re: How would you rank coaches over the last 15 years?

Gary Pinkel should be on that list. He coached 4 years in the SEC and won 2 East titles. His last 9 years he had 5 division titles and was the SEC coach of the year in 2014. In 2015 his final year he coached even though he had been diagnosed with cancer.

When Pinkel came to Mizzou they had 2 winning seasons in the previous 17 years. He turned the program around that had suffered underneath 4 terrible coaches and a Athletic Department that wouldn’t spend money on football.

Pinkel and Saban come from the same coaching tree. They were college teammates and coached together for 2 years under Don James. In 1990 Saban left Toledo and Pinkel took his place. What hurt Pinkel was his ability to recruit. His 18th ranked class in 2004 was his best recruiting class. Most of his recruiting classes were in the 30’s and 40’s. If he could have been half the recruiter Saban was he could have been an elite coach.