SB Nation User Blog: War Eagle Atlanta

1st and Five: Best Auburn Coaching Performances in the First Three Seasons

War Eagle Atlanta — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 02:56:13 -0000

With so many people wondering how Gene Chizik is going to perform in his inaugural season, it helps to look back and see how well many of his predecessors have done. We at Auburn have been blessed with relative coaching stability. We had our coaching icon, Shug, who stayed for a quarter century, and we've had four coaches total stay on the Plains for a decade or longer. And ever since Shug took the reigns at API in 1951, the average tenure for a head coach has been 11.6 years, tops in the conference over that period. Compare that to the school to the west, or to perrenial revolving door LSU, who's average tenure for a coach since Charlie McClendon left after 18 years on the bayou is four years.

Many fans of other teams in other conferences talk about rebuilding. In the SEC, you come out on fire or you don't last long enough to rebuild. For the top tier teams, two years is all you get--three max.Something's gotta give, they say. Although most don't expect miracles in the first outing, you better be laying a foundation to make a run at something soon, lest you be running for the door. Since those first three years are crucial, today we look back at the top 5 performances in an Auburn coach's first three seasons, going all the way to the beginning. Missing are some of the more storied names in Tiger history: Heisman--who coached five seasons on the Plains, but only averaged four games a year. Jordan--the most legendary Tiger coach, who took a while to build a powerhouse. The rest of the names are going to sound pretty familiar, which is good commentary about how fast our contemporary coaches have come out of the box.

1) Pat Dye, 1983, 3rd season, 11-1: With a losing record his first season in 1981, Dye bounced back big time and erased all the pain of the Barfieldyears by giving Bear a proper send off and having a respectable 9-4 record, but the finest of his seasons was the third, where an improbable Tiger team only lost to Texas en route to getting ripped off for the national championship by Miami. Led by a gutsy QB named Randy and a punishing back named Bo, this team brought back a SEC title to the Plains for the first time in 26 years andestablished a precedent for three more in the decade. During my lifetime, arguably the first or second best Tiger team, in my opinion.

2) Terry Bowden, 1993, 1st season, 11-0: With Jay's fine article yesterday conjuring up fond memories with Baby Bowden, we'll always love him for his record breaking start, winning his first 20 games, an Auburn record. The best team you never saw, since they weren't on TV that year due to probation. You either saw them at the game, or listened to it on the radio. A total blue-collar team, lead by Stan White at QB and James Bostic at tailback, their best wins that season were against #5 Florida (the best game I've ever seen) and#12 Alabama, with Pat Nix pitching in relief for an injured White. Although not eligible for the SEC title game or bowl due to probation, this team finished #4 in the country, behind the one-loss-apiece trio of FSU, Notre Dame and Nebraska. Ironically, this team actually received more MNC votes (4) from lesser NC selectors than did the next undefeated Auburn team of 2004 (3).

3) Mike Donahue, 1904, 1st season, 7-0: Wow, what can you say about Mike Donahue, the Irishman who was Auburn's first super coach, who came out undefeated in his first season, paving the way for 17 more successful ones to follow, en route to the highest winning percentage of any Auburn coach ever? Under Donahue, Auburn was a SIAA powerhouse, and had victories against Clemson and Ga Tech that year, topped off by one against Alabama--our last victory against the Tide before the series was shut down 3 years later until 1948. It's also worth noting that Donahue's seven opponents that year scored a whopping 11 points.

4) Tommy Tuberville, 2000, 2nd season, 9-4: After a 5-6 record his first season, Tubs proved that he hadn't in fact left Mississippi in a pine box, pushing the upstart Tigers into the SEC title game for the first time since 1997 and erasing all the bad memories from the end of the Bowden era. After a mid-season slip-up to Jackie Sherril's MSU Bulldogs anda blowout by Florida, Auburn turned Amen Corner perfectly, squeaking by Georgia, then shutting out Alabama. After another blow-out loss to Florida in Atlanta, an uninspired team went on to lose to Michigan in the Citrus Bowl. But Tuberville proved himself in the rebuilding department, setting up the glorious run of 2004 after a few false starts in 2002 and 2003.

