Why should coaches on the hot seat get all the attention?
I thought it might be fun to rank the top ten coldest coach seats in the land. (I did this mostly off the top of my head, so I'm sure I left someone deserving out.)
(Note: BCS conferences only.)
#1 Nick Saban (Alabama). This is really a no-brainer. No fan base in the nation is happier with its coach than Bama nation. Alabama fans have gained a reputation nationally for turning quickly on coaches, but this is largely a myth. Even with very average coaches, Tide fans have been supportive and at least somewhat patient, and they are well aware what they have now with Coach Saban. It would take at least two mediocre seasons for Saban’s seat to warm up even to room temperature.
#2 Urban Meyer (Florida). Urban has about as frigid a seat as a coach’s posterior can occupy. So why is he #2 instead of #1? Florida fans are not as starved for success as Bama fans have been over the past fifteen years or so. So Meyer’s “fan adoration meter” is not as off-the-charts as Saban’s. Plus, if a significant drop-off occurs next season there will be whisperings that Meyer looks a lot more ordinary without the greatest player in modern college football history. Not fair, perhaps, but inevitable.
#3 Mack Brown (Texas). If Vince Young had not handed him that BCS championship win over USC a few years back, Coach Brown’s tail end might be thawing out a good bit by now. “Underperforming” is a term that comes to mind. But with a national championship in his pocket, his pick of Texas high school talent every year, and a succession plan in place, Brown is going nowhere.
#4 Bob Stoops (Oklahoma). Like Mack Brown, Stoops has a crystal ball in the trophy case and is currently in zero danger from restless natives. If his teams continue to underachieve in BCS bowl games, this could change down the road.
#5 Pete Carroll (USC). Yes, Carroll is catching flack about the annual egg-laying ceremony conducted on a randomly rotating basis at stadiums around the PAC-10. But it would take quite a collapse to bring any real heat to bear on his britches.
#6 Frank Beamer (Virginia Tech). The perennial failure to win a national title sticks in the craw of fans (could this be the year?). But realistically—BCS championship or not—Coach Beamer is at Va Tech as long as he wants to be.
#7 Steve Spurrier (South Carolina). Coach Visor gets some grumbling every now and then, but he’s plenty safe. Seriously, you’re going to fire Steve Spurrier and get … whom? For USC East to fire Spurrier would essentially be a signal that no one is ever going to win big there. As long as the Ball Coach roams the sideline, there is always hope.
#8 Paul Johnson (Georgia Tech). Johnson has made Tech relevant again. The relationship could sour if opponents begin to unravel the Johnson offense or if lousy defense keeps the program from really turning the corner.
#9 Brian Kelly (Cincinatti). Kelly is the best coach Cincy has ever had or ever will have—and they know it. Kelly might be even higher in the rankings except that his gruff personality and his public complaining about the University’s pace on facility upgrades could at some point tick off the wrong person. From the fans’ perspective, though, Kelly is sitting on ice. Unfortunately, he is likely to leave of his own accord soon enough.
#10 Butch Davis (North Carolina). Before this season, Davis had icicles clustered around his posterior. While a poor start in 2009 has notched up the temperature a few degrees, there’s no real thaw in sight. NC fans know they are lucky to have him and unlikely to find anyone else nearly as good.
Honorable mention: Jim Tressel, Bobby Petrino, Steve Sarkisian, Gary Pinkel.
I thought it might be fun to rank the top ten coldest coach seats in the land. (I did this mostly off the top of my head, so I'm sure I left someone deserving out.)
(Note: BCS conferences only.)
#1 Nick Saban (Alabama). This is really a no-brainer. No fan base in the nation is happier with its coach than Bama nation. Alabama fans have gained a reputation nationally for turning quickly on coaches, but this is largely a myth. Even with very average coaches, Tide fans have been supportive and at least somewhat patient, and they are well aware what they have now with Coach Saban. It would take at least two mediocre seasons for Saban’s seat to warm up even to room temperature.
#2 Urban Meyer (Florida). Urban has about as frigid a seat as a coach’s posterior can occupy. So why is he #2 instead of #1? Florida fans are not as starved for success as Bama fans have been over the past fifteen years or so. So Meyer’s “fan adoration meter” is not as off-the-charts as Saban’s. Plus, if a significant drop-off occurs next season there will be whisperings that Meyer looks a lot more ordinary without the greatest player in modern college football history. Not fair, perhaps, but inevitable.
#3 Mack Brown (Texas). If Vince Young had not handed him that BCS championship win over USC a few years back, Coach Brown’s tail end might be thawing out a good bit by now. “Underperforming” is a term that comes to mind. But with a national championship in his pocket, his pick of Texas high school talent every year, and a succession plan in place, Brown is going nowhere.
#4 Bob Stoops (Oklahoma). Like Mack Brown, Stoops has a crystal ball in the trophy case and is currently in zero danger from restless natives. If his teams continue to underachieve in BCS bowl games, this could change down the road.
#5 Pete Carroll (USC). Yes, Carroll is catching flack about the annual egg-laying ceremony conducted on a randomly rotating basis at stadiums around the PAC-10. But it would take quite a collapse to bring any real heat to bear on his britches.
#6 Frank Beamer (Virginia Tech). The perennial failure to win a national title sticks in the craw of fans (could this be the year?). But realistically—BCS championship or not—Coach Beamer is at Va Tech as long as he wants to be.
#7 Steve Spurrier (South Carolina). Coach Visor gets some grumbling every now and then, but he’s plenty safe. Seriously, you’re going to fire Steve Spurrier and get … whom? For USC East to fire Spurrier would essentially be a signal that no one is ever going to win big there. As long as the Ball Coach roams the sideline, there is always hope.
#8 Paul Johnson (Georgia Tech). Johnson has made Tech relevant again. The relationship could sour if opponents begin to unravel the Johnson offense or if lousy defense keeps the program from really turning the corner.
#9 Brian Kelly (Cincinatti). Kelly is the best coach Cincy has ever had or ever will have—and they know it. Kelly might be even higher in the rankings except that his gruff personality and his public complaining about the University’s pace on facility upgrades could at some point tick off the wrong person. From the fans’ perspective, though, Kelly is sitting on ice. Unfortunately, he is likely to leave of his own accord soon enough.
#10 Butch Davis (North Carolina). Before this season, Davis had icicles clustered around his posterior. While a poor start in 2009 has notched up the temperature a few degrees, there’s no real thaw in sight. NC fans know they are lucky to have him and unlikely to find anyone else nearly as good.
Honorable mention: Jim Tressel, Bobby Petrino, Steve Sarkisian, Gary Pinkel.
