B1G coaches' rankings

Zstatman

Zstatman

Well-Known Member
Paul Myerberg of USA Today wrote the article, so I assume did the rankings. My copy and paste skills seem to have deteriorated so I'm just typing in the rankings. If you want to read the article, you'll have to go to hawkcentral or usatoday.

Interesting for sure, I wouldn't want to be at the bottom. I was happy to see KF as high as #4.

1. Curt Cignetti, Indiana​

2. Ryan Day, Ohio State​

3. Dan Lanning, Oregon​

4. Kirk Ferentz, Iowa​

The dean of Big Ten coaches has been at Iowa since Day was a sophomore quarterback for the University of New Hampshire. Since 1999, Ferentz has won 213 games, won two Big Ten crowns and reached another three conference title games. The Hawkeyes haven’t posted a losing season since 2012 and have been ranked in the final US LBM Coaches Poll in five of the past seven seasons

5. Kyle Whittingham, Michigan​

6. Lincoln Riley, Southern California​

7. Bret Bielema, Illinois​

8. Matt Campbell, Penn State​

9. Matt Rhule, Nebraska​

10. P.J. Fleck, Minnesota​

11. Pat Fitzgerald, Michigan State​

12. Jedd Fisch, Washington​

13. Luke Fickell, Wisconsin​

14. Greg Schiano, Rutgers​

15. Barry Odom, Purdue​

16. Mike Locksley, Maryland​

17. David Braun, Northwestern​

18. Bob Chesney, UCLA​

 
KF is well-regarded. As he should be. Its not just longevity, but that is a big factor.

I initially thought Rhule was way too high, but then looking behind him I don't see any snubs. While I don't think Rhule is going to take the Huskers to the top tier in the conference, he did take a decades long trainwreck and make a couple bowl games. Couple that with his other college stints, and he probably deserves to be right in the middle.

My biggest reaction is that the coaches are top heavy. It gets pretty suspect after Campbell.
 
One that I would keep an eye on for moving up would be Jedd Fisch at Washington.

He took a bottom feeder, hapless Arizona team and turned it into a juggernaut, that's why he got hired in Seattle.

Give him some more time and with the resources Washington ought to have I'd expect them to be banging heads with Oregon to be top dog up there in the NW.
 
Zstatman said:
One that I would keep an eye on for moving up would be Jedd Fisch at Washington.

He took a bottom feeder, hapless Arizona team and turned it into a juggernaut, that's why he got hired in Seattle.

Give him some more time and with the resources Washington ought to have I'd expect them to be banging heads with Oregon to be top dog up there in the NW.
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Sensible take. Of course, similar things could be said about Rhule.

I think Washington and UCLA are just going to always struggle to break into the Top tier. They don't have the resources, name, and backing of Oregon and USC to get THE best talent, and they are going to struggle to win games away from home given the travel. Washington will win most of their home games, but lose most of their away games. Just feels like an 8-4 program given their conference affiliation.
 
JoeyLabasForPresident said:
Matt Campbell above Pat Fitzgerald is disgusting. Matt is just budget Pat. One of these dudes has had success in the Big 10.
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Time will tell, but three of Fitzgerald's last four seasons in the Big Ten included records of 1-8, 1-8, and 1-8.

Not sure how you say ranking Campbell above that is disgusting. Fitzgerald had some success in the Big Ten, and he also had some pretty disgusting seasons at the end of his run.
 
Campbell had ISU consistently winning in a lesser conference. Fitz and NW had a lot of peaks and valleys. When he was good, he was very good. But, he had a lot of stinkers too. I think both are good coaches, but I am not sure either one of them will be at their current posts in 5 years. PSU has Nebraska syndrome and think they are entitled to 11 wins a season. MSU does not seemed properly armed for the current version of CB. Both coaches could struggle to meet expectations.
 
Zstatman said:
One that I would keep an eye on for moving up would be Jedd Fisch at Washington.

He took a bottom feeder, hapless Arizona team and turned it into a juggernaut, that's why he got hired in Seattle.

Give him some more time and with the resources Washington ought to have I'd expect them to be banging heads with Oregon to be top dog up there in the NW.
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We'll see on Fisch. He is a below .500 coach in his 5 seasons. While he did a nice job, his "juggernaut" Arizona team finished 3rd in the Big 12. He is 9-9 in two seasons in the Big Ten.