5) Terry Bowden, 1994, 2nd season, 9-1-1: Bowden's second season started where his improbable first one ended--on fire. Rolling up an additional 9 more wins in a row, Auburn was also eligible for post-season play. The best game of the year was the victory in Gainesville over Steve Spurrier's #1 ranked Florida Gators the biggest slug-fest of any game I've ever seen. But Amen Corner proved to be difficult as we bogeyed both holes, allowing Georgia to come back and tie us, and losing to undefeated Alabama in the Iron Bowl, a game which decided who would go to Atlanta. Bowden would follow with back-to-back 8-4 seasons in 1995 and 1996, and finally made it to the SEc title game in 1997. The next year, he was gone in a flash, about as quickly as he arrived. But we'll always have those first two years!

Poll

How many games will Chizik win in his first season on the Plains?

Tennessee-NC State in 2012 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game

War Eagle Atlanta — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:55:50 -0000

ATLANTA (June 18, 2009) – The University of Tennessee Volunteers will face the N.C. State University Wolfpack in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game to open the 2012 season in the Georgia Dome Chick-fil-A Bowl and ESPN officials announced today.

Tennessee and N.C. State are a mere 296 miles apart, but the two programs have met only twice and have not played since 1939. The teams are 1-1 in their two previous meetings.

"This match-up will continue the tradition of creating the Daytona 500 of College Football," said Gary Stokan, Chick-fil-A Bowl president and CEO. "I fully expect that in 2012 both of these rising programs will be ranked in the top 20."

This regional rivalry game will feature an ACC program with one of the conference’s brightest futures under a proven Tom O’Brien against a traditional SEC power led by new head coach Lane Kiffin. The game is expected to air nationally on ESPN Sept. 1, 2012.

"We’re very pleased that two great programs in Tennessee and N.C. State will participate in the 2012 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game," said Dave Brown, ESPN vice president, programming and acquisitions. "Atlanta is the perfect spot to host the first meeting between the teams in over 70 years. A match-up of this caliber is another great way for the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game to usher in the first week of college football."

Tickets will be split evenly between N.C. State and Tennessee and the game and its surrounding events will be managed by the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

"The Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game gives us an excellent chance to showcase the Wolfpack football program against a great team and in front of a national audience," O’Brien said. "N.C. State is proud to represent the Atlantic Coast Conference as we compete against a powerhouse SEC team like Tennessee."

"We are excited to be a part of what should be a great environment to kick off the 2012 season," Kiffin said. "Atlanta is a great sports town and the Georgia Dome has been great for college football. SEC versus ACC match-ups are always intense, and we know Tennessee fans will be there in force to see this one."

Billed as the "Daytona 500 of college football," the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game matches top-tier programs in a BCS-type game on the first Saturday of every season.

The 2009 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game featuring projected pre-season top-10 powers Alabama and Virginia Tech will be played Sept. 5 and will air nationally in prime time on ABC.

Alabama defeated Clemson 34-10 in the 2008 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game, drawing a sold-out crowd of 70,097, and was viewed in more than four million households nationwide. The pre-game fan activities were attended by more than 22,000 fans and the event created an economic impact of $29.1 million for Atlanta and Georgia including $1.2 million in direct tax revenues.

Which States Have the Best One-Two Punch of Teams in CFB History?

War Eagle Atlanta — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:19:32 -0000

(Editor's Note: This thread is an update of one I did about a year and a half ago, back in my early days of contributing to this blog. I've updated and simplified it somewhat.)

Exactly which state has the best tandem of teams in the college football historically? Could it be the larger states, or maybe the states with the old guard of teams, or possibly a combination of the two? This is the question that many have pondered, just as I have asked the question ever since I became a CFB fan. It sounds like a question that just reeks of opinion and no fact, but it's not. It can entirely be based on fact, and little did we know that the data needed was right under our fingertips the whole time.

Unfortunately, for states large and small, only the best two teams from a state are given consideration. The two school standard is the most common among state universities in the country. That obviously hurts large states like Florida, who could easily be represented by FSU, Miami, or Florida, or California, who could have USC, UCLA, and Cal. Also not represented well are one-horse states, those that primarily have only one dominant program, states like Arkansas, Illinois, Ohio, and Louisiana. I guess that’s the price you pay for cornering the market on football glory in your backyard.

