The worst this millenium?
This is a good one I saw this week. Baby Tate over at Bleacher Report recently compiled his list of the top 11 worst coaching performances of the 21st century. Why eleven? Because twelve is too many and ten is too few. Seemingly, the only qualification is to have significant coaching experience in this current decade, and to have sucked while doing it. Also, the list seems to compile the worst jobs at a single stop on the coaching carousel rather than a whole body of shoddy work.
11) John L. Smith, Michigan State: 22-26
10) Ron Zook, Florida: 23-14 Zook lost 14 games in 3 years. Spurrier only lost 14 in his last SIX seasons.
9) Dennis Franchione, Texas A+M: 32-28 You don't need an insider newsletter for a record like that.
8) Mike Shula, Alabama: 26-23 Maybe the Tide should have nodded to Croom when they had the chance.
7) John Macovic, Arizona: 10-18
6) Mike Dubose, Alabama: 24-23 Another alumnus coach failing at the Capstone.
5) Ed Orgeron, Ole Miss: 10-25 Coach 'O' was O for-the-SEC his last season.
4) Bill Callahan, Nebraska: 27-22 Aww shucks! Not good enough in Nebraska!
3) Gary Crowton, BYU: 26-23
2) Greg Robinson, Syracuse: 10-37 Single-handily helped Auburn overtake the Orangemen for 13th place on the all-time wins chart!
1) Ty Willingham, Washington: 11-37 overall, including 0-12 last year.
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Not seeing your favorite coach? Tate defends a few:
Mike Price, Alabama: Because Mike Price is a good coach. For all you Red Elephants out there, just recall that Price never lost a game as the head coach of Alabama.
Bill Doba? Sylvester Croom? Come on, these two guys worked miracles to keep the towns of Pullman and Starkville competitive. You don't see many big names lining up to take those jobs.
Charlie Weis? He took Notre Dame to two BCS Bowls in his first two seasons in South Bend, going 19-6. Nick Saban didn't do that at Alabama, and Saban is 19-8 after two years in Tuscaloosa. You want Weis on the list? Fine, Saban is going with him.
Karl Dorrell was able to leave his imprint at UCLA during the past decade by having two winning seasons in five years. It seems to help your reputation if nothing is expected of you and your program has not won a national title since the Dodgers were in Brooklyn.
ACC fans are no doubt panting for Chan Gailey and Tommy Bowden. Gailey had a winning season all six years he coached at Georgia Tech, and Bowden never had a losing season at Clemson. So much for appearances.
John Cooper at Ohio State? Wait, Cooper won 192 games in a 24-year career while another legendary Ohio State head coach, Woody Hayes, won 219 in 30 years. That's only 27 more wins in six more seasons, an average of less than five wins a year.
Miami's Larry Coker? Larry Coker has to be the worst Miami coach. No comparison to the smiling, glad-handing, ship-jumping Butch Davis. See folks, Davis is 63-33 in his career while Coker is only 60-15. Wha?
Again, this is NOT MY LIST, and it's not a list of SINGLE SEASON FAILURES. Thought I'd share!