imo, this guy lost credibility by listing paterno as one of the 5 worst......paterno put penn st's program on the map & i remember all of the upsets his teams accomplished over the years......ok, maybe the game past him by...but respect must go out to joe pa.
The five worst:
Note: To be fair, coaches who haven't completed three years at their school weren't included (except for one obvious exception).
1. Chan Gailey, Georgia Tech: What's the difference between failed NFL coach Carroll and failed NFL coach Gailey? An ability to command respect from his players. For three years, the Jackets have demonstrated a lack of discipline both on the field (where they continually lay eggs just before or after flashing potential brilliance) and off it (numerous academic and legal casualties).
2. Rich Brooks, Kentucky (the exception): The former Oregon/St. Louis Rams head man has been a disaster since Day 1, taking over a program that finally was starting to stick its head above water and running it straight into the ground (6-17) while failing to elicit any sense of excitement among potential recruits (mainly because they don't believe he'll be there much longer).
3. Gary Pinkel, Missouri: Rarely has a coach so thoroughly screwed up a star player's development as Pinkel did with QB Brad Smith last season, drawing a deluge of public criticism -- including from Smith's father (who compared the coach's personality to a dill pickle). The onetime hot commodity needs to contend for the Big 12 North title this year or he'll be looking for a new job.
4. Bobby Wallace, Temple: While it's hard to pin too much blame on a guy who's stuck in a near-impossible situation, the fact remains he's gone 19-60 in seven seasons and shown few signs of any potential breakthrough around the corner.
5. Joe Paterno, Penn State: Ouch. It hurts to even write this. But if this were a blind evaluation in which Paterno was known only as Coach A, and Coach A had gone 26-33 the past five seasons at a Big Ten school with the tradition and resources to compete for conference and national titles, there's not an informed observer out there who wouldn't conclude that Coach A is a bad coach.
As an added bonus, I give you my eight most underrated (Wyoming's Joe Glenn, Texas Tech's Mike Leach, Southern Miss' Jeff Bower, Baylor's Guy Morriss, Boston College's Tom O'Brien, UTEP's Mike Price, Toledo's Tom Amstutz and Michigan State's John L. Smith) and four most overrated (N.C. State's Chuck Amato, Virginia's Al Groh, Texas A&M's Dennis Franchione, Minnesota's Glen Mason).
Finally, a quick word on Carr, because I know you'll ask. I just don't think he fits on any of these lists. I don't think he's one of the 10 best. I certainly don't think he's one of the five worst. And I don't think he's necessarily overrated or underrated. On the positive side, he has overseen one of the nation's most consistently successful programs of the past 10 years, and he's appeared in the past two Rose Bowls. On the negative side, he annually has, if you believe the recruiting rankings, as much talent on hand as any team in the country, yet hasn't contended for a national title since the one he won in '97 and, without fail, loses at least one early-season game he shouldn't. So, for the purposes of these rankings, he's somewhere in between.
The five worst:
Note: To be fair, coaches who haven't completed three years at their school weren't included (except for one obvious exception).
1. Chan Gailey, Georgia Tech: What's the difference between failed NFL coach Carroll and failed NFL coach Gailey? An ability to command respect from his players. For three years, the Jackets have demonstrated a lack of discipline both on the field (where they continually lay eggs just before or after flashing potential brilliance) and off it (numerous academic and legal casualties).
2. Rich Brooks, Kentucky (the exception): The former Oregon/St. Louis Rams head man has been a disaster since Day 1, taking over a program that finally was starting to stick its head above water and running it straight into the ground (6-17) while failing to elicit any sense of excitement among potential recruits (mainly because they don't believe he'll be there much longer).
3. Gary Pinkel, Missouri: Rarely has a coach so thoroughly screwed up a star player's development as Pinkel did with QB Brad Smith last season, drawing a deluge of public criticism -- including from Smith's father (who compared the coach's personality to a dill pickle). The onetime hot commodity needs to contend for the Big 12 North title this year or he'll be looking for a new job.
4. Bobby Wallace, Temple: While it's hard to pin too much blame on a guy who's stuck in a near-impossible situation, the fact remains he's gone 19-60 in seven seasons and shown few signs of any potential breakthrough around the corner.
5. Joe Paterno, Penn State: Ouch. It hurts to even write this. But if this were a blind evaluation in which Paterno was known only as Coach A, and Coach A had gone 26-33 the past five seasons at a Big Ten school with the tradition and resources to compete for conference and national titles, there's not an informed observer out there who wouldn't conclude that Coach A is a bad coach.
As an added bonus, I give you my eight most underrated (Wyoming's Joe Glenn, Texas Tech's Mike Leach, Southern Miss' Jeff Bower, Baylor's Guy Morriss, Boston College's Tom O'Brien, UTEP's Mike Price, Toledo's Tom Amstutz and Michigan State's John L. Smith) and four most overrated (N.C. State's Chuck Amato, Virginia's Al Groh, Texas A&M's Dennis Franchione, Minnesota's Glen Mason).
Finally, a quick word on Carr, because I know you'll ask. I just don't think he fits on any of these lists. I don't think he's one of the 10 best. I certainly don't think he's one of the five worst. And I don't think he's necessarily overrated or underrated. On the positive side, he has overseen one of the nation's most consistently successful programs of the past 10 years, and he's appeared in the past two Rose Bowls. On the negative side, he annually has, if you believe the recruiting rankings, as much talent on hand as any team in the country, yet hasn't contended for a national title since the one he won in '97 and, without fail, loses at least one early-season game he shouldn't. So, for the purposes of these rankings, he's somewhere in between.
