The Top 11 Worst Coaching Performances in the 21st Century

The worst this millenium?
This is a good one I saw this week. Baby Tate over at Bleacher Report recently compiled his list of the top 11 worst coaching performances of the 21st century. Why eleven? Because twelve is too many and ten is too few. Seemingly, the only qualification is to have significant coaching experience in this current decade, and to have sucked while doing it. Also, the list seems to compile the worst jobs at a single stop on the coaching carousel rather than a whole body of shoddy work.
11) John L. Smith, Michigan State: 22-26
10) Ron Zook, Florida: 23-14 Zook lost 14 games in 3 years. Spurrier only lost 14 in his last SIX seasons.
9) Dennis Franchione, Texas A+M: 32-28 You don't need an insider newsletter for a record like that.
8) Mike Shula, Alabama: 26-23 Maybe the Tide should have nodded to Croom when they had the chance.
7) John Macovic, Arizona: 10-18
6) Mike Dubose, Alabama: 24-23 Another alumnus coach failing at the Capstone.
5) Ed Orgeron, Ole Miss: 10-25 Coach 'O' was O for-the-SEC his last season.
4) Bill Callahan, Nebraska: 27-22 Aww shucks! Not good enough in Nebraska!
3) Gary Crowton, BYU: 26-23
2) Greg Robinson, Syracuse: 10-37 Single-handily helped Auburn overtake the Orangemen for 13th place on the all-time wins chart!
1) Ty Willingham, Washington: 11-37 overall, including 0-12 last year.
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Not seeing your favorite coach? Tate defends a few:
Mike Price, Alabama: Because Mike Price is a good coach. For all you Red Elephants out there, just recall that Price never lost a game as the head coach of Alabama.
Bill Doba? Sylvester Croom? Come on, these two guys worked miracles to keep the towns of Pullman and Starkville competitive. You don't see many big names lining up to take those jobs.
Charlie Weis? He took Notre Dame to two BCS Bowls in his first two seasons in South Bend, going 19-6. Nick Saban didn't do that at Alabama, and Saban is 19-8 after two years in Tuscaloosa. You want Weis on the list? Fine, Saban is going with him.
Karl Dorrell was able to leave his imprint at UCLA during the past decade by having two winning seasons in five years. It seems to help your reputation if nothing is expected of you and your program has not won a national title since the Dodgers were in Brooklyn.
ACC fans are no doubt panting for Chan Gailey and Tommy Bowden. Gailey had a winning season all six years he coached at Georgia Tech, and Bowden never had a losing season at Clemson. So much for appearances.
John Cooper at Ohio State? Wait, Cooper won 192 games in a 24-year career while another legendary Ohio State head coach, Woody Hayes, won 219 in 30 years. That's only 27 more wins in six more seasons, an average of less than five wins a year.
Miami's Larry Coker? Larry Coker has to be the worst Miami coach. No comparison to the smiling, glad-handing, ship-jumping Butch Davis. See folks, Davis is 63-33 in his career while Coker is only 60-15. Wha?
Again, this is NOT MY LIST, and it's not a list of SINGLE SEASON FAILURES. Thought I'd share!
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A quick word on Coker
He could have not not shown up for two years and only lost 2 or 3, that is how loaded that team was. Honestly, the team that Coker inherited might have been the most talented team in the history of college football.
I would say that Charlie Weis definitely should be on the list, he had a reasonable team to begin with and recruited well while there and managed to lose a ton of games. Notre Dame is a big time school that recruits big time and 4 losses a year is pretty bad in that case.
Zook’s record was terrible at Florida, but he really had to build that team back up. The cupboard was pretty bare, especially when competing in the SEC, when Zook arrived and I think he might have been able to win the BCS the year he left with the team that he assembled. Don’t get me wrong though, Meyer has done a very good job with them.
I agree about Weiss...
He’s since run the program into the ground, not that you’ll ever see me shed a tear for Notre Dame.
Zook was always supposed to be the master recruiter. Spurrier didn’t leave the cupboard bare. Gators just came to have an entitlement mentality after Spurrier. It’s especially ironic that Meyer is now slowly crowding out Spurrier’s legend.
by War Eagle Atlanta on May 30, 2009 2:04 PM CDT up reply actions
If it were
somewhere significant? Absolutely…
by War Eagle Atlanta on May 31, 2009 11:24 AM CDT up reply actions
oh I know that WEA
It wasn’t directed at you bro.
