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15 for ’15: Coaches Who Do More With Less
Recruiting is the key to a successful football program, but how do coaches win if they don't have a top-ranked class? Campus Insiders' associate editor Rich Cirminiello breaks down which coaches aregetting creative and beating the odds.
August 9, 2015
Relatively speaking, it’s easy to win at USC or Ohio State or Alabama or Texas. Sure, the pressure is immense. But the facilities are top-notch and the fan base and traditions are deeply rooted into the community. Oh, and just about every young kid in the region grows up wanting to play for you. But obviously, not everyone can be USC or Ohio State or Alabama or Texas. Few are, in fact. Most FBS programs reside on the fulcrum of success, so a couple of bad classes or serious injuries are all it takes to tip the team into the red.
The majority of today’s coaches must do more with less, especially as the number of teams vying for the same players has increased over the past generation. The following 15 coaches have shown consistent track records for beating the odds, overcoming myriad competitive disadvantages to outfox their peers on Saturdays.
15. Steve Addazio, Boston College
If you’re not bringing it, in all phases of life, you’re not going to play for Addazio. Period.
Addazio is demanding, because at a program like BC you’re not going to win with talent and pedigree alone. The Northeast is light on football stars, and the rare blue-chipper almost always leaves the region. Addazio, instead, relies on his ability to motivate and galvanize the kids at his disposal. He’s an old-schooler, from his personality to his philosophies, yet he’s still able to reach today’s student-athletes. And a solid start on the Heights indicates he’s ready to be the second coming of Tom O’Brien, who brought uncommon stability to Boston College for a decade.
14. Randy Edsall, Maryland
Four middling seasons in College Park can’t erase what Edsall did in Storrs.
Getting the Terps to come of their shell has been a long process. Longer than Maryland fans would like. But Edsall is the same coach who did the impossible at UConn for more than a decade. When Edsall arrived in Storrs in 1999, the Huskies were still a member of the FCS’ Atlantic 10 Conference. When he resigned in 2010, they were playing in the Fiesta Bowl. Edsall was James Franklin when Franklin was still bouncing around from job to job building a resume. Edsall excelled, in particular, at turning raw recruits from the talent-starved Northeast into NFL-caliber players.
13. Jerry Kill, Minnesota
Kill is a working class guy who continuously produces working class results.
Kill is unassuming. In fact, he’s best known nationally for the sporadic health issues with which he’s had to deal. But despite staring down kidney cancer and epilepsy, Kill continues to be the ultimate fixer-upper at remote stops like Saginaw Valley State, Emporia State, Southern Illinois, Northern Illinois and now Minnesota. With the Gophers, he’s never going to beat out Ohio State, Michigan or Michigan State for the Midwest’s better prospects. And yet his team has won eight games in back-to-back years by maximizing
the ability of both the players and the assistant coaches, like defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys.
12. Mike Riley, Nebraska
Yeah, Riley lost something off his fastball this decade, but his track record for locating and coaching up hidden gems is why Nebraska saw him as a great fit to succeed Bo Pelini.
Riley went 29-33 over his final five years at Oregon State. Still, few are better at improving the culture of a program. In Corvallis, one of the Pac-12’s toughest places to recruit and win, Riley created an atmosphere that helped bring out the best in his kids. He has an eye for talent and the ability to bring that talent to the surface. James Rodgers, Brandon Hardin, Jaquizz Rodgers, Jordan Poyer and Scott Crichton are just a few of the players who went from humble beginnings to Beaver stars.
11. Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern
Save for Indiana, Northwestern is the toughest job in the Big Ten. And yet, Fitzgerald has a winning record
through nine years, taking the Wildcats to five consecutive bowl games.
Fitz has stumbled the last two seasons, going 5-7 in both. But before he was hired to return to his alma mater, five wins would have been couched as progress. Fitzgerald brings youthful passion and positive energy to a program fighting a perennial uphill battle. In terms of facilities, academic standards and tradition, Northwestern is at a competitive disadvantage compared to the rest of the Big Ten. So, it’s up to the coach and his staff to locate the right student-athletes, with the work ethic and focus to outwork the competition.
10. Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech
Johnson has never been surrounded by scary talent, yet he wins wherever he puts down stakes.
Johnson has never shied away from challenges during his career. Armed with an old-school offense and work ethic, he’s had just two losing seasons in 18 years of coaching. He was practically unbeatable at Georgia Southern. He was a miracle worker in Annapolis, putting Navy on the map again following four decades of mostly futility. And he’s winning at Georgia Tech, despite being the ‘other’ team in state. Georgia is a breeding ground for blue-chip high school recruits, but very few of them actually wind up spending their college years on the Flats.
9. Kyle Whittingham, Utah
After guiding the Utes into a non-BCS powerhouse for six years in the Mountain West, Whittingham now
has his kids turning things around in the Pac-12.
It took a few years to get comfortable in a much tougher environment, but Utah is finally holding its own, going 9-4 last season. Few coaches in the Pac-12 have a more difficult job landing nearby talent, forcing Whittingham to travel far on recruiting visits and consistently rely on JUCO players. But no one is going to outwork him. His competitive fire, work ethic and determination to win rub off on his players, who operate with the same blue-collar mentality and unwavering will to outhustle opponents.
