Sporting News Panel Gets It Wrong
10 comments so far
July 31, 2009 by
Normally, I don’t get caught up in lists. It doesn’t matter if it’s the 50 greatest this or the 100 greatest that, because the lists are inherently subjective. What does it matter what someone’s opinion is? But then when you go and make it a committee process, you add a sense of legitimacy that makes some people believe that it’s gospel, when it fact it might be little more than a popularity or name recognition contest.
I was pleased to see Tom Osborne listed among the Sporting News' top 50 greatest coaches of all time because he belongs on that list and he's often overlooked. I wouldn’t even necessarily take issue with him being ranked 34th on such a list. I don’t take issue with him falling behind Bear Bryant, Knute Rockne, Eddie Robinson, or Bud Wilkinson. It pains me to say it, but I can even take him being put behind Bobby Bowden given Bowden’s record against Osborne. But Osborne behind Woody Hayes and Joe Paterno? Sorry, no sale.
I don’t think the Woody Hayes argument is a tough one to make. He went 205-79-9 with 14 conference titles in 30 years of coaching. He won three national championships. His team went to 12 bowls of which he won 6. Osborne went to 25 bowls and won 12. Osborne went 255-49-3 with 13 conference championships in 25 years and three national championships. I don’t see how Hayes is better with 30 more losses and 50 fewer wins.
Then there’s Paterno. He went 383-127-3. Yes, he’s got 127 more wins than Osborne. He’s also got 78 more losses. He had 5 losing seasons (and another where he went 5-5). Osborne never had a season with fewer than 9 wins. Paterno won two national championships, one fewer than Osborne. In fact, his 1982 championship came at the expense of Nebraska on a horrible out of bounds 4th down catch on the “winning” drive in the waning minutes of the game. Nebraska didn’t lose another game that year. With proper officiating, the Nittany Lions have just one national title and Osborne has four. Even with that “win”, Osborne’s head-to-head record against Paterno was 3-2. In 16 seasons coaching in the Big Ten, Paterno has won just three conference titles.
But some point to Paterno’s bowl record where he’s 23-11-1. But it overlooks how he got to the bowls. Paterno’s teams seemed to make a habit of losing to an inferior team in the regular season. That caused the Nittany Lions to fall down a notch in the bowl pecking order. So then they draw a weaker bowl opponent. Is it any surprise when they pull out the victory? It's mathematical fact that if he has a worse overall record and a better bowl record, he has a (much) worse regular season record than Osborne.
Case in point, the 1999 season. The Nittany Lions are picked as the #3 team in the preseason poll by the Associated Press. In three straight weeks they lose at home to unranked Minnesota, at home to 16th ranked Michigan (ranked ten spots lower than PSU), then on the road to a lower ranked Michigan State team. So the Nittany Lions then draw Texas A&M as an opponent in the Alamo Bowl and win easily. If they’d taken care of business against Minnesota (or either Michigan team) they’d have been in a tougher bowl game like the Rose, Orange or Capital One bowl that the better teams in the Big Ten went to. That kind of thing didn't happen to Osborne. He lost only one game in 25 years to a team that finished with a losing record, and most of the losses came to teams that ended ranked ahead of him. His bowl draw was usually the toughest one possible.
No maybe Osborne isn’t the best head coach in football history, but no committee will convince me he wasn’t a better coach than Joe Pa or Woody Hayes, no matter how popular those guys are.
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AustinHusker Jul 31 09
Do you have a link to the list. I have a hard time imagining 33 coaches better than Dr Tom.
Jason Jul 31 09
Here's the link. I also added it to the article.
Darren Jul 31 09
Great take, Steve. I think there is a bit of bias toward Big 10 coaches for some reason. Old "East Coast Media Bias" maybe... because remember, before the Big East got legit in football, people in the East typically looked to PSU and the old guard Big 10 as their college football outlet. That, and ND. Ugh.
Anyway, I think that if Osborne had stayed for 5+ more year, his name would have skyrocketed up the perception charts. He would have racked a LOT more wins, at a very high win percentage, and probably captured a few more Conference titles (1999, etc) and had a shot at another national title. Bowden and Jo Pa hung on to pad win totals. It's kind of sad to watch, really.
Brandon Jul 31 09
AustinHusker,
The list ranks coaches from all sports so that's why Osborne is all the way down at 33.