Furthermore, only Bowl Subdivision teams are considered. Although we owe the Ivies a debt for bringing us into this pigskin world, they are no longer relevant in the modern age of college football, so we’ve eliminated them from our calculations. (Yes, you CAN argue that they play ‘real’ football, and I’d probably agree with you, but we’ll have to take that up in another thread)

So where do we get the data to support these conclusions? Perhaps the most concise and easy-to-follow site is the rankings index at CFBdatawarehouse.com, where they rank the top programs historically by using four main categories. Glancing over the site, they tell you that the most popular stat accessed from their data, behind all-time coaching records, is their rankings index. It is a comprehensive analysis of all teams in college football history, and ranks them from top to bottom either ‘all-time’, last ‘quarter century’, or by the ‘decade’.

The categories that they use to rank teams are: Winning percentage, Strength of Schedule percentage, National Championship points, and Big Four Bowl points (having played in the Rose, Orange, Sugar, and Fiesta bowls) Points are tallied from all four categories and the rankings are derived from the totals.

Does CFBDWHown the patent on winning college football indexing? No, they don’t, but I really like their format. You could take data from a hundred different categories, but still not have the jest of it as they do in their four-item format. Three of the four are simple enough: All-Time Winning percentage, expressed as the percentage times 1000 for the point total, National championship points, expressed as a total of 50 points per NC, and Big Four bowl points, expressed as 15 or 20 points per bowl game. The only mystery is the Strength of Schedule points. I’ve sent them emails asking how they determine it, but I guess they don’t want to give it up. These things tend to be proprietary in nature. Maybe I should have told them I was from Track ‘Em Tigers.

Also keep in mind that their index weights very heavy for MNCs, and in my opinion, CFBDW is way too generous in accepting some schools'results, but for the sake of complexity, we'll accept the values given. Once you do that, it's just a simple addition problem with the total points of the two best teams of a given state.

1) Alabama: Alabama and Auburn, 3854. The small state with the fiercest rivalry anywhere gets it done. Little Brotherproves to be an able wing man for the stalwart Tide, proving what we all knew in our hearts long ago about football in the Yellowhammer state.

2) California: USC and UCLA, 3686. No surprise that this big state has two heavy hitters.

3) Indiana: Notre Dame and Purdue, 3616. Notre Dame and virtually anyone else could have placed in the top 10. The only state on our list that doesn't include the flagship university.

4) Michigan: Michigan and Michigan State, 3594. Two solid programs that would probably top the list if UM had won a proportionate number of MNCs to the rest of their gridiron glory.

5) Texas: Texas and Texas A&M, 3485. The sentimental home of football in this country, would probably be ranked higher if paranoid ATM would concentrate on something else besides t.u...

6) Georgia: Georgia and Georgia Tech, 3452. Luckily for them, the only FBS teams in the entire state ain't half bad, even if GT is one of the worst MNC embellishers out there.

7) Florida: Miami and Florida, 3304. Would probably top the list if you only went back 30 years. The sunshine state also has FSU as an also-ran.

8) Pennsylvania: Penn State and Pittsburgh, 3280. Two solid teams from a football-crazy state. Probably only cracks the top 10 because Pitt is the worst MNC embellisher out there.

9) Oklahoma: Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, 3117. The Pokes give just enough covering-fire to propel the duo into the top 10.

10) Tennessee: Tennessee and Vanderbilt, 3027. What's that? Forgot about Vandy, huh? Best team in the south for the first quarter of the 20th century. Don't forget, the Volunteer state is SEC country!

Top 10 College Revenue-Producing Football Programs

War Eagle Atlanta — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:08:24 -0000

As found on every team's who was included blog today, Street and Smith SportsBusiness Journal came out with their lists of the top revenue producing athletic programs in the country and the top football-only revenue producing programs. Since S&S SBJ is a subsriber site, the link above goes to the story on Mr. SEC.com. No surprise that SEC teams once again came up strong, but the Big 10(11) made a vast improvement in their collective fortunes.

