News Article: SI's Top 10 coaches of all time

81usaf92 said:

Yes, but how much is always the debate. I think many folks have just subscribed to the 3 in 4 years, wouldn't take the tie in 83, and the 95 Nebraska team was the greatest team in my lifetime, and just gave him a spot in the top 10. When I lived in Nebraska, there were a lot of young and middle aged Husker fans saying he was the greatest of all time because he did what Bear, Switzer, and Wilkenson couldn't do and wine 3 out of 4. But I met a lot of older Husker fans say he was the biggest underachiever of all time because of the ones he didn't win. So I think somewhere in the middle is where Osbourne fits.

But coaches I know are higher than Osborne (no particular order):

Saban
Bear
Wilkinson
Meyer
Switzer
Mckay
Bowden

Coaches that probably are higher:

Knute
Hayes

Coaches that could be considered higher:

Holtz
Spurrier

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All I really have to know about Nebraska folks is they fired a coach 2 years after playing for a national title.........in a year he had a record of 9-3.......

(Auburn might have fired a coach 2 years after a title, but they'd looked horrible, and he was 3-9).

Firing Frank Solich MIGHT be the worst thing that program ever did as far as what set everything else into motion. If they had been willing to tolerate him a bit as he transitioned, they could still be one of those teams that contends every 3-4 years and that wins 9 or 10 games per season. He'd have been Pelini without the drama, and because he knew the state, he wouldn't have had the disadvantages of his successors pre-Frost.

BearFan said:

I believe Frank Thomas was the coach that first put us on the National scene. He was CPB’s coach and had a winning percentage nearly identical to CPB. Bama would not be Bama without him.

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That was Wallace Wade, who first put us on the National scene, but taking Alabama to the Rose Bowl in 1925 as a heavy underdog. Washington was supposed to wipe the field with us and we won 20-19. He took us to 3 Rose Bowls overall, tying Stanford the next year and shutting out Washington State 24-0 after the 1930 season, another 10-0 season.

An argument can actually be made that Xen Scott put us on the national scene when he coached Alabama to a 9-7 win over Penn in 1922, who was a national power at the time.

But Frank Thomas never gets enough recognition, IMO. His record was superb, and if not for poor health, maybe we wouldn't have had such a horrible stretch in the 1950s.

81usaf92 said:

Yes, but how much is always the debate. I think many folks have just subscribed to the 3 in 4 years, wouldn't take the tie in 83, and the 95 Nebraska team was the greatest team in my lifetime, and just gave him a spot in the top 10. When I lived in Nebraska, there were a lot of young and middle aged Husker fans saying he was the greatest of all time because he did what Bear, Switzer, and Wilkenson couldn't do and wine 3 out of 4. But I met a lot of older Husker fans say he was the biggest underachiever of all time because of the ones he didn't win. So I think somewhere in the middle is where Osbourne fits.

But coaches I know are higher than Osborne (no particular order):

Saban
Bear
Wilkinson
Meyer
Switzer
Mckay
Bowden

Coaches that probably are higher:

Knute
Hayes

Coaches that could be considered higher:

Holtz
Spurrier

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The whole thing about 3 in 4 as a means of separation is overrated anyway. Coach Bryant should have 3 in a row, TWICE.

It's not coincidental that as soon as the Big 12 was formed, all of a sudden Nebraska couldn't beat Texas and began its decline. It's also not coincidental that their run of titles from 1994-1997 came during the exact same time that Oklahoma was in the midst of its worst decade ever. So yeah I give Osborne props and he is one of the great coaches in the history of the game, but I agree with your list of coaches that should probably be listed higher.

selmaborntidefan said:

Firing Frank Solich MIGHT be the worst thing that program ever did as far as what set everything else into motion. If they had been willing to tolerate him a bit as he transitioned, they could still be one of those teams that contends every 3-4 years and that wins 9 or 10 games per season. .

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Its up there, but I think bolting to the BIG 10 just to stick it to Texas and Missouri may have been the biggest one because it cut their recruiting pipelines in two. Had they stayed then we are probably talking about Nebraska instead of Oklahoma as the crème of the crop of the Big 12 because Pelini DID build very good teams.

But the impatience of Nebraska fans since Osborne has been legendary


Pelini in his own right was a solid head coach, but again Nebraska fans believe they are on par with Alabama when they are more on par with Kentucky in terms of a program. Pelini just dealt with the Nebraska fans impatience a little less civil than Solich. They are very limited in what they can do, and it takes far more than just a "good" coach to get them where they want to be. A grace period must be at minimum a decade for them. If you go to their boards you will see it littered with stuff about how Nick Saban turned bama around in 2 years... NEWS FLASH Nebraska isn't Alabama, and Scott Frost isn't Nick Saban.


But yes the Solich sacking and the Calloway hiring was one of the stupidest chain of events ive seen happen.

