Top 10 Coaching Jobs in College Football

[buckeyejim]

I like to see how the posters on this forum would list, from 1 thru 10, if every college football coaching job opened up right now. How would you rank the top 10 college football coaching jobs?

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I've got my Top 10 and I was going to post them, but I think I'll keep mine blank until I see just what you guys think first. This should be interesting.

[Bucs90]

1. Coaching Biffy on common sense?

Hey, it's a challenge at least!

Anyway, seriously, here is mine:

1. Florida State- so much potential, such reasonable expectations. Can't miss.
2. Michigan- same as above.
3. Georgia- one of the more stable powerhouse programs. Can't go wrong here.
4. USC- Pete Carroll has laid a foundation, and the fair weather fans would be willing to forgive a bad season here or there.
5. Florida- Just like UGA and FSU, lots of talent and stability.
6. OU- tradition and reputation make recruiting easy.
7. Texas- good pay, good recruiting grounds. Expectations high though.
8. LSU- talent to recruit is plentiful.
9. Ohio St- just like OU, tradition, good pay, good recruits, very stable power team.
10. Tennessee- national recruiter, tradition, etc.

Now, not being a homer, but yes, more SEC teams than any other. Reason being good recruiting ground and best pay of anywhere. Pay is a factor, and the SEC will pay.

[ZOOMBAG]

1. Tennessee -- Beautiful Smokey Mountains of eastern Tennessee, one of the most scenic areas east of the Mississippi. Knoxville is a very nice city. Facilities, 110,000 seat stadium that sells out. SEC. National title very achievable. Downside is pressure to win

2. Missouri -- again, very nice state to live in. Obviously title is in reach being in a BCS AQ conference. Not a great deal of pressure to be in the top 10 every year

3. Oregon -- another spectacular place to live. Eugene is a very nice city in a great part of the state. Good fans. Can win a title there.

4. Army, Navy, Air Force -- chance to coach the very brightest most motivate players in the country. Great venues, smallish but loyal, global fan base. Can't win a title there anymore (AFA came close 20 years ago...) but a rewarding job with not a great pressure to win big.

5. Stanford -- can win, but tough with academics. Wonderful campus, great place to live and on modern HC coaching salaries the cost of living is irrelevant. Not a lot of pressure to win but can win big there.

6. San Diego St. -- can't win a national title there and not a lot of pressure to win but can win and get some players. Great city to live in and wonderful climate

7. Hawaii -- may not win a title there but can get some great players from Polynesia, and a chance to live in Paradise on a million dollar salary.

8. Colorado -- if you get past the radical leftwing politics of the campus this a beautiful place live, can win big and win titles here and can recruit. Denver metro

9. Wisconsin -- can win a national title here but not great pressure to do so. Beautiful area, but again have to get past the radical politics of the campus. Madison is a great town and Wisconsin is a great state

10. Arizona St -- If you like warm, and sunny weather in a spectacular part of the country, this is the place. Can win a national title here, too. Great fans, but not a lot of pressure to win titles every year.

[Coach 3]

...for now: TOSU> Top 5 SEC CF Bastions > Service academies > TEx/Oklahoma....like the visual tour zoom...gotta contend though that: knoxville is a polluted mess ..although Neyland is the most spectacular venue in america for CF... and wisconsin is an icebox ...you msut have visited in the summer... BTW -regarding your your sociological aside on those gentle, progressive swedes and norwegians of Wisconsin, you forgot to mention the deranged, dangerous Godless Veggie-Humanists of Eugene!....

[Lincoln Tower]

My first 2 would be tOSU and LSU. The best combination of a big name in a big recruiting state with little to no in state competition. The other bigtime states (Texas, Cali, Georgia, Florida, Penn) all have at least 2 large in state programs. At those 2 places, you should get 5-10 quality football players every year just based on players wanting to stay home.

[ZOOMBAG]

Been to a couple of games in Madison in early to mid October and it was absolutely perfect both times, about 55 and sunny

[H.I.]

All are based on having a decent coach with administrative support on hand.

1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Ohio State
4. USC
5. LSU
6. FSU
7. Oklahoma
8. Alabama
9. Michigan
10. Virginia Tech

Could move up or down under the right circumstances (in no particular order): North Carolina, Georgia, Colorado, Miami, West Virginia, USF, Arizona State, Texas A&M, Auburn, Wisconsin, Penn State, Notre Dame, Washington, and I'm sure I'm leaving a few out.

I just have a problem with schools like USC, Miami, USF, etc. that don't have the best facilities in the world. Miami and USC have proven that you can win, and win big at these type of places, but I just think it is easier to win long term already having top notch facilities in place even if the current or historically the teams that use those facilities suck.

[buckeyejim]

Here is my Top 10...

1. Southern Cal
2. Florida
3. Texas
4. Ohio State
5. Michigan
6. Georgia
7. Oklahoma
8. Tennessee
9. LSU
10. Florida State

Close: Penn State, Nebraska, Alabama, Wisconsin, Miami (FL), UCLA

[treyinathens]

1. Ohio State
2. Texas
3. Georgia
4. Florida
5. Michigan
6. LSU
7. Southern Cal
8. FSU
9. Oregon
10. Oklahoma

COuple of comments, to Bucs...FSU will have huge expectations again once Bobby leaves. I see them turning at least for a bit into a LSU/ALabama...new coach every few years school.

