Rockne's Roundtable

Ham,

Back in the Summer of 1985, when I officially started at BGI, there was a huge survey done by a major national paper (I still have the article somewhere in my files) on the top college coaches in America. Nos. 1 and 2 were Don James (Washington) and George Welsh (Virginia), with LaVell Edwards (BYU) up there.

Bo Schembechler of Michigan was something like 20th and Lou Holtz of Minnesota was, if memory serves correct, something like 34th.

The previous season (1984), James' Washington team finished 11-1 and upset Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. Welsh was 8-2-2 and took Virginia to its first ever bowl victory. BYU won the national title.

Meanwhile, Schembechler was 6-6 and coming off the Holiday Bowl loss to BYU that won the Cougars the national title. Holtz had been fired at Arkansas in 1983 and was 4-7 in his first year at Minnesota (after the Golden Gophers had been 1-10 the previous year, I might add).

Four years later, in the Summer of 1989, Don Heinreich's did a same "elaborate" survey. Lo and behold, this time Holtz was No. 1 after winning the national title and Schembechler was No. 2 after winning the Rose Bowl. Isn't it amazing how much a "better" coach they were?

That's why I always review such lists like these with bemusement.

Just change name from "Best Coaches" rankings in college football,

to this year's,make that,

today's favorite coaches.

Agree. The nature of the media is to focus on the short-term--who is "hot"
now, who is "cold" now, with "now" usually being a period of not more than
12 to 15 months. Hard really to blame them.

Rarely does the media bring a longer-term prism to discussions such as
these. Further, once the media settle on one, two or three "favorites",
anything that detracts from their "story-line" is ignored. Right now, Saban
and Meyer are glorified and the oversigning and 37 criminal arrests
issues are swept under the rug. In fact, the story-line in recruiting circles
is "who hasn't Alabama offered" as opposed to the reverse.

Is that 9th best a ND??

Well, how Brady Hoke didnt crack the top 10 is almost as bad as Miles not being there. But also, some serious votes that were lacking were for Bilemna up in not-so-sexy Madison, Wisconsin and in Fayetteville for Bobby Petrino.

I would though like to see the results of the vote in another year, especially regards to where BK and ND stand. And yes Ham, although Meyer did a sensational job for 4 years in Gainesville, apparently knowing when to jump ship must clearly be a criteria.

"When you're good, I wont have to tell you" - Lou Holtz