- Jan 2, 2018
- 7,032
- 10,100
Dude sucked as a coach. Doesn’t mean he wasn’t a good recruiter.
Illinois Football: The era of bad recruiting is over for the Illini
Top 5 Coaches
- Thread starter HauntedGator
- Start date
Illinois Football: The era of bad recruiting is over for the Illini
- Oct 15, 2014
- 12,185
- 16,975
- Aug 11, 2015
- 8,315
- 15,955
He’s top 5 for the Vols.
I loved those Gaffney, Jimmy Du, & Wes Chandler teams. But the 1976 meltdown vs. UGA is among my most painful sports memories, and by the time he left the program was in a shambles.
Thanks for pointing out those highlights, they are good, but F$U was an historically awful program for much of that time and Miami was in the dumper too. Dickey nose diving the Gators gave both a chance to rebound.
He did give SOS his first coaching opportunity. That’s pretty important and SOS always cites it when he talks about his career.
- Jun 19, 2014
- 12,776
- 31,894
Founding Member
General James Van Fleet only coached the Gators for two years (1923 and 1924) going 6-1-2 and 6-2-2 which I believe was the highest career winning percentage at UF until Spurrier.
His success was good but because he only coached for 2 years he didn't build anything lasting.
The best teams of the early era were the 1928 (maybe the best team in the country) and 1929 teams which went 8-1 and 8-2 coached by Charlie Bachman. He's not on the list though because the wheels soon fell off (his last two seasons were 2-6-2 and 3-6).
Graves absolutely deserves to be on the list. You have to consider the era in which he coached. Florida was a backwater compared to Alabama and Georgia. Florida's population boom came later. His career was bookended with two great seasons (9-2 and 9-1-1) with some solid seasons in-between (including the Spurrier era).
Dickey was a good coach in a bad situation. He played QB at UF, then became an excellent coach at Tennessee. He came to Florida to coach and it just never fully clicked. He had trouble with integration, transitioning to artificial turf, running the wishbone, etc. He went back to Tennessee and was a good AD for them. Despite being a former player, he was resented for pushing out Graves who just had a 9-1-1 season ending with a victory over Dickey's Tennessee squad. It never worked.
Pell inherited a mess from Dickey and built a modern program. He was well on his way to competing for SEC and national championships on an annual basis when the NCAA crushed us for doing the same stuff Clemson and Bama were doing.
Galen Hall was an excellent x's and o'x coach but he inherited the monster Pell built. He rolled with it until the sanctions gutted us. He was gone before we were able to overcome the sanctions. How good would he have been on a level playing field? I don't know. Those sanctions not only gutted us, they launched FSU and Miami to dominance in a period when it should have been us instead of them. And they were cheating too. I like Hall as an OC. I don't see the charisma and drive most great college coaches have. Pell had that. To a lesser extent, Spurrier inherited what Pell built, not what Galen Hall built.
Pretty sure I don't need to recap the modern era (HBC to present). Whoever said Zook needs to be banned. Stop with all this great recruiter nonsense. He absolutely positively does not belong on this list. He inherited a monster and did nothing except find ways to lose. That said, thanks for Ron Zook Field. I was there that night and it was glorious.
The List:
1. Spurrier
2. Meyer
3. Pell
4. Graves
5. ???
It's an easy list until you get to the 5th spot. You can make an argument for Van Fleet or Galen Hall but it's slim pickens after that. Dickey? Bachman? William Kline?
Best just stick with a top 4.
Alex.
His success was good but because he only coached for 2 years he didn't build anything lasting.
The best teams of the early era were the 1928 (maybe the best team in the country) and 1929 teams which went 8-1 and 8-2 coached by Charlie Bachman. He's not on the list though because the wheels soon fell off (his last two seasons were 2-6-2 and 3-6).
Graves absolutely deserves to be on the list. You have to consider the era in which he coached. Florida was a backwater compared to Alabama and Georgia. Florida's population boom came later. His career was bookended with two great seasons (9-2 and 9-1-1) with some solid seasons in-between (including the Spurrier era).
Dickey was a good coach in a bad situation. He played QB at UF, then became an excellent coach at Tennessee. He came to Florida to coach and it just never fully clicked. He had trouble with integration, transitioning to artificial turf, running the wishbone, etc. He went back to Tennessee and was a good AD for them. Despite being a former player, he was resented for pushing out Graves who just had a 9-1-1 season ending with a victory over Dickey's Tennessee squad. It never worked.
Pell inherited a mess from Dickey and built a modern program. He was well on his way to competing for SEC and national championships on an annual basis when the NCAA crushed us for doing the same stuff Clemson and Bama were doing.
Galen Hall was an excellent x's and o'x coach but he inherited the monster Pell built. He rolled with it until the sanctions gutted us. He was gone before we were able to overcome the sanctions. How good would he have been on a level playing field? I don't know. Those sanctions not only gutted us, they launched FSU and Miami to dominance in a period when it should have been us instead of them. And they were cheating too. I like Hall as an OC. I don't see the charisma and drive most great college coaches have. Pell had that. To a lesser extent, Spurrier inherited what Pell built, not what Galen Hall built.
Pretty sure I don't need to recap the modern era (HBC to present). Whoever said Zook needs to be banned. Stop with all this great recruiter nonsense. He absolutely positively does not belong on this list. He inherited a monster and did nothing except find ways to lose. That said, thanks for Ron Zook Field. I was there that night and it was glorious.
The List:
1. Spurrier
2. Meyer
3. Pell
4. Graves
5. ???
It's an easy list until you get to the 5th spot. You can make an argument for Van Fleet or Galen Hall but it's slim pickens after that. Dickey? Bachman? William Kline?
Best just stick with a top 4.
Alex.
- Jun 10, 2014
- 20,158
- 41,444
Founding Member
Truth be told, we’ve only had 2 great coaches in our entire history (SOS and Urbs). The rest have been above average, average or sh*t (Butters and Chump).
Hoping we’ve found our next great one in Mullen.
Hoping we’ve found our next great one in Mullen.
- Jun 30, 2014
- 9,437
- 31,353
Founding Member
- Nov 9, 2015
- 7,401
- 4,168
Perhaps the thread should be for football only, we have some coaches in lesser sports that have great records.