He hops around literally every year or two, typically as an assistant. My feeling is that he is always looking for a better job, and typically grates on those around him. He tried hard to leverage this past season (year 2 for him) into a different job, including while there were games still to play.

In many ways, he is the opposite of Kirk Ferentz. One builds culture and focuses on long term development, the other is more of a hired gun OC who can quickly implement players and an offensive system into a new organization. You could probably argue both approaches have value in today's college football world.

I would venture this will be his last season at UW. If he can uptick to 10 wins, he'll leverage it for a job he deems to have fewer hurdles. Or they'll stall out at 7 or 8 wins, he'll get frustrated by something or another and annoyed that UW didn't extend him for several more years, and he'll leave for a job with more guaranteed money. Just a hunch.
 
SwirlinLingerie said:
We'll see on Fisch. He is a below .500 coach in his 5 seasons. While he did a nice job, his "juggernaut" Arizona team finished 3rd in the Big 12. He is 9-9 in two seasons in the Big Ten.

He hops around literally every year or two, typically as an assistant. My feeling is that he is always looking for a better job, and typically grates on those around him. He tried hard to leverage this past season (year 2 for him) into a different job, including while there were games still to play.

In many ways, he is the opposite of Kirk Ferentz. One builds culture and focuses on long term development, the other is more of a hired gun OC who can quickly implement players and an offensive system into a new organization. You could probably argue both approaches have value in today's college football world.

I would venture this will be his last season at UW. If he can uptick to 10 wins, he'll leverage it for a job he deems to have fewer hurdles. Or they'll stall out at 7 or 8 wins, he'll get frustrated by something or another and annoyed that UW didn't extend him for several more years, and he'll leave for a job with more guaranteed money. Just a hunch.
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I"m not sure why people sell Washington short. With the Amazon, Microsoft, Costco, Starbucks HQs in Seattle there's a lot of money around.

Maybe I'm just enamored with the idea of tailgating on a yacht next to the stadium.

Fisch had a good thing going at Arizona when he left, he waas torn about leaving but Washington wanted him and paid to get him.

This will be an important year for Fisch and Washington, it's time to improve. Washington was left high and dry when DeBeers, I think his name was, left for Bama. They've got a lot of pride and expect to win.
 
Zstatman said:
I"m not sure why people sell Washington short. With the Amazon, Microsoft, Costco, Starbucks HQs in Seattle there's a lot of money around.

Maybe I'm just enamored with the idea of tailgating on a yacht next to the stadium.

Fisch had a good thing going at Arizona when he left, he waas torn about leaving but Washington wanted him and paid to get him.

This will be an important year for Fisch and Washington, it's time to improve. Washington was left high and dry when DeBeers, I think his name was, left for Bama. They've got a lot of pride and expect to win.
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I live there. There is tons of money around, but college football just isn't that important. Most of the die hard Dawg fans are folks over 70 who cheered for Don James before pro sports were much of a thing. Sort of like the Gophers in Minneapolis (the only other city I've lived in outside of growing up in Iowa).

The real sleeping giant is the UW basketball program. Unbelievable high school talent in the area. Lots and lots of Seattle guys in the NBA. And plenty of support if they are winning. It should be the crown jewel program of the West. Hire the right guy and that program is a monster.
 
SwirlinLingerie said:
Time will tell, but three of Fitzgerald's last four seasons in the Big Ten included records of 1-8, 1-8, and 1-8.

Not sure how you say ranking Campbell above that is disgusting. Fitzgerald had some success in the Big Ten, and he also had some pretty disgusting seasons at the end of his run.
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Pat took NU to 65–76 in Big Ten play including 5 ranked finishes through 17 seasons.
Matt too ISU to 50–40 in the Big 12 and 2 ranked finishes in 10 seasons.

I consider Pat's record at a similarly bottom-feeder football program in a stronger conference considerably more impressive.

One of them also has B1G experience. Matty C is the second (third?) coming of Frost and Rhule.
 
You make good points, but Campbell's conference winning percentage (56%) is a full 10 points better than Fitzgerald's (46%). Also, a lot of those seasons for NU were in the Big Ten West.

Just saying I don't think it is disgusting to potentially rank Campbell above. I think you could make an argument either way.
 
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