As the 2006 head coaching season has come to an end, College Gridiron Boss has assessed the new hires and have compiled this year’s rankings of new coaching hires. This focuses on the coach itself and not necessarily the program who hired the coach. Disagree? Feel free to let us hear about it.
1. Nick Saban- Alabama: In his span with LSU he won the SEC twice, a National Championship, and was crowned coach of the year in 2003. He left for the NFL in his college coaching prime.
2. Butch Davis- North Carolina: During his time at Miami he built up a program that was facing NCAA sanctions and lost 31 scholarships from past violations. In that span he rebuilt the program to the #2 team in the country and laid the groundwork for Miami's 2001 National Championship.
3. Gene Chizik- Iowa State: This is a big time hire for Iowa State. Chizik has made a habit of improving defenses wherever he goes, and continues to win. At Central Florida he was able to improve the total defense to # 16 in the country. At Auburn he took the total defense from #39 to #5 nationally and was 1st in scoring defense. Finally at Texas the very next year he improved the total defense from #23 to # 10 total defense nationally for a National title.
4. Randy Shannon- Miami: Despite Miami's lack of offense during the Shannon tenure, he has yet to struggle defensively. In his 6 years as defensive coordinator at Miami he's had the #6, #7, #2, #28, #4, and #7 total defenses in the nation. Now he's taken over and is trying to establish a good image for the school and bring Miami back to glory. Hopefully the questionable hiring of Patrick Nix as offensive coordinator doesn't come back to haunt him.
5. Tom O'Brien- NC State: Has had great success at Boston College despite having less than average facilities and fan base. I would argue he did a great job recruiting despite having 2nd tiered recruiting classes year in and year out. Now he's taking over a program that's been a hot-bed for talent and a much more involved fan base which will bring out the full potential of Tom O'Brien.
6. Brian Kelly- Cincinnati: Kelly has the job of picking up where Mark Dantonio left off and taking it to the next level. Kelly was able to lift Central Michigan in a 3 year span to new levels of success that hasn't been reached since the 70's. The total success of this hire will ultimately hinge on Kelly’s long term plans, or lack thereof, with the university.
7. Mark Dantonio- Michigan State: Dantonio was defensive coordinator for Ohio State during and after their 2002 National Championship season. He's known for his hard nosed attitude and stingy defenses. He showed promise at Cincinnati before leaving the team with their best record since 97'
8. Steve Kragthorpe- Louisville: Kragthorpe was able to turn around a Tulsa program that had a two year record of 2-21 to 29-22 in a 4 year span. Once Bobby Petrino took the Atlanta Falcons job, Louisville was prepared for the loss and was able to pounce on the highly regarded Kragthorpe.
9. Todd Graham- Tulsa: In his first year as defensive coordinator for West Virginia he turned the #101 ranked total defense to #33. He then took over a #109 ranked total defense Tulsa team to #60,80,#40, and #21 in his 4 years there. He was then hired as Rice's head coach where he brought them back to their first bowl in 45 years.
10. Tim Brewster- Minnesota: Brewster will have the task of silencing the critics of the Glen Mason firing. Many believe the hiring of Brewster was simply to try to spark some life into the Gopher program before heading into the opening of their new stadium. Brewster has no coordinator experience, but is credited as a relentless recruiter. He has been named recruiter of the year, and is responsible for bringing Vince Young to Texas. He has a lot of experience working under great coaches.
11. Jim Harbaugh- Stanford: This is one of the wild card coaching hires of this off season. He's new to the college head coaching world and has never coached at the Div 1-A level. However, the last two years during his head coaching stint at lowly regarded Div 1-AA San Diego he posted back to back 11-1 seasons.
12. Jeff Jagodzinski- Boston College: Jagodzinski comes back to the team that he formerly coordinated during the first 2 years of the Tom O'Brien era (O’Brien’s 2 worst years). From there he's worked through various NFL positions, finally winding up as the Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator and last season guided them to the 9th best offense in the NFL.
13. Troy Calhoun- Air Force: Calhoun is a cadet and has worked in tough situations before under Jim Grobe at Wake Forest. He has been the Houston Texans offensive coordinator over the past 3 seasons posting the #19, #28, and #30 ranked total offense in the NFL.
14. Dennis Erickson- Arizona State: Once upon a time Erickson lead Miami to back-to-back National Championships. That was then, this is now. Upon his arrival at Idaho his team’s offenses and defenses both dropped statistically from #86th in the nation to #94 in the nation in total offense and from #97 to #103 in total defense. My guess is he's too far removed from his glory days of coaching and instead may turn out to be a dud for Arizona State.
15. Todd Dodge- North Texas: Dodge, much like Art Briles at Houston, has come from legendary high school head coaching careers to take over struggling Texas college programs. Dodge's record over the last 5 years as a high school coach was 79-1 with 4 state titles in the state of Texas. This is a wild card hire for North Texas, but it could turn out good if he lives up to his high school track record.
16. Bob Toledo- Tulane: 61 year old Toledo, much like Erickson, has had past college success that he is trying to cling onto and rejuvenate. He was a 2-time Pac 10 champion at UCLA. He recently was offensive coordinator at New Mexico where he warped the nation's #43 total offense to #83 in one season.
17. Derek Dooley- Louisiana Tech: Dooley is the son of former Georgia coaching legend Vince Dooley. If his genes turn out the way his father's did, La Tech may have a heck of a coach. He has followed Nick Saban around from his years at LSU through coaching with the Dolphins in various positions. Saban's dedication to him along with the family name tells me to keep an eye on Dooley.
18. David Bailiff- Rice: Bailiff's had some nice success in limited roles. He was the defensive coordinator for TCU the year they had the #2 total defense in the country and was honored as the nation's top assistant. From there he took over Texas State University where he lead them to their 1st ever Southland Conference championship. He has tough shoes to fill after the departure of Todd Graham.
19. Neil Calloway- UAB: After being ready to make a move on hiring Jimbo Fisher from LSU as their next head coach, Alabama officials stepped in and nixed the offer because of the expected high salary it would cost the university. This was before Alabama shelled out the nation's top salary to Nick Saban. Calloway was last the offensive coordinator for 6 years at Georgia. Last year was his worst as coordinator with a freshmen starting QB leading the country's #90 total offense. His offenses have been mediocre at best especially for such a high profile program such as Georgia.
20. Stan Brock- Army: Brock's only coaching experience was as an AFL coach. Many Army fans criticized administration for moving too quickly on this hire and would have liked a more thorough search.
21. Butch Jones- Central Michigan: Jones was last the wide receivers coach for West Virginia and has no coordinating experience. Not an ideal follow up hire from Kelly
22. Mario Cristobal- FIU: Former Miami offensive line coach and has no coordinating experience. This may be the best that FIU could have done, but it's not a very good coach.
23. Robb Akey- Idaho: Last and certainly least is Robb Akey who was the former defensive coordinator for Washington State over the last 3 seasons. During that span he brought his team from the #19 total defense in 2004, to #53 in 2005, to finishing his stint at #106 in the nation in 2006. Washington State is glad to see him go.
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