Aug 19, 2013; Columbus, OH, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer during practice at Ackerman Road Field. Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
Nick Saban of Alabama, who has four national titles and counting, has his place in college football history. He is the only college football coach who can resign today and leave nothing behind.
That was not the case when Saban returned to college football after a failed attempt in the NFL with Miami in 2005 and 2006. He had to regenerate his standing despite already coaching LSU to a national title in 2003.
All the other coaches today, including Ohio State’s Urban Meyer, have questions about their place in the game. They have something left to prove whether it’s achieving a national title, beating top-notch competition or winning a conference title.
Their legendary status has not taken complete shape. Here are the top five coaches who fit the bill of becoming almost legendary but needed a little more to prove:
1. Urban Meyer, Ohio State
Meyer has won everywhere he’s gone, never suffering a losing record, and he won two national titles at Florida. But his departure from Florida because of family and health reasons and returning to coaching only two years later at Ohio State caught many by surprise, especially folks in Gainesville.
The Buckeyes went 12-0 in their first season with Meyer last season, but they were serving an NCAA probation. The pressure was not always there. Starting this season, it’s all for keeps for the Buckeyes as Meyer looks to duplicate the early success he had at Florida. A national title is the benchmark to validate his return to the game.
2. Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
Since Stoops coached the Sooners to a national title in 2000 with a 13-0 record, Oklahoma has averaged 2.7 defeats per season. Stoops is still a success in the Big 12, with at least a share of the title three times in the last five years, but the Sooners are not what they were on a national level.
Thirteen years of separation from a national championship is a long time especially with Stoops’ teams struggling against ranked opponents since 2004. The Sooners are only 17-13 against ranked teams in that span, including a 3-4 record in bowl games.
Some of the Sooner faithful have the feeling that if Stoops sticks it out long enough, he will return to glory. The great times just might return. What if they don’t, especially in the next couple of years?
3. Les Miles, LSU
LSU’s three losses and a lack of an offense (No. 85 nationally) last year was a significant shortcoming for the Tigers, who were thought to be good enough to play in the national title game at the outset of the season.
Miles, who coached LSU to an 8-5 record in 2008 a year after winning the national title, is 1-3 in his last four postseason games.
These results are not indicative of the amount of talent Miles recruits to LSU each season. His work is far from over to earn legendary status. Another national title will do just that.
4. Mack Brown, Texas
The first three coaches on this list have never been fired or forced to resign. Brown has not gone down that road either, but that could happen in 2013 if Texas has another season with at least three losses – which has happened five out of the last seven years.
Texas is 11-15 in the Big 12 in the last three years, which is difficult to explain after the Longhorns went 25-2 overall and 15-1 in conference play in consecutive years (2008 and 2009).
Brown is only 61 and can coach for another 10 years, but many college football followers get the feeling he is four years past his prime after losing to Alabama in the 2009 BCS championship game.
5. Steve Spurrier, South Carolina
Spurrier is starting to recruit players in high school who were born about the same time he won his only national title in 1997 with Florida.
After five seasons of mediocrity with the Gamecocks – following a regrettable attempt to coach the Washington Redskins – Spurrier is showing a spark that is rare for a 68-year-old coach. His coaching career is in a full sprint compared to Brown’s stumbling existence at Texas.
The Gamecocks are 22-4 in the last two seasons and primed, with scary-good defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, to make noise in the SEC. Winning another national title before he hangs up the whistle will put the ‘Ol Ball Coach back on Legend Row.
