Last night, ESPNU was showing an ESPN The Magazine show for the college football preview issue. One segment was a focus on Coaches Confidential, where ESPN anonymously polled and interviewed current CFB coaches on various issues. One question was, who is the best coach in college football? TCU's Gary Patterson garnered 23% of the votes, the highest vote-getter in the poll. That's some high praise from his peers. What makes Gary Patterson so great? And who do you think is the best coach in the game?
Patterson has been head coach at TCU for 11 seasons (2000-2010, his only head-coaching gig). During that time, Patterson has led TCU through three different conferences (WAC, C-USA, MWC). The Horned Frogs have posted a 98-28 record and five conference championships in that time. His bowl record is 6-4, with two of those losses to Boise State teams who combined for a 26-1 record. Patterson has single-handedly built TCU to BCS status, as they will leave for another conference, the Big East, after this season.
Coach Patterson is also known for maximizing athletes on the field by changing their positions. For example, Jerry Hughes was a running back in high school, but Patterson and co. turned him into a feared sackmaster who was a two-time consensus All-American and was drafted in the first round by the Indianapolis Colts.
In my eyes, it's hard to argue against Patterson as the best coach in the game.
Despite that, there are some coaches who definitely belong in the discussion. Boise State's Chris Petersen's all-time coaching record is 61-5 (I would still give an edge to Patterson in the program-building element). Nick Saban is 86-27 with two national championships as an SEC coach. Joe Paterno is Joe Paterno (but Penn State hasn't done a ton in a while now).
Great coaches who were recently disqualified (are not current coaches): Urban Meyer, Jim Tressel.
Who is the best current head coach in college football? Let's make a poll of our own -- leave your nomination in comments below and tell us why your nomination is the best coach in the game.
6 comments:
I dont know if Patterson is the best all around coach because he doesn't do alot of work with the offense, but I do feel he is the best evaluator of talent in all of college football.
Valid and interesting evaluation. You are right, though, Patterson's talent evaluation is tops.
It's a really really tough call, but I gotta give some support for Boise State's Chris Petersen, simply because of his off-the-field demenor of pure respect and his incredible passion for the university and the city of Boise which has been one of the big reasons why the people of Boise have rallied around the Broncos with huge passion.
I agree that Patterson is a top notch coach and is excellent at evaluating talent. However, I also think that literally everything you've said about talent evaluation and putting the pieces in the right places completely applies to Boise State's Chris Petersen as well, which is how the Broncos' program has been so consistantly good over the last 10 years.
Now when I say the above, I IN NO WAY mean that as a knock on Gary Patterson and what he's done. I personally don't think either Patterson or Petersen is better than the other... they are truly equals in being two of the best coaches in College Football, and I recall hearing the two are good friends despite having to compete with each other frequently, which makes quite a bit of sense.
By the way, this is my first comment on the Upset Blog, you folks do a great job!
Anthony, thanks for reading and for the comment.
Your points are very true. Chris Petersen is a fantastic coach in his own right, and this year will be a big test on that. If Boise continues its dominance despite losing Harsin at OC, as well as Pettis and Young, the Petersen will have completely proven his abilities as a head coach (transitioning through coaching change is the only thing he hasn't had to prove yet).
Right now I think I give a slight edge to Patterson because the program was given to Petersen slightly more built up than TCU was for Patterson.
Petersen may have been given a team that had a better recent record, but I would argue that the overall talent of BSU has improved more. Prior to Petersen BSU struggled on defense and outscored their opponents. Petersen has overseen the progression to where now the Broncos are dominant on both sides of the ball. You can argue that Patterson has recently done the same with the offensive side of theb ball for TCU.
The big difference is resources. TCU sits in the middle of talent rich Texas and has a $20+ million budget. BSU sits in a state that maybe sends three kids annually to Div 1 football and has a budget in the $6-$7 million range.
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