Dienhart Coaching Rankings Discussion

This past week, Tom Dienhart released his ranking of the 66 BCS head coaches. While many of his picks qualify as no-brainers, there are a few interesting trends that pop up in his rankings.

1. No Big Ten Love
Of the bottom six in Dienhart’s ranking, three are from the Big Ten. Pat Fitzgerald, Tim Brewster, and Bill Lynch found themselves at the bottom of the list. It is very possible that Dienhart is taking a wait and see approach with these three coaches, as they all have some work to do to take their programs to the top of the league.

However, the potentially more interesting ranking is that of Ron Zook. While the Zooker was bashed while at Florida for not living up to Steve Spurrier’s legacy, he is coming off one of the more improbable Rose Bowl seasons in recent memory. His reward? 43rd on Dienhart’s list…right behind Jim Harbaugh. I guess beating USC provides a coach with an automatic upgrade in Dienhart’s mind.

2. The Florida Curse
I have already gone over Zook’s ranking on Dienhart’s list, but Urban Meyer’s is also puzzling. At 14, he ranks behind Randy Edsall, Mark Mangino, and yes, Steve Spurrier. Given his success at Bowling Green, Utah, and Florida, this ranking is mindboggling. In 7 seasons, Meyer has 70 wins. Those are unbelievable numbers, and he has not showed many signs of slowing down. It brings up the question – does Dienhart have a personal beef with Urban Meyer? However, I will not speculate on that in this space.

3. You Need More Than Championships
The SEC’s top ranked coach is not Urban Meyer, Les Miles, or Steve Spurrier. It is Mark Richt. This helps give some insight into Dienhart’s methodology, as Richt is the only one of the four without a national title. Other examples of titleless coaches in the top ten are Rich Rodriguez, Jim Grobe, Frank Beamer, and Mark Mangino. Dienhart definitely seems to take program expectations into account in his rankings, which helps explain the Mangino and Edsall rankings.

Tom Dienhart is an excellent writer, but I do not feel that this list is his best work. There are some oddball rankings, but what do I know, that was probably his point of the exercise.