Georgia should be inbetween LSU/tosu, and the other group of schools from above. We don't really have another major school in the state.

[buckeyejim]

Tennessee -- Beautiful Smokey Mountains of eastern Tennessee, one of the most scenic areas east of the Mississippi. Knoxville is a very nice city. Facilities, 110,000 seat stadium that sells out. SEC. National title very achievable. Downside is pressure to win.

FYI Neyland Stadium now seats 102,038 which ranks 4th in the nation.

1. Michigan Stadium (107,501)
2. Beaver Stadium (107,282)
3. Ohio Stadium (102,329)
4. Neyland Stadium (102,038)

Tennessee's largest crowd in 2007 was 107,052 and UT officials have said that the largest ever crowd in Neyland Stadium history (109,061 in 2004 against Florida) will never be broken because as they continue to add club seating in place of some of the bench seating areas, the capacity continues to shrink.

[Blue Hen]

Apparently the unrealistic , high pressure to win all the time as well as the temptation to cheat and disregard academic integrity is not a factor in most of these 'best HC job ' lists.

[Doc]

And this is in no particular order...and I guess my criteria would be that these are jobs that have it all...tremendous facilities, huge budget, tremendous tradition, a rabid fan base and in 90% of the cases, the job is a final destination...once you've been the coach at these schools the only way you can go is down.

1. Ohio State - I just list them first because they're my favorite team but it would be difficult for anyone to dispute its inclusion on this list.

2. Notre Dame - Job comes with a lot of pressure but the right guy should get a top ten recruiting guy every year and if you're successful you'll qualify for sainthood.

3. Texas - you've got everything you need to succeed at Texas.

4. Michigan - 110,000 seat stadium, tremendous tradition, the funny helmets that many love, bottomless donor pockets (and I mean this in a good way), the fans do sit on ther hands from time to time but like I said, there's 110,000 of them at every game.

5. Oklahoma - Every year Bob Stoops is at the the top of the 'short list' of every vacant high profile job opening and every year he stays at OU...that says a lot right there.

6. Penn State - Same as many of the others but since Paterno has been there for 45 years, you wonder if it will ever open up again. It will be interesting to see who does wind up with the job because that man is going to have a tough...TOUGH act to follow. Maybe too tough.

7. Florida - You have the most fertile recruiting ground in the country and tremendous support from the administration and fans.

8. Alabama - If you can deal with the ghost of Bear Bryant.

9. Nebraska - I really think the right guy could turn the NU situation around in a relatively quick fashion and he could remain there until he retires.

10. Southern California - Pete Carroll has shown what you can do at SC. You have Hollywood just down the road, the ocean is close by...you bring in impressionable young 18 year olds and tell them this could be your playground for the next 4 years and they're top ten every year. I mean, all he has to do is ask, "Would you rather play here or South Bend or Columbus or Norman, Oklahoma? Keep in mind it get's pretty cold at all those places by November!" One down side is their fan base does not travel extremely well.

Just missed:

LSU - obviously Death Valley wasn't a final destination for Nick Saban and most likely Les Miles.

FSU - would you want to follow Bowden?

Texas A+M - I believe their expectations are somewhat high.

[Coach 3]

MIchigan---.THE most unique, identifiable and good looking helmets in ALL OF FOOTBALL!..please compare and contrast to a team whose helmets are so dull, thery have to put little decals of posionous leaves on them to give them any kind of identity...ohio st is damned lucky psu is in the big 10, otherwise osu would have the msot boring, dull unis and helmets in the conference!....;).....

[Doc]

And if they're so unique, then why does Delaware wear the same helmet!:) Anyway, I guess I'm just conservative but there's nothing quite like the sight of a Buckeye helment in November with buckeye leaves plastered all over it...its the sign of success (with apologies to the smell of napalm).

[Blue Hen]

The actual lineage of CF's greatest helmet is Princeton>Michigan> Delaware, with a brief stopover at Maine.

["14-O" U.]

What's so hard about following Paterno or Bowden at this point? Following Osborne was hard. Following Hayes was hard (though it was made easier after he got fired for slugging the Clemson player - it was pretty obvious a change had to be made at that point).

I think those would be dream jobs right now. Expectations would be raised but only because they have underachieved (on average, can't forget about the 1 good season PSU had in 05 :)) for years. But the expectations would be achievable, and then some. A good coach could do wonders for either of those two programs.

["14-O" U.]

Doesn't Michigan put stickers on their helmets now?

Regardless, I can honestly say I look forward to seeing the Michigan helmets every year. I'm just sad that we won't get to see Hart, Henne, and Long wearing them anymore. :)

[ZOOMBAG]

Best jobs to me means what combines a decent ability to win or have top 25 teams without the intense pressure of many of the factories coupled with a great living location/quality of life sort of thing. Beautiful places like Oregon, Colorado Springs, West Point, Boulder, etc... rank JUST AS HIGH as the ability to win football games. Also a place you can have an expectation of being able to stay 20 years and you can't do that anymore at the factories. A coach takes his family with him and "dream jobs" include quality of life for the family

[Blue Hen]

Good points