8. James Franklin, Penn State
No matter what happens in Happy Valley, Franklin will always have Vandy. And what the coach did in
Nashville was a mini version of Bill Snyder in Manhattan.
Vanderbilt is easily the toughest job in the SEC. Private school. Sub-standard facilities compared to the rest of the league. A lengthy track record of futility. And academic standards that further hamper recruiting. Yet, Franklin led the ‘Dores to back-to-back nine-win seasons that impressively ended in the Top 25. Vandy in the Top 25, not once but twice, validated Franklin as one of the game’s premier motivators. Now, like Chris Petersen at Washington, he wants to show he can be just as influential to athletes who are expected to become stars.
7. Gary Pinkel, Missouri
Mizzou overachieved in the Big 12 North … and again now in the SEC East. The one constant? Gary Pinkel
and his ability to maximize the talent of the players he brings to Columbia.
Missouri is a good job, with an underrated recruiting base in the St. Louis area. But this was never Texas or Oklahoma when the Tigers called the Big 12 home. And it sure doesn’t rise to the level of Florida or Georgia in the SEC East. And yet, Mizzou has won its division in five of the last eight years. Pinkel signs the occasional gem, the Sheldon Richardson or Dorial Green-Beckham. However, it’s the two and three-star guys, particularly along the line that have been the cornerstones of this team’s stability.
6. Chris Petersen, Washington
Petersen is in Seattle these days, but his reputation was forged in Boise, Idaho for eight prolific seasons.
Petersen wasn’t the architect at Boise State, a distinction belonging to Dan Hawkins. However, he was the foreman who helped turn the Broncos into a nationally identifiable brand by winning 92 games, six conference titles and a pair of Fiesta Bowls. And, of course, Petersen thrived with minimal help from local
recruits, needing to survive on the smaller fish that the Pac-12 threw back. Now that Pete has access to far better facilities and recruits at U-Dub, it’ll be interesting to see if he can recreate the magic he had in Boise.
5. Dan Mullen, Mississippi State
Everyone told Mullen Starkville was a dead end when he left Urban Meyer’s Florida staff. Mullen has used the campus as a career launching pad.
No one has a tougher job in the SEC West than Mullen. In six seasons, he’s twice finished ranked, spending a chunk of last season as the nation’s top-ranked team. And this is no one-hit wonder. Mullen is building at the place other coaches avoided, dramatically improving the talent level and fan interest. He has a keen eye for talent, patiently mining his type of kids who’ll bring it 12 months a year. Mullen’s growing list of rags-to-riches pupils includes Johnthan Banks, Benardrick McKinney, Dak Prescott and Prescott Smith, among others.
4. David Cutcliffe, Duke
Running a football program at a basketball school, or vice versa, is one of the toughest gigs in college athletics. But Cut continues to defy the odds with a brilliant coaching performance over the past five years.
Football will never bump hoops to Page 2 in Durham, but Cutcliffe has remarkably made his team competitive each fall. Duke has won 19 football games the last two seasons, improbably appearing in the 2013 ACC title game. Cutcliffe has raised the bar by attacking the basics. While the players aren’t distinctly better than when former coaches were failing in this job, their preparation, conditioning and execution are distinctly better. And as such, so are the results.
3. Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
The Spartans are one of the top programs in the country today. But that was not the case when Dantonio arrived from Cincinnati in 2007.
Dantonio has built Michigan State into a perennial title contender, overturning four decades of mediocrity that even Nick Saban struggled to escape when he was in East Lansing. Few have been better than Dantonio at turning dust into gold; recent Spartans like Darqueze Denanrd, Le’Veon Bell, Trae Waynes and Shilique Calhoun arrived as longshots, yet leave as highly regarded NFL prospects. That penchant for consistently transforming raw high school talent has allowed Michigan State to carve deep cuts into Michigan’s in-state edge in recent years.
2. Gary Patterson, TCU
Patterson is TCU, and TCU is Patterson. And the coach’s blue-collar, no-nonsense approach is evident in his players.
Patterson is the reason the Horned Frogs are back on a big stage, shedding years of life in the WAC, Conference USA and the Mountain West to join the Big 12. And the reason why the program’s facilities have been upgraded in recent years. Sure, TCU is situated in the fertile DFW area, but it’s a small private school that’ll always exist in the shadow of Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma. To remain competitive, Patterson has been masterful at elevating off-the-radar talent, like Jerry Hughes, Paul Dawson and Trevone Boykin, often times at unfamiliar positions.
1. Bill Snyder, Kansas State
Snyder is a coaching icon, a living legend for what he’s been able to accomplish at Kansas State.
As if turning a perennial laughingstock nestled in a remote Kansas town into a national contender once wasn’t enough, Snyder is doing it again … in his mid-seventies. He never lands top recruits, leaning instead on junior college transfer and the ability of he and his staff to coach up those kids bigger programs ignore. Snyder isn’t a magician, despite the 13 nine-win seasons at a one-time coaching graveyard with zero tradition. He’s just a guy who knows the game and knows how to create an environment in which young athletes can flourish.