Power Eye said:

Osborne did win almost 100 more college games than Switzer did. Not that Switzer had a short college career, but it's Osborne's sustained success over a much longer period of time that put him ahead.

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But his success vs Osborne outwieghs alot of what Osborne accomplished in his absense. If we play the hypothethical of "what if instead of Gene Stallings, What if Alabama hired Switzer?" Do you really believe Osborne is assured all 3 of those titles or having a 100 game lead on Switzer? I seriously doubt if it came down to it most people would pick Osborne over Switzer. Osborne was not a better coach than Switzer or Jimmie Johnson, but in terms of greatest of all time he deserves to be over Johnson because of Johnson's lack of long term success at the college level, but Osborne doesnt deserve to be over Switzer due to Switzer's long tenure of success and Switzer's dominance over him.

selmaborntidefan said:

All I really have to know about Nebraska folks is they fired a coach 2 years after playing for a national title.........in a year he had a record of 9-3.......

(Auburn might have fired a coach 2 years after a title, but they'd looked horrible, and he was 3-9).

Firing Frank Solich MIGHT be the worst thing that program ever did as far as what set everything else into motion. If they had been willing to tolerate him a bit as he transitioned, they could still be one of those teams that contends every 3-4 years and that wins 9 or 10 games per season. He'd have been Pelini without the drama, and because he knew the state, he wouldn't have had the disadvantages of his successors pre-Frost.

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Yeah, Solich was 58-19 in 6 season as NU head coach and they fired him for Bill Callahan, not smart. Callahan was 27-22 in 4 seasons.

Al A Bama said:

If we had to list the BEST university for HIRING coaches, how about the University that hired Wallace Wade, Frank Thomas, Paul W. Bryant, Gene Stallings, and Nick Saban. Has any other school had 5 coaches with NC's? Now I guess someone could criticize us for hiring the following: Ears, Curry, and DuBose. Also, thank God for Mike Denny for preparing the U of A for this.

So, we don't screw up the NEXT hire many years down the road (hopefully), do NOT hire someone like the 3 mentioned in that last sentence.

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Well, to be fair, Ears was why we went after Bryant. Curry, well that was on our Alumni Association botching it up because Bobby Bowden was going to take the job. THAT is an entirely different thread to itself, although IMO Bowden was a far better coach, yet I digress. DuBose, well the players wanted him and most fans did. But thanks to a combination of him, Fran and Shula, Mal had the Gumption (no pun intended) to go for broke with Saban. (THAT is an awesome story all in itself.)

Bottom line, you have to hit rock bottom to truly appreciate being on top...and we Alabama fans truly appreciate that!

Roll Tide!

CoachJeff said:

Osborne has a combination of longevity and a high winning %. He belongs in any top 10 discussion. He coached for a quarter century and his worst record was 9-3-1 in that span.

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Still, he only played two games a year - OU and whoever in a bowl game... :cool2:

selmaborntidefan said:

If you weren't around in the 60s, Bob Devaney is all but forgotten. But your points are some of the same ones I have made.

Incidentally, Devaney was also the AD during Osborne's first 20 seasons as head coach. Of course, to what degree Devaney ran the program, who knows?



Lest I be accused of unfairly disparaging Osborne, he DOES deserve immense credit for keeping the program competitive at a high level. He wasn't Phil Bengston, Ray Perkins, Ray Handley, or Gary Moeller.....he's more in the George Seifert category.

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Well, then Les Miles deserves SOME credit for keeping LSU competitive post-Saban... :biggrin2:

NoNC4Tubs said:

Well, then Les Miles deserves SOME credit for keeping LSU competitive post-Saban... :biggrin2:

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Miles was a very good head coach. He would have won several more championships had Saban stayed in the NFL.

Can I nominate Gus to be on the list, just to make The Barners feel better about him, then hopefully give him a lifetime contact for making the list..

GrayTide said:

Yeah, Solich was 58-19 in 6 season as NU head coach and they fired him for Bill Callahan, not smart. Callahan was 27-22 in 4 seasons.

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I wasn't in Nebraska when they sacked Solich, but I was when they did it to Pelini. While most would agree that what Pelini said justified a firing, I think 90% of what he said was justified. Nebraska fans were obnoxious lunatics after the first Wisconsin matchup, and they were already ready to fire him when Russell Wilson and all the great runningbacks went crazy on him at Camp Randall. You see Nebraska fans for years believed Ohio St, Michigan, Penn St, and Wisconsin were inferior to the Big XII, and that they were going to just waltz into Indy and Pasadena every year. I kid you not, during the CWS in 2011 and before the season there were multiple beer gardens and bars raffling Big 10 championship and Rose bowl tickets away expecting Nebraska to be at both places. But Pelini was treated horribly by Nebraska fans from 2010 on, but his mistake was stooping to their level and trusting everyone on the BOT.

