Someone will have to break down the criteria used by Sports Illustrated's Andy Staples on why Texas is better than Ohio State is better than Florida or Alabama or Georgia. Suffice to say that when he chooses the best college coaching jobs in the country, the differences in the top schools must be as small as Jim Tressel's last millimeter of moral high ground.
For our purposes, the SEC again dominates the top of the list. And while the first three spots go to Texas, Ohio State and Oklahoma, the conference takes over the Top 10 from there.
Interestingly, Staples puts Florida and Georgia at the top of the SEC schools. Florida, we get. Georgia, which historically ranks at the bottom of the SEC's upper tier, we don't. As Staples points out, the Dawgs have almost exclusive rights to one of the country's most talent-laden recruiting pools. They have a rabid fan base, great facilities, a superb college town and buckets of money. Well, guess what, they always have. Yet UGA floats into the national conversation every 10 years or so, stays awhile, then disappears.
At this moment, Georgia coach Mark Richt appears to trapped in one of Georgia's classic Major Tom phases, drifting slowly off into space ("Can you hear us, U-G-A?") after a blast-off that included a No. 2 final ranking in the polls during Richt's early years. But we digress.
Interestingly, Tennessee comes in at 16, among the Arizonas and Arizona States, with good reason I think. Despite their tradition and fervor and money, the Vols dominate a state that never produces enough players. That drives Tennessee to recruit nationally and take way too many chances on questionable kids. Ergo The Fulmer Cup, which honors the fruits of UT's dogged pursuit of only the top student-athletes.
Here's the list. What think you?
Saturday, June 4, 2011
The Top 10 jobs -- again the SEC dominates the list
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3 comments:
"For our purposes, the SEC again dominates the top of the list. And while the first two spots go to Texas and Ohio State, the conference takes over the Top 10 from there."
Unless I missed the news conference where Oklahoma joined the SEC recently, they were ranked at #3 ahead of the SEC schools as well.
We get it. You hate the Vols. Isn't it time to move on?
Worth noting is this comment about No. 17 Va. Tech: "Virginia Tech also can dip down into North Carolina, which has an underrated high school football culture that routinely produces great players."
Also, I think it's clear why Texas is No. 1. Money, money, money, money, great recruiting base and a conference that's strong enough to get respect (unlike the ACC) and weak enough to dominate (Longhorn fans won't miss Nebraska).
The key for the Longhorns is slowing down the annual run for the border on signing day.
The Sooners have more kids from Texas on their roster than they do from Oklahoma. Without players from Texas, OU is barely a 1-AA power.
OU will always be able to get kids from Texas, but if the Longhorns can keep all the blue chippers (like Adrian Peterson) home, Oklahoma becomes another Ole Miss at best.
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