off a TERRIBLE season. They definitely got better as the season progressed (ND was a bad game early in the season, and they shouldn't have lost to NW), and even though they got drilled by OSU, overall last year was a GREAT rebound from the previous season.

As just a "pure coach", and not including recruiting in my evaluation, he may be the best coach I've seen the past decade of college football. He definitely is in the top 5 IMO.

 

[NolePride]

As just a "pure coach", and not including recruiting in my evaluation, he may be the best coach I've seen the past decade of college football. He definitely is in the top 5 IMO.

You may very well be correct there...(pure coach)

 

[kburjr]

I wonder how good a coach Dantonio would be in a bigger program (a team that is MUCH easier to recruit) or even an NFL team (I'm not sure his style would translate well to the NFL though). He has definitely out-coached Harbaugh with lesser recruits, and has looked better than Meyer for much of the past 5-6 years. I mean, when comparing recruiting classes, there is no reason that he should have had as much success against either team as he has had. He has overachieved.

This year was probably one of his best coaching jobs, as I thought they were done after the 2016 season. Michigan was recruiting VERY well, especially in the state, and MSU was coming off a TERRIBLE season. They definitely got better as the season progressed (ND was a bad game early in the season, and they shouldn't have lost to NW), and even though they got drilled by OSU, overall last year was a GREAT rebound from the previous season.

As just a "pure coach", and not including recruiting in my evaluation, he may be the best coach I've seen the past decade of college football. He definitely is in the top 5 IMO.

According to this article, Michigan was ranked 18th over the 5 year period 2013-2017, Michigan State, 27th and Wisconsin 40th.

Rivals.com - Rivals' top 50 recruiting teams of the past five years

 

[kburjr]

According to this article, Michigan was ranked 18th over the 5 year period 2013-2017, Michigan State, 27th and Wisconsin 40th.

Rivals.com - Rivals' top 50 recruiting teams of the past five years

40. WISCONSIN
Ranks last 5 years: 35, 35, 44, 33, 54 -- 40.2
Judge Farrell: OVERACHIEVED. A 41-13 over four seasons and No. 40 on this list? Wisconsincould be the biggest overachiever of the bunch.

 

[belcherboy]

According to this article, Michigan was ranked 18th over the 5 year period 2013-2017, Michigan State, 27th and Wisconsin 40th.

Rivals.com - Rivals' top 50 recruiting teams of the past five years

Well Michigan was ranked 4th, 4th, 51st, 31st, and 5th during that 5 year period. MSU went 4-1 against them.

What's more impressive is that MSU is .500 against Ohio State over the past 6 seasons, with Ohio State being the #2 recruiting team during that time.

 

[Deep Creek]

1. Saban
2. Meyer
3. Swinney
4. Snyder
5. Peterson
6. Dantonio
7. Patterson
8. Shaw
9. Cutcliffe
10. Gundy

I like to reward longevity and/or doing something with some lesser talent. And, I'm an AARP member so Snyder rules!

I may need to put Kelly in here after his next stint at UCLA. Same for Chryst at Wisky. And now that Mullen is at a place less difficult to recruit to, I'm thinking he might do some damage. I nearly put him in there instead of Gundy anyway...but Mullet > Mullen right now!

Sorry, but until Fisher shows something besides winning with Crablegs (and he actually lost with him to Oregon), I consider him in the category with Chizik/Cam with an NC.

I ain't ready to annoint Franklin yet either. He may damn well get there.

And I'm a fan of Muleshoe, TX boy Riley, but top 10 after one year. Nope.

And I like Cutcliffe, so

 

[huskers1217]

CHARLIE STRONG will prove something at USF

 

[Olyduck]

Chip Kelly has turned UCLA into cool school in LA and he has only been there for a couple months. Just wait.

if by that you mean that after UCLA is shit show for a couple seasons then it wont be cool any more...