CSNbbs

1. Bill Blankenship - Tulsa 19-8 (.704)
Following Todd Graham’s departure after the 2010 season, Blankenship has kept the beat going in Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane should be favored to repeat as C-USA champs as they return all their key skill players on offense.

2. Ruffin McNeil - ECU 19-19 (.500)
A former Pirates DB, McNeill has surrounded himself with talented assistants (namely OC Lincoln Riley) in his return to Greenville. He’s positioned to have ECU go bowling every year for the foreseeable future.

3. Doc Holliday - Marshall 17-20 (.459)
It’s fitting that one of the nation’s most explosive offenses (40.9 PPG in 2012) is led by a head coach who shares his name with a famous gunslinger. But only if a porous defense improves can Marshall dream of a C-USA crown.

4. Todd Monken - S.Miss 0-0 (.000)
Monken, the former Oklahoma State OC, inherits a Southern Miss team that has nowhere to go but up (0-12 last year). His past success as an offensive assistant will immediately breathe new life into the Golden Eagles’ attack.

5. Larry Coker - UTSA 12-10 (.545)
The head coach of the last Miami (FL) team to win a national championship, Coker has worked his magic at upstart UTSA. He has the Roadrunners well positioned to make a smooth, full-time transition to the FBS.

6. Skip Holtz - LaTech 0-0 (.000)
Holtz’s daunting challenge: To try and approach an offense that averaged a nation-leading 51.5 PPG last year without 10 departed starters. With mixed success at ECU and USF, we’re curious to see how Holtz fares in Ruston.

7. Rick Stockstill - MTSU 43-44 (.494)
C-USA’s longest-tenured head coach has had an up-and-down tenure with the Blue Raiders. That being said, having a total of 14 starters back makes it likely that they’ll reach their first bowl since 2010.

8. David Baliff - Rice 30-44 (.405)
Bailiff quite possibly saved his job by leading the Owls to a 5-0 finish in 2012, including an Armed Forces Bowl victory. He’ll have to carry that over and take advantage of having 18 returning starters if he wants to tighten his grip on it.

9. Garrick McGee - UAB 3-9 (.333)
Things are pointing up at UAB in McGee’s second year at the helm, but only if his players avoid the same injuries that were the Blazers’ undoing a year ago. At the very least, once-rudderless UAB now has direction.

10. Sean Kugler - UTEP 0-0 (.000)
The Miners have a much softer non-conference slate than last year, when they played Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Ole Miss. That should make Kugler’s transition from longtime NFL assistant (2001-2012) to college HC an easier one.

11. Dan McCarney - North Texas 9-15 (.375)
The Mean Green’s improvement under the former longtime Iowa State head man has been solid yet unspectacular. They’ll give C-USA opponents a fight but are projected for a season similar to last year’s 4-8 campaign.

12. Curtis Johnson - Tulane 2-10 (.200)
A longtime assistant coach prior to arriving at Tulane last year, Johnson has the skill players needed for a small but significant improvement in the win column. Long-suffering Tulane fans will gladly take it.

13. Carl Pelini - FAU 3-9 (.333)
Pelini is making Owls fans optimistic for the future as he has recruited well on behalf of FAU. On the field, however, it could be a bumpy ride for a program that would’ve liked to have waited another year before jumping to C-USA.

14. Ron Turner - FIU 0-0 (.000)
Many Panthers fans were less than thrilled at the dismissal of Mario Cristobal after last season. In his place is Turner, the 2001 Big Ten Coach of the Year at Illinois. Does that count for anything 12 years after the fact?

Lostletterman.com Article

Monken <<< Coker and Holtz

I probably would've put Coker in the second slot.
Monken may be a bit high now, but I believe he's got more upside than the rest.
I personally wouldn't trade him for any coach on the list.
But, we'll have to see how the list shakes out, it may totally reverse itself at seasons end.

From what I've heard, Monken's temper is just slightly hotter than the temperature during a Hattiesburg summer. I'm interested to see how he fares as a head coach before I'll wish we hired him at LTU.

This is a dumb list. Coker and Holtz deserve more respect than that or even Ruff has earned, and I'm a Ruff guy. Coker has national championships and Holtz took bad teams and won at UConn and ECU.

