How good are the top BCS coaches?

[El Paso Eagle]

This is always a very intriguing question. Yeah, coaches like Mack Brown and Pete Carroll (or you could plug in Coach K) have paid their dues and worked their ways up but how do you judge if they are “Great” coaches? They are at programs that have access to all the money and resources they need so yes they will usually get the top players. Just as important their schools have the budgets to hire the best assistants. Take a look at how Carroll did in the NFL (yes it’s a different game but for this conversation all the teams have to play somewhat within the same financial guidelines). Look at Phil Jackson; everyone talks about how great of a coach he is. Take a look at his teams minus Jordon and Shaq – looks to be an average coach. Everyone talks about how great a recruiter Mack Brown is; not to beat a dead horse but it’s not hard to sell a kid on UT Austin (even Darrel Royal has made that comment many times).

Again, I’m not saying there not really good coaches, but if there ever were spending caps put in by the NCAA it would make it interesting to see how some of the “Great” coaches would do. And yes I realize there will never be a cap (in fact some of the high $$ schools would love the NCAA to try so they could break away and form their own organization).

[Green92]

You bring up some good points. I do believe some coaches are just better at coaching. That includes practice drills all the way through play calling during games. I don't think there is any one type of coach that is better than others. DD seems to be a players coach, but that hasn't really translated to any kind of big time success. Coaches like Steve Spurrier seem to be a real a$$ but kids still go to school where he coaches and they win a lot of games. Some coaches may put in more hours than others and prepare there teams better. When I was in high school we consistently beat teams with much more "talent" because we played as a team and not as individual players. Rushing and passing statistics for players was not kept. Who knows what the best philosophy is, but I do believe some coaches are much better than others and have the success to prove it.

[UNTLifer]

Here's my take using Mack Brown as an example. I believe Brown is the face of the program that sets the tone of the team, sells the program to recruits, supporters, alumni, etc... His coordinators are the real coaches. Just my two cents.

[bigrobdsp]

of course the big time coaches are better at coaching. Using yalls example of Mack Brown, Stoops has consistently beat the crap out of UT using Inferior players. Tressel has consistently beat up on Michigan Using equal players, and Les Miles won games with very infereior players at OSU. that is why they get to where they are. if recruiting and coaching were easy Mackovic would still be at UT. Brown and the others mentioned are just better, the best are worth what they get payed. the end