"When people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears their people, there is liberty" - Thomas Jefferson
by BamaReturns07 on Jun 1, 2009 12:48 PM CDT up reply actions
Saban at 19-8 and Weis at 19-6 are two different situations
and you know it. One was dealing with recruiting by Shula plus coming off probation and scholarship losses. The other inherited a wealth of talent from a coach (Willingham) that could recruit but couldn’t coach; hell, I could have coached that 06 ND team to a BCS game and then get blown out by LSU. Saban has improved his first two years, Weis has consistently fallen. Weis is not a good, or decent, college head coach.
"When people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears their people, there is liberty" - Thomas Jefferson
AGAIN...
NOT MY ORIGINAL ARTICLE. Like SGT Schultz, I know nothing…
by War Eagle Atlanta on May 31, 2009 11:26 AM CDT up reply actions
You do realize
that Saban just had a twelve win season with that same bunch of scrubs that Shula recruited plus about three players that Saban recruited right? That entire offensive line, your quarterback, running backs minus a third string, and almost your entire defense was all recruited by Shula.
Thank you for making a point.
Saban did it with Shula’s kids; scary thing is now the roster is almost all Saban’s. Imagine if there were higher talents on that senior class last year.
Which is it? We don’t have the talent? or Saban won because of good talent? Can’t have your cake and eat it too.
"When people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears their people, there is liberty" - Thomas Jefferson
by BamaReturns07 on Jun 1, 2009 12:47 PM CDT up reply actions
I honestly think
That there was entirely more talent than anyone really thought up there. With the right coaches in place the past 4 years, you guys had enough talent to really compete.
The things that I really see about Bama next season is that you will really miss your line and JP wilson a lot more than you think.
maybe the line
not sure about JPW. i think the o line made him look better than he was.
"Jay Jacobs can't go to the bathroom without Bobby Lowder's permission" - Paul Finebaum
by GumptownTiger on Jun 3, 2009 11:02 AM CDT up reply actions
you know what though.
As Auburn fans we should be the ones who understand the importance of having experience under center. As much as I hated Brandon Cox, we win 9 or 10 games last year with him under center.
If Alabama lost just Wilson and not their line in one year so they could lean on their running game to help out their new quarterback, that is a big difference between breaking in a new qb and a new line to boot. They will have a rough time to start with until their line can gel together or their quarterback really settles in and can take some pressure off the line.
How the hell is Tom Holmoe not on the list?!
I realize this is not your list Atlanta, but let me give you all a rundown of Tom Holmoe, Cal’s head coach from 97-01’:
1997 California 3-8 1-7
1998 California 5-6 3-5
1999 California 0-11 0-8
2000 California 3-8 2-6
2001 California 1-10 0-8
Overall: 12-43
Uhh, that’s bad.
I think because most of his time came before 2000.
Otherwise, that looks like a record that would be right at the top of the list.
by Jumpn_JackFlash on Jun 1, 2009 11:03 AM CDT up reply actions
He also collected some recruiting violations during his time that prevented Cal from going to a bowl game in Tedford’s first year. Go Holmoe!
Side note: How do you violate recruiting rules and go 0-11 or 1-10? If you are going to cheat, at least cheat to be good.
We all dream of being a child again, even the worst of us, the worst... perhaps... most of all.
Well the guy may not make this very prestigious list of the worst of the 21st century...
but I would suspect he is at or near the top of the all time list, especially with the recruting violations.
by Jumpn_JackFlash on Jun 1, 2009 3:42 PM CDT up reply actions
agian i know its not your list
but you can’t put a guy who is coaching a team on probation on a list like this. Ya just cant.
‘When you build a house and you make it hurricane-proof by putting certain kinds of windows in it, and use cement instead of stick construction and all that kind of stuff, you’re getting prepared for what? A hurricane that may or may never every come." ’We’re going to have 12 hurricanes next year, we know they’re coming.’
- Coach Nick Saban

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