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Every Teams most underrated football coach

Posted on 7/2/25 at 9:35 am
Posted by VFL67
Member since Feb 2025
957 posts
Posted on 7/2/25 at 9:35 am
This is the coach that doesn't get enough love from the fanbase or the SEC/National Media in general. Most of these guys had bad endings (abrupt departures or one bad season) with the programs but that doesn't change their decent success while on campus.

Alabama: Gene Stallings or Frank Thomas (stuck between the two GOATS)
LSU: Paul Dietzel (had great success but not mentioned as an all timer)
Tennessee: Doug Dickey (ton of success and revolutionized modern Tennessee)
Auburn: Terry Bowden (crashed and burned but had a great run till then)
Ole Miss: David Cutcliffe (idk why they fired him)
UGA: Wally Butts (maybe he is more respected in Athens but few people acknowledge him nationally)
Arkansas: Lou Holtz (had a ton of success but people never mention his Arkansas days)
Oklahoma: Chuck Fairbanks (people only want to talk about Switzer instead)
Florida: Galen Hall maybe but I think Dan Mullen (got fired for one bad year, won a ton of game instantly, no idea what they were thinking)


Texas, Aggies, UK, Mizzou, Hail State, and South Carolina idk

Thoughts? Who is underrated amongst your fans or by the national media
This post was edited on 7/2/25 at 9:43 am
Posted by Lonnie Utah
Utah!
Member since Jul 2012
31571 posts
Posted on 7/2/25 at 9:38 am to
quote:

Every Teams most underrated coach


quote:

Texas, Aggies, UK, Mizzou, Hail State, and South Carolina idk



Not really "Every Team" now is it?
Posted by bigDgator
Dallas, TX
Member since Oct 2008
48028 posts
Posted on 7/2/25 at 9:40 am to
I liked Mullen and thought he was a pretty good coach. I also loved that he aggravated the shite out of our rivals. Then he started aggravating UF fans.

Posted by MrWalkingMan
Republic of West Florida
Member since Aug 2010
7768 posts
Posted on 7/2/25 at 9:42 am to
Nvmd delete. Thought this was about any coach
This post was edited on 7/2/25 at 9:47 am
Posted by FightingTigers138
In your thoughts
Member since Dec 2016
5870 posts
Posted on 7/2/25 at 9:43 am to
LSU - Gerry DiNardo.
He brought the magic back. It ended badly for him, but LSU was a shite show during my childhood until he came. Took us to an independence bowl twice and a peach bowl.

He also made Louisiana kids want to come to LSU again. Beat #1 Florida as well.
Posted by Faurot fodder
Member since Jul 2019
6295 posts
Posted on 7/2/25 at 9:45 am to
Don Faurot doesn't get enough credit for his offensive innovations, but he came up with the split T which led to the wishbone, and option football.

Unfortunately, Oklahoma and Nebraska end up adopting it and commence to rush for about 10,000 miles against us in the 80/90s.

Posted by SOBMarcus
Boerne TX
Member since Apr 2020
2570 posts
Posted on 7/2/25 at 9:51 am to
Fred Akers was pretty good between Royal and Mack
Posted by bgator85
Sarasota
Member since Aug 2007
6165 posts
Posted on 7/2/25 at 9:54 am to
quote:

Florida: Galen Hall maybe but I think Dan Mullen (got fired for one bad year, won a ton of game instantly, no idea what they were thinking)



I'd probably lean towards Ray Graves.

Had things going back in the 60's. And then got shoved aside to make way for the disaster that was Doug Dickey.
Posted by VFL67
Member since Feb 2025
957 posts
Posted on 7/2/25 at 10:00 am to
What happened to Doug Dickey at Florida? He was so good at Tennessee. He is really one of the biggest "what ifs" in Tennessee history cause he was winning fast and furious when he left for Florida. He def would have won a natty or two cause he was starting to dominate Bama and the rest of the SEC. Never could get anything going at Florida though
Posted by Gunga Din
Oklahoma
Member since Jul 2020
3021 posts
Posted on 7/2/25 at 10:01 am to
Good call on Fairbanks at Oklahoma...

He is bit of a pariah around here because he left us after a scandal that put us on probation.