The Top 10 revenue-producing ATHLETIC DEPARTMENTS:

1. Texas - $120.3 million
2. Ohio State - $118 million
3. Florida - $106 million
4. Michigan - $99 million
5. Wisconsin - $93.5 million
6. Penn State - $91.6 million
7. Auburn - $89.3 million
8. Alabama - $88.9 million
9. Tennessee - $88.7 million
10. Oklahoma State - $88.6 million

And for FOOTBALL ONLY revenue producers:

1. Texas - $72.95 million
2. Georgia - $67.05 million
3. Florida - $66.1 million
4. Ohio State - $65.16 million
5. Notre Dame - $59.77 million
6. Auburn - $59.67 million
7. Michigan - $57.46 million
8. Alabama - $57.37 million
9. Penn State - $53.76 million
10. LSU - $52.68 million

I must say that I am surprised that Auburn outranks Alabama in both polls. But if they start charging admission for the spring game, I think they have us. And as any business major worth his salt knows, revenue itself doesn't mean squat, but unfortunately, no net profit figures were given with their findings. The last numbers I saw on that were from Forbes.com almost two years ago.

You can't help but wonder though how each of our bottom lines would look, considering that they pay twice the going rate for head coaches and we like to keep paying ours waaay after the fact. Perhaps a spike in textbook costs might have hurt their profitability the last few years, too.

Alabama Sanctions Finally In

War Eagle Atlanta — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:02:50 -0000

Free at last? Well, not quite...

After being leaked yesterday, the findings of the NCAA investigation into the University of Alabama's self-reported textbook scandal are finally in. There are no scholarship losses or post-season ban in any of the 16 sports involved in the investigation, which centered around 200 different athletes. Instead, Alabama will be forced to vacate victories in select sports where ineligible athletes participated, including some football games from the 2005, 2006 and 2007 seasons.

As a repeat offender, the University will remain on probation for an additional three years. Of all the athletes investigated, 125 were found to have unintentionally violated the textbooks policy, which generally meant that the value in each case was under $100. Only 22 athletes were found to be intentional wrongdoers, with 14 coming from the track team, 7 from football and 1 from tennis. The monetary amount of the violations ranged from $32 on the low end to almost $4000 on the high end. Alabama will also have to pay a fine to the NCAA of almost $44,000.

Although the NCAA considered heavier sanctions against Alabama, they praised the school for coming forth on their own. It is entirely possible that the penalties would have been much more severe had the violations occurred in a single sport as opposed to be spread out in all sports across the board.

Poll

The sanctions handed down to Alabama today:

A) Seem about right

146 votes

B) Too severe

80 votes

C) Not nearly strong enough

211 votes

D) I'm riding the fence today

22 votes

459 votes | Poll has closed

Alabama Crimson Tide Shakespeare Festival Now Playing

War Eagle Atlanta — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:03:30 -0000

The Alabama Shakespeare Festival's play, Bear Country, about the life of legendary Alabama coach Paul Bryant and the last days leading up to his retirement, is coming to Birmingham later this summer after a successful run in Montgomery earlier this year. The play has been a rare hit for the ASF, which has suffered along with other businesses in these lean economic times. Previously, they had to cancel Les Miserables due to poor ticket sales. But for Bear Country, tailgaters have even shown up before events. No mention yet if Nick Saban will perform a stint as guest director. Seems he's too busy trying to write his own comedy/tragedy in Tuscaloosa.

So considering the success that the performing arts have received from the infusion of Crimson Tide lore, I think the Shakespeare festival can only benefit if we succinctly write the Capstone into your normal Shakespearean fare. Bama fans, not normally known for their love of the classics, can't be spoon-fed this culture knowingly . We have to give it to them subliminally, by slightly altering the Bard's dialogue to include the Alabama football references.

So what we do is to take some of the more common Shakepeare quotes from all his great works and give them the delicate re-write that will make them fan favorites from Legion Field to Bryant Denny. We're writing baby, we're writing!

JULIO CAESAR:

"Friends, Bammers, countrymen, lend me your ears: I come to bury Tuberville, not to become finger number six!"

