Top 15 college football head coaches

[BoylenOver]

My list:

1. Urban Meyer
2. Pete Carroll
3. Bob Stoops
4. Nick Saban
5. Mack Brown
6. Jim Tressel
7. Frank Beamer
8. Les Miles
9. Mark Richt
10. Rich Rodriguez
11. Joe Paterno
12. Kyle Whittingham
13. Gary Patterson
14. Chris Peterson
15. Gary Pinkel

[Babs]

My list:

1. Urban Meyer
2. Pete Carroll
3. Bob Stoops
4. Nick Saban
5. Mack Brown
6. Jim Tressel
7. Frank Beamer
8. Les Miles
9. Mark Richt
10. Rich Rodriguez
11. Joe Paterno
12. Kyle Whittingham
13. Gary Patterson
14. Chris Peterson
15. Gary Pinkel

PC > UM.

[smokymountainrain]

My list:

1. Urban Meyer
2. Pete Carroll
3. Bob Stoops
4. Nick Saban
5. Mack Brown
6. Jim Tressel
7. Frank Beamer
8. Les Miles
9. Mark Richt
10. Rich Rodriguez
11. Joe Paterno
12. Kyle Whittingham
13. Gary Patterson
14. Chris Peterson
15. Gary Pinkel

CP > Patterson, Whittingham, Paterno, Rodriguez, Miles, Beamer, Tressel and Saban.

Besides that, it's a solid list, BO. Good work.

[cougjunkie]

My list:

1. Urban Meyer
2. Pete Carroll
3. Bob Stoops
4. Nick Saban
5. Mack Brown
6. Jim Tressel
7. Frank Beamer
8. Les Miles
9. Mark Richt
10. Rich Rodriguez
11. Joe Paterno
12. Kyle Whittingham
13. Gary Patterson
14. Chris Peterson
15. Gary Pinkel

Trying to be completely unbiased but I am just not sure about Whittingham yet. This season will tell a lot. Will Kyle vault himself to the upper echelon of coaches and join Chris Peterson as the only non-bcs coach to do so. Or will he be a flash in the pan like Dan Hawkins or June Jones?

[il Padrino Ute]

Trying to be completely unbiased but I am just not sure about Whittingham yet. This season will tell a lot. Will Kyle vault himself to the upper echelon of coaches and join Chris Peterson as the only non-bcs coach to do so. Or will he be a flash in the pan like Dan Hawkins or June Jones?

That is a fair question.

While KW has improved each year, he can't really improve on what he did last year. He can now only maintain what he's done. That's what separates the great coaches from good coaches.

[Babs]

CP > Patterson, Whittingham, Paterno, Rodriguez, Miles, Beamer, Tressel and Saban.

Besides that, it's a solid list, BO. Good work.

I think I would put Les Miles ahead of Mack Brown. Les had a ton less to work with at Oklahoma State, and went .500 against Oklahoma from '01-'04. Mack went .000 in the same stretch.

[beefytee]

Trying to be completely unbiased but I am just not sure about Whittingham yet. This season will tell a lot. Will Kyle vault himself to the upper echelon of coaches and join Chris Peterson as the only non-bcs coach to do so. Or will he be a flash in the pan like Dan Hawkins or June Jones?

June Jones isn't exactly a flash in the pan. He built the Hawaii program back up from nothing.

Chris Peterson pretty much just road on Dan Hawkins coattails.

Kyle is doing similar things to Chris although without the consistency that Peterson has had.

[smokymountainrain]

I think I would put Les Miles ahead of Mack Brown. Les had a ton less to work with at Oklahoma State, and went .500 against Oklahoma from '01-'04. Mack went .000 in the same stretch.

If we're judging by how they did against OU, you would be correct.

[smokymountainrain]

Chris Peterson pretty much just road on Dan Hawkins coattails.

That's a joke, right?

[Babs]

If we're judging by how they did against OU, you would be correct.

Nah. The opponent isn't the point. My point is that I'm more impressed with a coach that can do a lot with a little, than with a coach who can do pretty well with the best.

[cougjunkie]

June Jones isn't exactly a flash in the pan. He built the Hawaii program back up from nothing.

Chris Peterson pretty much just road on Dan Hawkins coattails.

Kyle is doing similar things to Chris although without the consistency that Peterson has had.

If June Jones succeeds at SMU then you can say he is not a flash in the pan. But he has been coaching a long time and he only won when they had Brennan. Lots of coaches luck in to good players, its sustaining that over the long haul that makes a great coach. Hawkins has been at CU now for 3 years and they have sucked all 3 years. Peterson took a completely different team then what Hawkins had and went to a BCS bowl and beat Oklahoma, since then he has sustained it year in and year out. Kwhit needs to do the same thing, he doesnt need to go to a BCS bowl every year but he does need to win 9-10 games.

[BoylenOver]

Chris Peterson pretty much just road on Dan Hawkins coattails.

Yeah, I'd have to disagree with this. Boise St's done some big things on a national level since Hawkins left. BSU was one of the youngest teams in the nation last year, with a redshirt freshman at QB, and they finished the regular season undefeated. Peterson is a legit head coach.

[TripletDaddy]

My list:

1. Urban Meyer
2. Pete Carroll
3. Bob Stoops
4. Nick Saban
5. Mack Brown
6. Jim Tressel
7. Frank Beamer
8. Les Miles
9. Mark Richt
10. Rich Rodriguez
11. Joe Paterno
12. Kyle Whittingham
13. Gary Patterson
14. Chris Peterson
15. Gary Pinkel

One could quibble with the order here and there, but overall this is a pretty accurate list.

I wonder if Hermie should be there? Although he is at the beginning stages of rebuilding at UCLA, over his entire career, has he really been LESS successful than Chris Peterson or Kyle Whittingham?

[beefytee]

That's a joke, right?

No.

Did Dan run the program into the ground before he left? The broncos seemed to be doing well under Hawkins before he left and obviously after.

Boise State's success hasn't been about their coaches. Like having system quarterbacks, Boise State seems to have "system" coaches. How many have gone on to other success? Maybe Houston Nutt... But he certainly hasn't done miracles at Arkansas or Old Miss.

[smokymountainrain]

Nah. The opponent isn't the point. My point is that I'm more impressed with a coach that can do a lot with a little, than with a coach who can do pretty well with the best.

But Brown's sustained excellence at Texas > what Miles has done at LSU and did at OSU. Miles was finally coaching the majority of players he recruited to LSU and had an 8-5 record to show for it last year.

Miles at OSU was about the same as what Mike Gundy has done at OSU and I consider Gundy a fairly average coach. Gundy also had his worst season playing with Miles group in his first year.