(07-08-2013 01:44 PM)AtlantaEagle Wrote: [ -> ]Monken may be a bit high now, but I believe he's got more upside than the rest.

May be? He's a complete unknown. He could be dead last for all you know. You guys were hopeful and said the same stuff about Johnson last preseason too even with his crappy ass record at the Citadel.

Quote:I personally wouldn't trade him for any coach on the list.

There is at least 6 or 7 I would gladly take before him on that list.

(07-08-2013 02:13 PM)StillJonesing Wrote: [ -> ]This is a dumb list. Coker and Holtz deserve more respect than that or even Ruff has earned, and I'm a Ruff guy. Coker has national championships and Holtz took bad teams and won at UConn and ECU.

I think the problem most people have with Holtz is that he is seemingly unwilling to even experiment with a spread offense. These days a team has to be able to stretch the field unless they have an all-star O line and 5 star running back. Holtz would be higher if his offenses were a little more explosive and his defenses were as good as when he had Hudson with him.

Coker should be higher. I still can't believe how long it took a school to hire him after what he did w/ Miami

(07-08-2013 01:58 PM)papa_dawg Wrote: [ -> ]From what I've heard, Monken's temper is just slightly hotter than the temperature during a Hattiesburg summer. I'm interested to see how he fares as a head coach before I'll wish we hired him at LTU.

Actually, the only people he gets mad at are (per someone who told me about him on Twitter)... "stupid questioners from the media".

Apparently the Monk goes by the "Ask a stupid question, you're going to get made a fool of by me". philosophy (which I don't have a problem with)

(07-08-2013 03:01 PM)200yrs2late Wrote: [ -> ]

(07-08-2013 02:13 PM)StillJonesing Wrote: [ -> ]This is a dumb list. Coker and Holtz deserve more respect than that or even Ruff has earned, and I'm a Ruff guy. Coker has national championships and Holtz took bad teams and won at UConn and ECU.

I think the problem most people have with Holtz is that he is seemingly unwilling to even experiment with a spread offense. These days a team has to be able to stretch the field unless they have an all-star O line and 5 star running back. Holtz would be higher if his offenses were a little more explosive and his defenses were as good as when he had Hudson with him.

I like our current offense. I think it has more upside but I never buy that you have to play that way to be successful. You could run the option and be very successful. TCU had most of success running a pro style running attack that was similar most years to Holtz, with strong D that sealed it most of the time. The year Utah was #2 and beat Alabama in a BCS bowl they played about the same way with a no name QB and relatively conservative offense and good Defense.

Holtz had plenty of major upsets to his name over the years so obviously he can still beat good teams 10-4 Virginia Tech, 9-4 West Virginia, 10-3 Boise, 8-5 Notre Dame, 7-6 Miami, Clemson etc with that style and for the most part really won most of the games he should have in CUSA. Not sure what more you really should expect.

(07-08-2013 01:02 PM)T_Won1 Wrote: [ -> ]Monken <<< Coker and Holtz

I agree, simply because he's proven nothing yet. I'd have all the 1st year HCs (not first year at the school, but first year HC at any college) ranked below any coach with HC experience, unless it is EJ-like experience.

(07-08-2013 03:51 PM)StillJonesing Wrote: [ -> ]

(07-08-2013 03:01 PM)200yrs2late Wrote: [ -> ]

(07-08-2013 02:13 PM)StillJonesing Wrote: [ -> ]This is a dumb list. Coker and Holtz deserve more respect than that or even Ruff has earned, and I'm a Ruff guy. Coker has national championships and Holtz took bad teams and won at UConn and ECU.

I think the problem most people have with Holtz is that he is seemingly unwilling to even experiment with a spread offense. These days a team has to be able to stretch the field unless they have an all-star O line and 5 star running back. Holtz would be higher if his offenses were a little more explosive and his defenses were as good as when he had Hudson with him.

I like our offense. I think it has more upside but I never buy that you have to play that way to be successful. TCU had most of success running a pro style running attack that was more of a running based offense, with a strong D. The year Utah was #2 and beat Alabama they played about the same way with a no name QB and relatively conservative offense.

Holtz had plenty of major upsets to his name over the years so obviously he can still beat good teams 10-4 Virginia Tech, 9-4 West Virginia, 10-3 boise, 8-5 Notre Dame, 7-6 Miami, Clemson etc and has upside and for the most part really won most of the games he should have in CUSA. We had a very strong conference record.