"Beware the national signing days that occur in March!"

"Et tu, James Willis?

"Cowards die many times before their deaths, but we lost to Louisiana-Monroe only once."

"Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war, and the recruiting limo stunt from your fingers..."

AS YOU LIKE IT:

"All the world's a stage, but none smell like the urine and bourbon of Bryant-Denny!"

HAMLET:

"To be or not to be, under NCAA investigation. THAT is the question..."

"Neither a borrower nor a lender be, especially as applies to player-provided textbooks."

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks. But can someone please give Collette Connell a ride home?"

"Give every man thy ear, and few thy voice, and you still won't be half the ear that Tuberville is."

TEMPEST:

"He that dies pays all debts, but still keeps his season tickets..."

KING RICHARD III:

"Now is the winter of our discontent, but we can start text messaging recruits after Christmas."

"A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! But only a buck twenty for Albert Means?

ROMEO AND JULIO:

"What's in a name? That which we call recruiting, at any other school, by any other name, would not pass the smell test."

"O Julio, O Julio! Wherefore art thou for thy sophomore year, Julio?"

"Parting is such sweet sorrow. We hardly knew thee, Tubs!"

KING HENRY IV:

"The better part of valor is discretion, of which Mike Price's strippers had none."

MEASURE FOR MEASURE:

"What's mine is yours, and what is yours is mine, but neither of us will get our $4 million worth."

MACBETH:

"Something wicked this way comes. NCAA probation..."

1,000,000 Facebook College Football Fan Pages

War Eagle Atlanta — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:35:09 -0000

While working on another thread, and being a member of one of those ever-popular 1,000,000,000 fans of a given CFB team, I decided to do a quick search on Facebook to see which teams might be closer to that lofty uno mil, mil goal that each team sets for themselves. A smathering of teams from far and wide and their members as of yesterday.

Michigan State: 34,447

Tennessee: 29,349

Michigan: 29,141

Ohio State: 27,743

LSU: 24,154

Alabama: 23,806

Florida: 22,763

Oklahoma: 20,477

Florida State: 14,928

Auburn: 14,551

Texas: 13,602

Georgia: 12,200

Notre Dame: 3804

GA Tech: 3028

Miami: 2331

USC: 1837

Clemson: 1727

1st and Five: Top SEC Single Season Coaching Failures this Decade

War Eagle Atlanta — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:57:18 -0000

Okay, you asked for it, you got it. After linking the thread about the top 11 worst coaching stints in CFB last week, most of you homers still wanted to talk about the SEC and SINGLE seasons. Never one to not capitalize on a good opportunity, (nor a good crisis) I present to you my list of the worst five single-season coaching disasters in the Southeastern Conference this decade (and century). And because coming up with 10 might be nit-picking gnat sheet out of pepper, I present it in the1st and Five format, so it is easily and quickly digested by all. And to be clear, to have a coaching failure, there must have been some scintilla of expectations present. Otherwise, we get back to that whole does a tree falling in the woods alone make a sound conundrum.

5) Mike Shula, Alabama, 2006, 6-7: Not everybody thought that the Tide would 'be back' for long under Shula, Sports Illustrated covers the year before aside. Alabama wasn't even ranked in the pre-season top 25 AP poll, despite coming off an impressive 10-2 season in 2005 where the Tide went undefeated their first nine games before tanking the last two conference games against LSU and Auburn. But the Capstone had hope, and this was to be the sink or swim time for Shula--either continue the winning or continue on his journey somewhere else. Also at stake was to break the spell against Auburn for Shula's first win against the Tigers since his playing days. Didn't happen. He lost his last three regular season games and his proxy, Joe Kines, lost the bowl game. End of the line for Shula at Alabama, as his firing lead to the susequent biggest manhunt in US coaching history.

4) Nick Saban, Alabama, 2007, 7-6: Okay, I swear I won't load this list up with Alabama coaches, but you have to believe that the aforementioned largest manhunt in US coaching history would come with some expectations, right? You simply don't double-down on a coaching salary and not think that good things are going to happen. They sold out the spring game. How can you not get up for the regular season? Actually, Saban didn't start out that bad. He won the first three games and six out of the first eight. It was the dropping of the last four regular season games that turned the season sour, including getting Croomed by Miss State, losing to Auburn for a sixth finger and the devastating loss to Louisiana-Mundane. After handing Saban the keys to the Crimson ~~Kool-Aid~~ Kingdom, many Tide fans were thinking about calling a locksmith.