But Fairbanks was the one who turned the program around in the early 1970s mostly by recruiting Black players. While OU had integrated in 1956... they only had a few Black players on those rosters. Fairbanks had come from Houston... he knew he could get Black players from SE Texas because the SWC and SEC wouldn't recruit them. So he did. The main one everybody has heard of is Greg Pruitt.

Posted by Porter Osborne Jr
Member since Sep 2012
42901 posts
Posted on 7/2/25 at 10:10 am to
Hard to believe that Butts went straight from coaching a high school in Kentucky to the head coach at UGA. Also sued that lying SOB Furman Bischer.
This post was edited on 7/2/25 at 1:35 pm
Posted by dstone12
Texan
Member since Jan 2007
38168 posts
Posted on 7/2/25 at 10:11 am to
quote:

Gene Stallings


I think I know what you’re saying, but I’m having trouble thinking that he’s underrated.

He brought Alabama out of a tough time as well as being one of the best humans on the planet.
Posted by MizzouTrue
Member since Jun 2016
4772 posts
Posted on 7/2/25 at 10:13 am to
Mizzou: Don Faurot

The stadium is named after him but he’s underrated because his best years were in the 1940s
Posted by navy
Parts Unknown, LA
Member since Sep 2010
31129 posts
Posted on 7/2/25 at 10:24 am to
I kind of have to agree with Gerry Dinardo.
Posted by TigerintheNO
New Orleans
Member since Jan 2004
43935 posts
Posted on 7/2/25 at 11:01 am to
quote:

Arkansas:


Houston Nutt had a winning record in SEC play at Arkansas, since he left they are more than 50 games below .500
Posted by Rex Feral
Member since Jan 2014
15779 posts
Posted on 7/2/25 at 11:14 am to
quote:

UGA: Wally Butts


He was the plaintiff in a SCOTUS case that set the precedent for when a public figure can sue for defamation. He and Bear Bryant sued the Saturday Evening Post which led to its ultimate demise.

LINK
Posted by Tigerpaul1969
The Woodlands, TX
Member since Jan 2010
4661 posts
Posted on 7/2/25 at 11:42 am to
I think for LSU I would say Bill Arnsparger. Dietzel is revered as our first national championship coach. If he had stayed (and not gone to UF and hired Spurrier), he might have won a couple of titles. His defenses were outrageously good. He would be higher on LSU lists but he was only with us for 3 years.
Posted by Landmass
Premium Member
Member since Jun 2013
23469 posts
Posted on 7/2/25 at 11:48 am to
quote:

Ole Miss: David Cutcliffe (idk why they fired him)


frick off. He was awful.
Posted by Pickle_Weasel
Member since Mar 2016
4733 posts
Posted on 7/2/25 at 11:51 am to
quote:

Ole Miss: David Cutcliffe (idk why they fired him)


Cutcliffe is a great guy and a very good QB coach. However, we was extremely hard headed during his time at Ole Miss.
1. He would play less talented senior players over more talented underclassmen (Patrick Willis wasn't a starter, although he was the best LB on the team).
2. He was too loyal to his staff and wouldn't make any changes. There were glaring problems on the coaching staff, and after the 2004 season, the AD told him to come back with a plan for changes to the staff. Cutcliffe showed up and told the AD he wasn't changing anything. That led to him being dismissed.
3. Play calling - Eli would often check out of plays that Cutcliffe was calling, and it became obvious who was running the offense. After Eli graduated and Spurlock took over at QB, it was a disaster at not only QB play, but the play calling.
4. Recruiting was bad. He snagged some really good players, such as Patrick Willis that other teams weren't interested in, but overall, there was a serious issue in depth.

All that being said, he also had an underlying heart issue that required surgery and time off after he was let go. There's no telling how that might have impacted his decision making, as I'm sure it had a great deal of impact on him physically and mentally as he just didn't have much energy.

Most of us have no ill feeling towards him.
Posted by bamabaseballsec
Member since Dec 2020
3159 posts
Posted on 7/2/25 at 11:52 am to
I think you should go nutt or someone else for arky, Lou isn’t underrated, he’s just more associated with ND. No different than spurrier duke, saban Mich st, etc.
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