Stewart Mandel ($$) comes over to the dark side.
How would you rank the top 10 SEC programs, including Oklahoma and Texas? Talking about the overall strength of a program and its ability to seriously compete annually for conference and national titles. — Mike S., Claremore, Okla.
I wish I could go back in time and answer this question in, say, 2008, just to see how different the ranking would be today.
1. Georgia: I swear this is not a recency bias answer. Georgia has absolutely everything a coach could want — location, resources, facilities, administrative support — and we’re now seeing what that looks like when a rock-star coach like Kirby Smart is at the wheel.
2. Alabama: Obviously, there’s a lot of history, both past and present, to show how frequently this program can contend for trophies. Georgia gets the slight edge just because of how close it is to Atlanta.
Stew wonders what things looked like in 2008. I wonder how the Montana Project would fare today.
Get The Picture 
You know Kirby’s got the Zircon Encrusted Tweezers
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Hoppy approves of this post … DGD.
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Boy, don’t bury the lead on his ranking of the Florida Gators behind newcomers Oklahoma and Texas as well as #3 LSU. The text is a shocking admission of that which we’ve known here for years:
Florida: UF has had two dominant coaches, Steve Spurrier (1990-2001) and Urban Meyer (2005-10), but otherwise mostly mediocrity. Still, the state of Florida alone gives the Gators a huge advantage, as does a strong athletic department.
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“…the state of Florida alone gives the Gators a huge advantage…”
I also used to think that but not anymore. There is a ton of talent in that state, but the difference is that with FSU, da U and a host of other schools (USF, UCF, FAU, etc) plus folks like Kirby (aka ‘the flipper’) and Saban UF just doesn’t have that much of an advantage any more. UGA competes with who, Tech? Ga. Southern? Of course, there there are forays from Alabama, Auburn and UT, but with NIL, schools like cough Auburn have had to take the bag man off the payroll. Kirby is on the mother.
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It’s definitely a potential advantage, but it’s one that they haven’t proven capable of taking advantage of in quite some time. If Florida ever got another Urban Meyer-level recruiter they could get back at the front of the line or near the front of the line for some of that talent that’s going elsewhere. FSU and Miami have edged ahead of them, but with apologies to Cristobal’s reputation I don’t really see either getting it locked down. Florida’s up for grabs.
Georgia is in a better position and has a bigger advantage with our recruiting base and ability to go to Florida for players as well, but the Gators… man, they’re sitting on top of a huge resource they have no idea how to tap into anymore. If you’re Florida, you just hope to get close in terms of talent in a few years and then hope you can scheme it or bounce it your way in a game.
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As I posted that it occurred to me – if A&M is good this year, Petrino may be Florida’s next head coach.
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Oops. Wrong place
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woof. Do not want.
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No f’n way. The man can coach, imagine him with boosters buying him better recruits.
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Don’t forget that damn cow college by the lake in upstate South Carolina!
Bastages!!
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These idiots keep hiring “steady hand/safe” coaches since Meyer. The closest they came to “flashy” since then was Mullen – an attempt to regain Meyers glory. I.e. a safe choice – a glorified B squad retread.
They’ve only ever won being flashy as hell. Basketball on grass with Spurrier. Early innovative “recruit speed” spread with Meyer.
If you’re Florida and you want to win again, go hire another bombastic ass hole who knows offense and knows who to hire to run a defense. And get your NIL shit together.
Or go hire another b squad Saban/Meyer assistant for all I care.
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After spending three weeks in Idaho and Wyoming last summer I am pretty sure the Montana project number would be closer to 100% now.
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So 5 elements of success: location, resources, facilities, admin support, rock star coach. A coach controls only one of those elements…himself. Location is good fortune. Richt never had the other three controlled by admin. Thanks Mike Adams!
Fun question…who is the best coach today lacking the other 4 elements?
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Fun answer…
Prolly the corch at the University of Kansas.
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Revisionist history for the win! I don’t personally know Stew, but I imagine his eyes are brown.
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Favorite line: “(Auburn) is certainly willing to throw money around — unfortunately, though, a lot of it is spent on buyouts.”
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