The Top Active Coaches List from College Sports Fans weighs in with several factors
including, but not limited to: career record, career winning percentage, past
coaching experience prior to their current coaching position, history building a
program, graduation rates, cleanliness of program, players sent to the NFL,
National Championships Edinson Cavani Jersey , Conference Championships, football program graduation rates, reputation of coach, reputation of program, coaching awards,
player awards including Heisman Trophy winners, and much more. Voting was
conducted during September 2007 as members of the DFN Sports family of sites
were polled on who they felt were the top active college football coaches.
Voters included CollegeSports-fans staff members, Big12-fans staff, BigTen-fans
staff, CUSA-fans staff and SECsportsfan staff. Each voter was asked to list
their Top 10 active coaches and provide honorable mention coach nominees.
Scoring of the votes was based on a 1st place vote worth 10 points and a 10th
place vote worth 1 point.
And now, without further ado, the CollegeSports-fans Top Active College Football Coaches list:
#10 (t) - Greg Schiano - Rutgers - Since taking over at Rutgers in 2001, Schiano's career
record of 33-43 is not terribly impressive. It is the progress that Rutgers has
made in the past two years; turning a team that was a college football joke into
one of the best programs in the nation. Schiano led Rutgers to a 11-2 record in
2006 Diego Godin Jersey , the school's first Top 25 ranking since 1976 and their first-ever Top 10 ranking. Schiano also received several "Coach of the
Year" honors in 2006 including the Walter Camp and Eddie Robinson Coach of the
Year Awards.
#10 (t) - Mack Brown - Texas - Mack Brown began his career at Appalachian State and then Tulane as few may remember. Brown had mild success
with both schools before taking over at North Carolina in 1988 and turning the
Tar Heels into a perennial bowl team and contender in the ACC. Brown left UNC
after the 1997 season to take the head coaching position at Texas where he was
known in his first several years as for "not being able to win the big one."
Brown, along with QB Vince Young, led the Longhorns to the 2005 National
Championship over USC, thus quieting many of his critics. Brown entered 2007
with a 93-22 record at Texas and 181-96-1 overall record.
#9 - Bobby Bowden - Florida State - 2006 College Football Hall of Fame inductee Bobby
Bowden would likely be a bit higher on this list had it not been for a few down
years for Florida State football, but you cannot argue with this man's amazing
career. With 366 wins entering the 2007 season, only Joe Paterno can compare in
terms of career win totals. Overall, Bowden has gone 293-81-4 at Florida State
winning 2 Nationals Championships and 12 Conference titles.
#8 - Nick Saban - Alabama - After spending the past two seasons as head coach of the Miami
Dolphins, Nick Saban has returned to the college sidelines as the head man at
Alabama. Saban, who played defensive back at Kent State in the early 1970's,
previously coached at Toledo, Michigan State and LSU racking up a 92-41-1 record
while winning the 2003 BCS National Championship at LSU.
#7 - Joe Paterno - Penn State - Paterno, the 80-year old coach at Penn State, has been the head
man for the Nittany Lions since 1966. During that time Paterno has gone
363-121-3 and coached in more bowl games (33) than any other coach in history.
While his career marks can only be approached by Bobby Bowden Uruguay Soccer Jersey , a lack of consistent Top 10-caliber success in recent years is likely the only thing keeping Paterno from ranking higher on our
Best College Football Coaches list.
#6 - Steve Spurrier - South Carolina - After spending three years coaching at Duke, Spurrier took over at Florida in
1990 and turned the Gators into a college football powerhouse going 122-27-1
during his time there. His Gators went 12-1 in 1996 and defeated rival Florida
State 52-20 in the Sugar Bowl for Spurrier's lone National Championship. After
two mediocre years in the NFL, Spurrier returned to the college sidelines for
South Carolina in 2005 and was 15-10 in two season at South Carolina coming into
the 2007 season.
#5 - Rich Rodriguez - West Virginia - Rodriguez, a former defensive back at WVU, took over as West Virginia's head coach in 2001.
After a rough 3-8 record in his first season, WVU has won 8 or more games in
every season as the Mountaineers have gone 49-24 in his 6 seasons. Having spent
a lot of time in the Top 10 in the past two seasons, WVU has been to just one
BCS Bowl game under Rodriguez, a stat that will have to improve for the WVU head
coach to move up on future top coach lists.
#4 - Jim Tressel - Ohio State - One of the most accomplished coaches on our list, Jim Tressel has won 12
"Coach of the Year" awards, 4 Division I-AA National Championships and 1
Division I-A National Championship. Since taking over at Ohio State in 2001,
Tressel was 62-14 coming into the 2007 season with 4 BCS Bowl appearances in 6
seasons