But the funniest part about the firing of Pelini was the coaching search and the eventual hiring of Rielly. Nebraska was stupid enough to believe Bielema was serious when he said he was interested in coming to Lincoln, when everyone knew he was playing his game to get more money.

Yeah, the hiring of Mike Reilly was a huge mis-judgement on somebody's part. I think Reilly was a good coach at Oregon State and could consistency turn out 6 to 8 win seasons, but at Nebraska, in the B1G, that was not acceptable. Pellini was a walking time bomb. They have an excellent coach now in Frost, he will bring them back to respectability, but I am not sure he can deliver their return to glory.

We

deliveryman35 said:

I cant stand Urban Meyer, but what he accomplished demands my respect. His combination of win percentage, longevity, schedule played, and number of coaching stops makes him an automatic top 5 all-time coach.

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One other thing—he was 2-2 against the GOAT, and 2-1 against the GOAT in meaningful games. (Bama Bham I include both of those records out of respect for you)

GrayTide said:

Yeah, the hiring of Mike Reilly was a huge mis-judgement on somebody's part. I think Reilly was a good coach at Oregon State and could consistency turn out 6 to 8 win seasons, but at Nebraska, in the B1G, that was not acceptable. Pellini was a walking time bomb. They have an excellent coach now in Frost, he will bring them back to respectability, but I am not sure he can deliver their return to glory.

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I think Reilly was the best they could get. Callahan too. Don't get me wrong... I'm sure there other coaches out there that would have taken the job and maybe worked out better, but these two were the best that the hiring folks could get at the time. Just like us and Mike Shula... there were others out there that would have taken the job, but the personalities involved believed Mike Shula was the best they could get at the time. I believe the Nebraska folks miscalculated the value they carried on the market.. As other have said, Solich and Pelini both were really good coaches that had Nebraska running as well as could be expected, but the Nebraska folks were still living in a Big 8 world that died in 1996.

I find it utterly absurd that they believed they were going to walk right into the Big 10 and dominate. They never even dominated the Big 12, which was a weaker conference overall, once you got past Oklahoma and Texas. Think about it... they were never even able to dominate their division. They couldn't manage Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Iowa State, and Colorado. How were they going to overcome Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Wisconsin, and Iowa and any kind of regular basis? I've come around to 81usaf92's way of thinking (he's obviously had a front row seat). Those people are woefully out of touch with reality.

TideEngineer08 said:

I find it utterly absurd that they believed they were going to walk right into the Big 10 and dominate. They never even dominated the Big 12, which was a weaker conference overall, once you got past Oklahoma and Texas. Think about it... they were never even able to dominate their division. They couldn't manage Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Iowa State, and Colorado. How were they going to overcome Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Wisconsin, and Iowa and any kind of regular basis? I've come around to 81usaf92's way of thinking (he's obviously had a front row seat). Those people are woefully out of touch with reality.

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I doubt that more reality-based administration actually thought this. They left the Big 12 because:
a) the Big 12 was imploding and at the time they left, it was far from certain there would even be a Big 12
b) Texas had way too much sway
c) The Big 10 - starting in 2017 - not only offered stability but more cash


The last one was the most important regardless of what anyone thinks otherwise.


However, there IS an epidemic of "refusal to accept reality" in a vocal portion of the cornfield based fan fase. That's true.


It IS possible for them to win a national title; it is NOT possible for them to win 3 out of 4 ever again.

B1GTide said:

3 championships, two different schools, with two different coaching staffs, in the best 2 conferences in college football. Add the 13-2 bowl record and the 187-32 W/L record and there are not 9 better - even if you squint and look at the stats sideways.

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Impressive, indeed. The issue that many of us might have is that his career was just too short. True enough, he may come back sometime. And he will be successful again. But, the abrupt end at Florida, and the rather abrupt end again in Columbus just doesn't do his skill justice. Last season, when he was active, myself and everyone I know thought of Coach Urban as the second best in the game, still coaching.

On Coach Paterno, it's crushing to see that a lack of judgement took away all the good he did for football players at Penn State. The longevity, the discipline, all there, but poor judgement, maybe not even intentionally, will forever mar his accomplishments. I still think highly of Coach Paterno, but a bit less than I did before what we know now, became known.

selmaborntidefan said:

I doubt that more reality-based administration actually thought this. They left the Big 12 because:
a) the Big 12 was imploding and at the time they left, it was far from certain there would even be a Big 12
b) Texas had way too much sway
c) The Big 10 - starting in 2017 - not only offered stability but more cash


The last one was the most important regardless of what anyone thinks otherwise.


However, there IS an epidemic of "refusal to accept reality" in a vocal portion of the cornfield based fan fase. That's true.


It IS possible for them to win a national title; it is NOT possible for them to win 3 out of 4 ever again.

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The Big 10 is definitely more stable and prosperous. I guess I should have said their fan base was (is?) out of touch with reality. I honestly can't see Frost doing any better than a Pelini did there. I guess we'll see.