Steve brings up an good point regarding the bowl opponents. It would be interesting to look at the all-time winning percentage for NU's bowl opponents in comparison to some other schools.
James Moore Jul 31 09
Dr. Tom Osborne had a chance to go for a PAT and almost certainly would've been awarded a split title in 1983. Instead he chose to go for the 2 and the win. It might've been one of the most honorable decisions in college football history. For that alone he's better than Woody Hayes, never mind the fact that Dr. Tom Osborne never punched a kid. As for Paterno, well Dr. Tom Osborne (as the article says) NEVER lost less than 9 games. Check mate. . .
The bowl opponents theory is excellent. Let's take a look: 1988 (Fiesta Bowl, Florida State finished AP 2), 1989 (Orange, Miami finished National Champs), 1990 (Citrus, Georgia Tech finished National Champs), 1991 (Orange, Miami finished National Champs), 1992 (Orange, Florida State, finished AP 2), 1993 (Orange, Florida State finished National Champs), 1994 (Orange, de-facto National Championship game vs. Miami but not sure EXACTLY were Miami came in to this game ranked), 1995 (FIESTA, Florida came in AP 2). For nearly 7 years straight we played either a AP top 5 team OR we played against the eventual National Champ, so yeah we were most certainly playing against some quality opponents for a good stretch of time. This doesn't include the early 80's (Clemson, Penn State & Miami). If you took all of these opponents into consideration I think that it would be safe to say that the average ranking of a Nebraska bowl opponent for nearly 20 years was top 10. . .
caveman99 Jul 31 09
Darren,
You are spot on about the East Coast loving PSU and ND. I live in NY and the only college football teams on in bars are those 2. The big Irish contingent out here truly does root for ND, I don't get this by the way but I have yet to get an answer from my Irish in-laws on this.
JBLING22 Jul 31 09
Damn apparently Terry Decommitted from the Skers in favor of KASNAS...
Greg Morrow Jul 31 09
I almost didn't even read this post, even though it was offered by Steve, one of Nebraska's best commenters.
I did scroll past about all of the Paterno part. Because yeah, exactly.
I'm probably the most provincial person who posts comments to articles on this blog, if for no other reason than almost my entire sports interest is Nebraska football. The niche sport of UFC and WEC mma does it until September. I don't even listen to sports radio anymore. But, I was listening when a Nebraska fan took exception and asked Colin Cowherd if he'd done his research, coming up on the '05 season. That's when Cowherd answered to the effect of, "look meatball, I AM research." So, if you've ever heard an espn commercial with Cowherd saying "I AM research," it was a Nebraska fan who gets the (dubious) credit for that.
Osborne is equal to Bear Bryant and their college group stops at two. As provincial as I am, even I can't logically esteem Osborne above the Bear.
Osborne will tell people all day that it was his players and assistants. Who doubts he had some good and great ones? Few people point out how emotional his teams could get. You just didn't recognize it, because they usually struck the stoic pose, like Osborne, on the sideline.
In his early years, people look at the '78 Okie game as his team's emotional highlight and it was. The '77 Bama game, coming off of the Wazzou upset, was also intensely emotional.
As an outsider, it still seems like a mystery. A possibility might be how he challenged his team, within his manner. He did utilize that Educational Psychology PhD. No need to mention preparation, which everyone knows was second to none. Whatever is was, his players were often wound up tightly. Sometimes, a little too much. That alone, might explain a few of the ridiculous blowouts, that were heavy on the backups. Or, the last second defeats.
Impossible "what if" of course, but had he won the '83 title and finished with the 94 and 95 titles, he surely would have been ranked higher in his peers perceptions.
He would've been credited with having the two best, most dominant college teams of all time, with Devany's '71 team a close third.
Any knowledgeable, unbiased college football purist would agree, natch.
Dwayne Aug 01 09
Considering Terry's de-commit. I'm not surprised by this. Another very good example of why coaches can't promise anything to anyone. This would be one of the most difficult things as a recruiter or coach because a lot of these guys put a lot of effort to get some of these players. I wish him the best in his college career.
AustinHusker Aug 02 09
Ok I feel better about Dr Tom with all the sports ranked. #34 probably isnt too far off.
I also see we had one of the worst coaches ever;
http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sporting_blog/entry/view/29064/mount_failmore_worst._coaches._ever.worst%20coaches
I bet you cant guess who before you look.