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The 20 best college football head coaching jobs in America

And Arizona State at #18? Also laughable....oops, we had better stop dissing on our new compadres, right?
 
Arizona State at #18 might be a reach, but that job is much better than Arizona. Huge campus and great recruiting location in the Phoenix metro area. Not far from LA and So Cal either. Warm climate for recruits too. It is also worth noting that ASU has a pretty decent HC lineage.
 
USC and Michigan should be in the top 10 instead of Oregon and Auburn. I would probably rank Notre Dame at #11. I would toss out Arizona and Oklahoma State and add in Miami and Texas A&M instead.
 
Arizona State at #18 might be a reach, but that job is much better than Arizona. Huge campus and great recruiting location in the Phoenix metro area. Not far from LA and So Cal either. Warm climate for recruits too. It is also worth noting that ASU has a pretty decent HC lineage.

Agreed that ASU is a better situation than Arizona...but ASU is not a Top 20.
 
I find Okie Lite at 20 kinda strange. I realize they have all that money, but they have no tradition.

Anyone have a link to the best coaching jobs from 20 years ago? Might be fun to see how things change with the times.
 
given that the U of A and ASU spring games had unbelievably paltry attendance (i think added together they were less than almost the rest of the Pac, still)....hard to get on board with either of those choices.

no UGA doubters? i find them a little higher than i'd say.
 
I find Okie Lite at 20 kinda strange. I realize they have all that money, but they have no tradition.

Anyone have a link to the best coaching jobs from 20 years ago? Might be fun to see how things change with the times.

Ever heard of Barry Sanders and the 1988 Heisman? I guess Rashaan Saalam's 1994 Heisman doesn't count. :rolleyes:
 
Ever heard of Barry Sanders and the 1988 Heisman? I guess Rashaan Saalam's 1994 Heisman doesn't count. :rolleyes:

OSU was abysmal in the early days of the Big 8, but Pat Jones had some legit teams. even before Barry, they had a nice team with Earnest Anderson and Rusty Hilger. Anderson was obviously a great pro with the Bills and Hilger got an NFL check with the Raiders for a few years. Bob Simmons had a good team his first year. Miles had a couple good teams. Gundy has them in the top 15 and winning 9 or 10 a year. compared to Oregon, OSU has vastly more success (and thereby tradition) over the last 30 years. UO used to be an Iowa State sort of also-ran, schedule for Homecoming sort of team. both are similar in that they have deep pockets these days...but OSU isn't a bad program at all since, say, 1980 or so. not elite, but respectable.
 
I would put a&m ahead of okie light as well, huge fan base, lots of money, first choice after Texas for the a lot of Texas kids. I would also think that Free Shoes University would have to merrit some consideration to be higher. They own their region of Florida, have a large and rabid fan base, lots of money and TV, and have a conference with lots of exposure and not a lot of powerful teams so win and they have a shot at a great bowl every year and even the NC.
 
Dude doesn't even follow his own rules: "Most important was proximity to recruits." Sure, he rules out South Florida, but where is Miami? National championships, really good school, down for a few years but definitely a top 20 choice over the likes of Arizona, which has neither the hotbed nor benefactor. Schools with huge benefactors should weigh heavily, which to me keeps Oregon in the mix and maybe even OSU.
 
i think Oregon belongs on the list, and is trending up....but, not sure about that high. a lot of the "tangibles" are true about UO basketball (Phil's checkbook and a new gym) and when Ernie Kent finally got canned....the best they could do was Dana Altman. i think Kelly's success bolsters the program's status...after Belotti....but, who knows where they will be in 5 years. they are not without some off the field issues and the Texas video recruiting thing. if USC and tOSU can tumble....

ATM belongs but it's been a while since RC's teams were winning a watered-down SWC. i just assumed they were out because of under-achieving with top 15 classes for so many years.
 
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Okay, it's not centered in a recruiting hotbed, but I'm surprised nebraska isn't ranked a little higher.

Seriously, they put more butts in the seats for their Spring Game than a lot of the other schools on the list support on game day. Money/facilities will never be an issue and there is tradition also.

What makes it a good gig for a coach--if you can get past the occassional death-threat, and don't mind hanging out with entirely uninteresting people--is that the fanbase has nowhere else to go. There.is.nothing.else.to.do.there. It's like they're holding an entire state hostage because it's the best option. That has to make for a great coaching job, right?
 
Ever heard of Barry Sanders and the 1988 Heisman? I guess Rashaan Saalam's 1994 Heisman doesn't count. :rolleyes:

Just having a phenomenal player and some good/great teams doesn't give you enough tradition to make this list IMO.