3) Tommy Tuberville, Auburn, 2008, 5-7: Okay, the universe is balanced again now that we throw an Auburn coach to the wolves. And don't think he doesn't deserve it. Tubs had been averaging almost nine and a half wins this decade and had been coming up short with a return trip to Atlanta by only a hair. Auburn was a pre-season top 10 and expectations were very high with new OC Tony Franklin's new Spread Eagle offense. After all, it seemed to work in the Chick Fil A Bowl, right? Never mind that an offense so radical had never worked at Auburn, and wouldn't work that season, either. Tubs threw Franklin under the bus and eventually got thrown under himself, by either Jacobs, Lowder, himself, or all of the above. Even after having his fingers severed by Alabama in the Iron Bowl, Tuberville could have weathered the storm, but never got the chance--again, by reasons still unclear. Perhaps the biggest disappointmnet of the whole season was under-estimating Auburn fans' ability and desire to regroup around their coach.

2) Urban Meyer, Florida, 2007, 9-4: It seems a little strange to have on this list a coach with two BCS crowns in the last three years, but you have to take a closer look at the mystery meat sandwiched in between those MNC slices of bread. After going 13-1 in 2006 to win it all, Florida started 2007 ranked #6, looking for the first repeat of a BCS championship. A mid-season streak of two losses in a row to Auburn and LSU, coupled with a rare loss to Georgia, ensured that the Gators would not only sit home from the big dance, but from the SEC championship as well. And all of this was compounded by the fact that they were playing with the best player in all the land--Tim Tebow. Expectations were astronomical, but Meyer tanked it, punctuated by the lackluster loss to Michigan in the Cap One Bowl. Judging on how he rebounded from this season though, it almost seems worth it.

1) Phil Fulmer, Tennessee, 2005, 5-6: Starting the pre-season ranked #3 and looking to have their first SEC title since 1998, Tennessee was also looking to be the first BCS crown repeat customer. The wheels came flying off Fulmer's Purina chuck wagon somewhere in the middle of the schedule and it wasn't too long before Vols fans were in open revolt. After a close loss to Florida early in the season, Fulmer and company bounced back with a gutsy overtime win in Baton Rouge. After another conference win, they proceeded to lose four in a row, including a beatdown in South Bend and a devastating loss to Vanderbilt for the first time in 23 years--in Neyland, no less. Fulmer kept his job, probably under the condition that this never happen again, again.

The Top 11 Worst Coaching Performances in the 21st Century

War Eagle Atlanta — Sat, 30 May 2009 15:38:23 -0000

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.

.
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!

Top 10 Things Mike Slive Told Lane Kiffin in Private

War Eagle Atlanta — Fri, 29 May 2009 04:34:36 -0000

Just for fun!!!

From the home office in Atlanta, Georgia, and just in from today's SEC meetings, where the commish publicly warned all the kids to stop the jabber-jawing, tonight's 10 Ten Things Mike Slive told Lane Kiffin in private:

10) "Listen, may I call you Kiffykins?"

9) "Do you shave your chest for those shirtless recruiting bits or is that Nair?"

8) "Al Davis called. He wants your self-respect back..."

7) "No, Saban is the short one and Spurrier is the visor..."

6) "I have no idea why Auburn hired Chizik either, but I rode in that recruiting limo down here and it is badazz..."

5) "I'm sorry, Fulmer WAS our double-secret enforcement guy, but you've only been here for 6 months..."

4) "Yea, Shane Matthews spoke his mind, but if you piss off Congressman Heath Shuler, you're f**k*d!

3) "What the hell? I think your name is tacked up at Florida Field more than Ben Hill Griffin's now..."

2) "So what's the deal with your hot wife?"

And the numero uno:

1) "One more outburst outta you, mister, and I'm sending a note home to your dad!"