Well, I’ve been waiting to see what this year’s version of a best coaches list would look like, and here’s the first one I’ve come across.
Not bad at all. I don’t believe there’s a head coach on the list below Smart who’s beaten him in a game.
I just wonder where Dan Mullen is in the rankings now… oh, wait.
Get The Picture 
I saw Lincoln Riley at 4 and thought “that feels too high,” then I started looking down the list. Jimbo is probably the only one I could justify moving above him. There is a massive drop-off after 3.
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Both #4&7, give ’em a season or 3 at those institutions, then let’s talk…GO DAWGS!
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Except Lincoln was a perennial 12-2 coach after taking over perennial powerhouse team. USC has been irrelevant since….How long? I do t think he will ever be any better than a 10-2 or 11-2 coach.
That and $2.79 gets you a Happy Meal.
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Since after the 2009 season when the NCAA sanctions to come were looming large and Pete Carroll bolted to Seattle.
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Brian Kelly is too high. What has he ever won?
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Harbaugh? Why? I’d slide some if those at the bottom (7-10) up and some of those in the middle (3-6) down.
Dabo is another Coach O and Les who happened to get lucky at qb twice. And he substitutes entertaining with annoying.
Lincoln needs to win a big game that matters. I might put those bottom three behind Kirby in that order.
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A fun comparison! Lol https://twitter.com/pff_college/status/1413216732945207300
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I mean as bad as this is, and it’s really, really bad…Lance Leipold?!?!?!
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Surprised they have Ryan Day is that low.
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Edit: Surprised they have Ryan Day that low.
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I don’t understand the Jimbo love. Jameis was a long time ago, and that championship hasn’t aged well.
And a coach coming from a Notre Dame program that would be 7-5 or 8-4 TOPS if they didn’t play a schedule rife with tomato can ACC teams and outright dogshit (though that’s a distinction without a difference)? What’s he doing on this list at all? You know how people talk about the “Bama bounce” in recruiting? He’s getting an “LSU bounce” just by moving there.
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pdawg I’m with you. The Kelly love is something I just don’t get. I am guessing that the contract he got from LSU will mean we need to put Kirby in the $10 million per year range.
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Yeah, Harbaugh is way high for many reasons but definitely should be below Day…
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It’s not that I disagree, FD. I simply find it difficult distinguishing who is more overrated.
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Amen, I despise both Big10 aholes, so I wouldn’t be heartbroken if both were left off the list. Personally, I think a couple mid-major coaches should be on the list, like Wyoming or North Dakota State , but alas no one asked me, as usual
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I love seeing Ryan Day below Harbaugh. The Suckeyes are gonna be BIG MAD about that, and I’m here for all their butt-hurt bitching.
Worst fanbase in all of sports, change my mind.
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No complaints about excluding the Pirate?
I don’t even know who you are anymore…
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CKS has also beaten more of #s 3 through 10 than Saban has – granted, Georgia has played more of them than Alabama has. Haven’t had a crack at Ohio State or Aranda’s version of Baylor as yet. I would agree that rating Harbaugh above Day smacks of “presentism” if one is considering the “body of work” as opposed to just the latest season.
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Auburn can’t hire one of these. Only way to bring in a Top 10 Coach is find a gem like Richt and nurture him (not gonna happen) or get someone from the pros…who loves recruiting in the South (crickets …).
Enjoy the bottom barners!
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I’d have KY’s Stoops in my top 10
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Honestly, I would too. That list is more of a beauty pageant than a top coaches list.
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Saban? That fuckn loser. CKS just proved he is the best coach in college football.
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Saban is the only coach in America on a losing streak since 1/9/22.
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Feels like just a couple years ago the CFB pundit class was telling us “Kirby’s just a recruiter, not really a great coach.” I guess that’s because it was. What a difference a national title, along with the implosion of a couple recruiting-challenged archrivals, makes.
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True, even less than a year ago…they would definitely have had dabo and jimbo, and if sideshow still had a job, higher than Kirby…he wasn’t getting the respect he deserved prior to last month
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Kirby’s beaten everyone on that top 10 list except Aranda & Day.
Saban’s lost his 3 most recent meetings with 2-5.
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I’d say it’s one and two then scrap the rest of the list.
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You can argue, but Luke Fickell is underpriced.
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I would put Stoops, Kyle Whittingham at Utah and Monken’s brother Jeff somewhere in the 5-10 area because they do more with less in places where they face additional challenges. I think Aranda is good but I need a few more years of results to make him top 10.
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Jimbo inherited his N
C team from Bobby and his Criminoles went downhill after that. His teams didn’t do “squat” after that. Just saying.
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Man, is that some kind of revisionist history bullshirt.
FSU was in a state of constant underachievement under Bowden his last few years. Bowden’s last 4 seasons were 7-6, 7-6, 9-4, 7-6. No ACC Titles. No big bowls. Bowden left FSU in much worse shape for Jimbo than Richt did for Kirby. Bowden’s complacency and honestly, old age, had FSU slipping big time, not just on the field but in recruiting.
Jimbo rebuilt FSU, and the reason why he left was because their boosters actually meddle even worse than Auburns if you can believe it. The FSU Athletic Department has no control over their money, the Booster Club does. This means the AD has little to no power to get things done at FSU. Jimbo knew FSU had fallen way behind all the powers and even most of the Tier-3 SEC and Big-10 teams in facilities, but the Booster Club refused to release the funds to build new facilities or refurbish existing facilities.
That’s why Jimbo left, going to the SEC school willing to spend even more money than Bama on facilities and stadium upgrades and everything else.
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Yeah, I have no idea how the FSU athletic department operates in terms of admin vs boosters but I do know that Jimbo left because he was extremely unhappy that the powers that be down there chose to look at his national championship as proof that they didn’t need to do more to support the football program instead of looking at it as proof they needed to give him what he was asking for to keep him happy and help him win more. A lot of ACC programs passed FSU by in the facilities department. I’m sure Jimbo would argue that the recruiting fall-off down there was driven by that lack of support.
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Given what they produce vs what they have to work with, I would have Fickell and Aranda further up that list. 1 and 2 I have no qualms with at all. It will not be long until Kirby sits at #1
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Damn good thread, Senator!!
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Just a reminder: Saban is the only active FBS head coach who has ever beaten Kirby.
That’s just wild to think about.
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Sorry, Power 5, not FBS. Still remarkable.
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I would take Kyle Whittingham over everyone not named Nick Saban, Kirby Smart or Dave Aranda.
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Dabo is going to have to have a rebound season in 2022 or he’s going to start seeing his star shine a little less brightly.
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Where in the world is Joey Freshwater???
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