re: Most Overrated SEC coaching legend

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In his first 7 seasons of coaching at Tennessee, he goes 61-1-5. That means he won 91% of his games the first 7 years.

From 1938-1940, he wins 3 consecutive SEC championships (going 31-2 during that period).

He then resigns from coaching to fight in the army for 5 years (winning The Distinguished Service Medal, The Legion of Merit, being named a member of The Order of The British Empire). He resigns from the army to come back to coaching and wins the SEC in his first year. Within 5 years, he wins 2 consecutive SEC championships along with a National Championship (going 22-2).

He left coaching during the prime of his career, got into a completely different career (on another continent) and excelled...then half a decade later, came back to win a NC. How hard would it be for Saban to be successful if he were to quit coaching today, move to Indonesia for 5 years to build villages, then come back to coaching in 2021 and immediately win a conference championship?

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Look man, don't feed the troll.

Everyone knows Neyland was one of the all time greats. I'm part sad and part glad he wasn't there to challenge Bear's run at Alabama (would have been an epic series, but also made it much harder for Coach Bryant to win all the titles he did).

Coach Bryant had nothing but the highest respect for Neyland:

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"People think I'm the greatest damn coach in the world," said the great Bear Bryant, "but Neyland taught me everything I know."
The Bear coached against Bob Neyland's Tennessee teams seven times and never beat him. "I never beat him," he said, "but I learned a lot from playing him."

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Dude should have won an national title at Kentucky. Ken-freakin'-tucky. Your argument is invalid.

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Actually, it validates my point. The rest of the SEC was down,

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Tennessee finished #4 in the AP (#3 in the coach's poll) in 1950. 4 SEC teams finished in the top 20 that season. That being said, his success was definitely helped by the lack of recruiting rules/oversight.

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If he had been able to beat Neyland, he may have. Kentucky was up to #3 when they lost to #9 Tennessee. The following week, #2 Army lost to Navy.

Kentucky went on to beat #1 Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl.

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That was the era of the pre-bowl titles. Oklahoma had already won it.

Hence the "should have" part, and of course nothing to belittle the accomplishments of Tennessee that year. They were both great teams and the game between them was close.

Just that he at least could have pointed to having an identical record to the team that won, and having a win over said team that won it. That's all.

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That was the era of the pre-bowl titles. Oklahoma had already won it.

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Not the week that UK lost to Tennessee. Oklahoma was awarded the title the following week. It wasn't unheard of for a team to jump from #3 to #1 after a big win. Had Kentucky won over a top 10 Tennessee team, they very well could have lept over Idle Army and Oklahoma.

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I've always thought Pat Dye was overrated

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Pat Dye has to be viewed through the same prism that Steve Spurrier is looked at.

Dye came into a program that had been down for the past several years... had a single SEC Championship on its program resume... during an era in which Bear Bryant was coaching on the other side of the state and had won 8 consecutive Iron Bowls. And 9 years later he had won Auburn 4 SEC Titles and had a 6-3 record in Iron Bowls (including a loss in his first season).

While his accomplishments fall far short of Spurrier's, its a similar situation. Spurrier comes to Florida... a program with zero SEC Championships... and becomes the dominant program in the conference almost immediately.

To me, you have to look at the general context with those two. Sure, Dye lacks a National Title... and Spurrier lacks the National titles compared to guys like Bryant and Saban..... but considering what both of those men inherited, built, and left behind, they both certainly rank up as two of the coaching greats in SEC history. No doubt.

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Bear could take his and beat yours and then take yours and beat his.

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Gotta love Bum.

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Dooley is overrated at times by our fans imo.

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No doubt about this. You are 100% correct. In fact he is overrated by our fans almost all the time.

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Bear by a long shot. Benefited from unlimited recruiting and scholarships, a time when college football was not as big as it is now for other schools, coached during some very bad times for other SEC schools.

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Just curious....were the scholarships limited for everybody else? then he was playing on a level playing field.

If football wasn't as big for other schools, then that was their problem, not his. He won and he won often. As for your SEC argument being down? He didn't play a single SEC team for a National Championship.

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Sabin owes his life to Denardos recruiting classes

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Wrong, and not just on how to spell Saban. Saban/LSU won that first championship on the back of the number 1 class that included Clayton, Spears, etc, and that was all Saban. Also bringing in Mauck was huge, which was Saban's work.

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and ESPN hyping him through the years !

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This part is accurate