Dabo Swinney not one of Paul Myerburg’s top 10 coaches of this era
Paul Myerburg of USA today, recently ranked the top 10 coaches of this era and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney did not make the cut.
.@PaulMyerberg ranked the top 10 #CFB coaches of this era. pic.twitter.com/12VtYgfomG
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) June 8, 2017
With all of the great head coaches to grace a sideline in this era, I am not going to say that it’s completely crazy for Dabo to not make the list. That being said, Myerburg’s list in particular is absolutely absurd. There are flaws with the list that far exceed Dabo Swinney being left off of it.
Criteria
I have no idea what Myerburg is basing this list off of. Is he ranking these coaches by football acumen, development of NFL talent, or National Championships? If it’s the ladder than that would nix Chris Petersen and Gary Peterson. If we are discussing football acumen than Steve Spurrier should clearly be on this list, and if it’s based off of NFL players than Les Miles is wildly low.
The most confusing aspect of this list is the time period, because I can think of two head coaches that should clearly be on this list, Bobby Bowden and Frank Beamer. Both of these head coaches retired in the 2000’s.
In order for this list to make any sense, it’s imperative that we know what factors carry the most weight. Similar to the College Football Playoff discussion each year.
Dabo Swinney
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Not taking anything away from any coach on this list, but, Dabo Swinney deserves a spot on it. Not only does his resume speak for itself, but, Swinney has defeated 5 (Saban, Meyer, Stoops, Fisher, Miles) of the 10 head coaches on Myerberg’s list.
Chris Petersen and Gary Patterson are brilliant football minds and even better motivators. However, Dabo Swinney is a better head coach at this point in their careers. Swinney has two National Championship appearances to their zero.
Swinney may not have as many National Championship appearances as some of the members of Myerberg’s list, notably Bob Stoops, but he is also a much younger coach. With all do respect to Stoops, Swinney has out coached him each time their respective programs met.
Les Miles won his fair share of games during his time as head coach at LSU, but, rarely won the important contests. Being completely honest, Miles’ one National Championship victory (2007) came with a team full of Nick Saban’s recruits. In the Tigers 2011 National Championship appearance, Miles’ team was pummeled by Nick Saban and Alabama.
Morale of the story?
Each of these coaches (Petersen, Patterson, Stoops, and Miles) is deserving of a spot on this list, just not above Dabo Swinney.
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