Okie Lite has never won the south, they are little brother in their own state, they recruit behind Texas and OU (and probably ATM). There are significant barriers for them to overcome to become a consistent top winning school. Money helps. I just think that until they can show that they are breaking through some of these barriers, calling them a top coaching job is strange.
 
no UGA doubters? i find them a little higher than i'd say.

I thought UGA was a little high too. It is a really good job, but tough sledding when your bitter rival is Florida. I think Florida, LSU, and Alabama are the clear top ten jobs in the SEC.

USC (sanctions and all), Florida State, and Nebraska should all be in the top ten IMO.
 
What is the criteria for a job being a top 20 job? Facilities? Support? Location? Conference? Pay? How did he "score" them? (I didn't read the article. Just went to the list.)
 
The best job is one where you and your family like the town, your paycheck is good, and your ass isn't about to get fired.

Outside of a few obviously crappy spots, you could make an argument for just about any school on the big six conferences. This list appears heavily influenced by the "now". Looking at the Pac12, do you think Riley thinks he has a bad job at OSU? I'd rather coach and live there more than at USC, ASU, or AU. What about Iowa or Wisconsin? Neither of those schools have fired coach in nearly forever. Madison is one million times better than that dump of a city called Columbus. Why is VA Tech on the list and West Virginia not? They seem pretty similar to me. This is another random, clumsy effort by a nearly defunct publication hoping to get few mouse clicks.
 
I have a hard time arguing against any of the schools except for the last four. V Tech, OSU, UA and ASU are stretches, IMO. Wisconsin, Washington, UCLA, West Virginia, A&M, North Carolina all seem like better spots than those four.

As for where CU should fall on the list, I'd think somewhere around #30 would be about right. With the new media deal, the coaches salary is going to get much more lucrative. Boulder is a nice town. Recruiting to Boulder is pretty easy if you have any talent for it at all. Facilities are in need of updating, but that's on the agenda. The conference is strong, and there's decent, if not 100% adequate local talent.
 
The big outdoors (football and baseball) are very tilted toward the warm weather programs for success. USC has a combination of prep talent, money and tradition and should be top 5. Especially if they can make the argument for Ohio State not being crippled by sanctions. How is Penn State top 10? The proximity to Penn. and Ohio recruits gives them above average recruiting potential but the school's legacy is hanging by the thread of the Paterno years with nothing to show for it in over a decade, save the 2005 team that was a loss away from a BCS title game. Right now their biggest selling point as a program is Paterno, and that's becoming more of a hindrance as the years pass.
 
That guy must live in Arizona...neither program belongs in the Top 20. I agree with others that Oregon is a little too high. I would think that Arkansas, Wisconsin, Iowa, Washington, Miami, A&M would be better than some of the programs mentioned...

ASU football has greatly fallen in local popularity since the NFL arrived.
 
ASU football was probably more popular (and better) back in the Kush days. You know, when the WAC team beat Nebraska in an early Fiesta Bowl as ASU went 11-0. ASU got a big jobbed in national voting, coming in second to an 11-1 Oklahoma team that got waxed at home by Kansas (Oklahoma at home squeaked by CU 21-20 and killed the nubs 35-10).
 
That guy must live in Arizona...neither program belongs in the Top 20. I agree with others that Oregon is a little too high. I would think that Arkansas, Wisconsin, Iowa, Washington, Miami, A&M would be better than some of the programs mentioned...

ASU football has greatly fallen in local popularity since the NFL arrived.

He lives in Gainesville and was a backup O-lineman for Florida in the 90's. He is a decent college football writer but his knowledge of the PAC is... limited.

Somewhat tangential sidenote: Ted Miller, the PAC-12 blogger for ESPN, lives in Scottsdale.
 
He lives in Gainesville and was a backup O-lineman for Florida in the 90's. He is a decent college football writer but his knowledge of the PAC is... limited.

Somewhat tangential sidenote: Ted Miller, the PAC-12 blogger for ESPN, lives in Scottsdale.

It was a tongue in cheek remark...I know where he is from...
 
Neither ASU or UofA belongs on the list, but UofA belongs on this list about as much as the University of Kansas. Football team is going to be playing second fiddle to the basketball team down there for the foreseeable future.
 
Having Arizona and Arizona state in the top 20 over washington honestly is laughable. He mentions fan passion/intensity..and you have those two schools? Also a key target is Facilities/High revenue/budget/Recruiting hot beds?

Sure Arizona might have talented players, but they all leave the state. Staples is clueless.
 
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