I agree completely, but unfortunately it seemed that while Holtz was at ECU his teams were never a threat to just run away with the game. If it was a tight defensive struggle sometimes his offenses became a little too conservative. That lead to plenty of almosts and should've-won games. (Kentucky and Arkansas come to mind immediately. The Thurs night VT game as well.)

How do you even rank coaches that have never been a HC?

Coker needs to be higher. So does Holtz.

Coker has a NCAA championship ring. At UTSA He has taken a bunch of walk on kids and turned them into an 8-4 record while playing a full FBS conference schedule. Unheard of with only 70 scholarship players.

Just curious. Where would you guys rank ODU head coach Bobby Wilder in this list? He has four years as a head coach with a record of 38 - 10 for a .791 winning percentage. Just looking at the numbers, he would be at the top of the list. I mean, Ruff also has only been a head coach for four years and is at .500. Surely Wilder should be ranked ahead of that. Just curious. How do you see it?

(07-08-2013 04:32 PM)ODU AGGIE Wrote: [ -> ]Just curious. Where would you guys rank ODU head coach Bobby Wilder in this list? He has four years as a head coach with a record of 38 - 10 for a .791 winning percentage. Just looking at the numbers, he would be at the top of the list. I mean, Ruff also has only been a head coach for four years and is at .500. Surely Wilder should be ranked ahead of that. Just curious. How do you see it?

hard to put ODU's coach since that record would be different from FCS to FBS

(07-08-2013 04:33 PM)techdawg88 Wrote: [ -> ]

(07-08-2013 04:32 PM)ODU AGGIE Wrote: [ -> ]Just curious. Where would you guys rank ODU head coach Bobby Wilder in this list? He has four years as a head coach with a record of 38 - 10 for a .791 winning percentage. Just looking at the numbers, he would be at the top of the list. I mean, Ruff also has only been a head coach for four years and is at .500. Surely Wilder should be ranked ahead of that. Just curious. How do you see it?

hard to put ODU's coach since that record would be different from FCS to FBS

Both Division I. He was coaching against other schools with the same number of scholarships etc. and took the team to the FCS playoffs both times it was eligible. Are you saying you can't evaluate his coaching ability based on that? I believe from a coaching standpoint, coaching ODU to a win over JMU is not that different from coaching ECU to a win over Marshall even though one is FCS and the other is FBS.

Doc #3 is lulz

Only two of these coaches have winning records...

(07-08-2013 03:51 PM)StillJonesing Wrote: [ -> ]

(07-08-2013 03:01 PM)200yrs2late Wrote: [ -> ]

(07-08-2013 02:13 PM)StillJonesing Wrote: [ -> ]This is a dumb list. Coker and Holtz deserve more respect than that or even Ruff has earned, and I'm a Ruff guy. Coker has national championships and Holtz took bad teams and won at UConn and ECU.

I think the problem most people have with Holtz is that he is seemingly unwilling to even experiment with a spread offense. These days a team has to be able to stretch the field unless they have an all-star O line and 5 star running back. Holtz would be higher if his offenses were a little more explosive and his defenses were as good as when he had Hudson with him.

I like our current offense. I think it has more upside but I never buy that you have to play that way to be successful. You could run the option and be very successful. TCU had most of success running a pro style running attack that was similar most years to Holtz, with strong D that sealed it most of the time. The year Utah was #2 and beat Alabama in a BCS bowl they played about the same way with a no name QB and relatively conservative offense and good Defense.

Holtz had plenty of major upsets to his name over the years so obviously he can still beat good teams 10-4 Virginia Tech, 9-4 West Virginia, 10-3 Boise, 8-5 Notre Dame, 7-6 Miami, Clemson etc with that style and for the most part really won most of the games he should have in CUSA. Not sure what more you really should expect.

Ah, win more than one bowl game, not have 3 or more WTF games a year, see 2008, NC State, UVa., UH, UK, etc. WE won the big games, but choked in the ones we should have won.

(07-08-2013 06:15 PM)GreenSteve Wrote: [ -> ]Only two of these coaches have winning records...

And, your coach isn't one of the 2.