The Mt. Rushmore Of Current College Football Coaches

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

I looked at Awful Announcing the other day and its Mt. Rushmore banner art had me asking myself who would comprise a Mt. Rushmore of current college football coaches.

Obviously Joe Paterno is the first name to come to mind, though his remaining years at Penn State are certainly numbered. At least they should be. Homeboy needs to step aside.

Before this season's debacle at Texas, Mack Brown had guided the Longhorns to nine consecutive seasons of at least 10 wins. Twice Texas won 13 games, including in its national championship season of 2005. The Longhorns won 101 games in those nine seasons, and overall he's 133-34 in 13 seasons at Texas. Brown gets one of the best recruiting classes in the country every year. I think he's a no-brainer.

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Jim Tressel's record at Ohio State isn't too shabby, either. The Vest has led the Buckeyes to 10-or-more wins in eight of his 10 years in Columbus, including in each of the last six seasons. No team has ever been better than Tressel's 2002 squad that went 14-0 and won the national championship. Next month, OSU will be playing in its sixth straight BCS bowl game and eighth overall under The Professor.

So who gets the last spot? Two-time national champion Nick Saban? The Old Ballcoach? Neither. Two titles with two teams certainly is impressive, but OGS is looking for a slightly more sustained track record. I'm sure in a few years, with a couple more SEC titles and maybe another BCS championship under his belt, Saban will find his way onto this list.

And Steve Spurrier's body of work also is a splendid one, but his accomplishments at South Carolina, while exceeding expectations in Columbia, haven't matched what he did in Gainesville.

The last spot belongs to Oklahoma's Bob Stoops. He catches a lot of criticism, but the overall resume is superb. He's never won 10 games in any of his 12 seasons. But he's won 11 or more nine times. Nine times. He's 128-31 with a national championship and seven top-eight finishes. Like Tressel, Stoops will be coaching in his eighth BCS bowl game in January.

Comments

[MJB]

Putting Jim Tressel on the CFB coaches' Mt. Rushmore would be like putting Richard Nixon on the real Mt. Rushmore.