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re: Spurrier Unlocked: Saban is a Great Recruiter, Not a Great Coach
Posted on 7/22/14 at 7:13 pm to CNB
Posted on 7/22/14 at 7:13 pm to CNB
quote:
Why?
10-10 bowl record
1-2 against Houston Nutt's Arkansas teams.
9 seasons at USC, has seen 1 conference championship game and got blown out. Not 1 BCS game appearance. A handful of these years it wasn't like UT, UF, and UGA were the dominant programs they could be.
As Florida's coach in the 90's he dominated, but Florida is the most talent rich state and at the time the SEC was SEC "light," not the powerhouse SEC we've seen the last decade. What he did in the 90's deserves respect and a place in history, but should be just one aspect of the coach Spurrier is.
He's a great coach, just not the "genius" or near the top of "greatest coaches" as some like to believe.
He's had 9 years to build USC, yet the results have yet to earn him anywhere near the reputation he built at Florida. While he has built the program and maintained it, he has proven himself to simply be a top coach in today's game, not the legendary genius. Last year he got beat by a depleted UT team under first year coach Butch Jones. He got taken to the woodshed in 2012 by second year head coach Will Muschamp. A "genius" like Spurrier in his 8th or 9th year at a program should not be beat by the likes of these coaches in their first or second year if he is the "genius" people like to believe he is.
In 2011, where USC finished 11-2 (which they seem to be doing every year), he beat up on a weak East but got smoked by a good Arkansas team and got beat at home by a mediocre Auburn team - showing that if he had been coaching in the West these years he wouldn't seen as many double digit win totals. Pretty sure he has a losing record against Arkansas since taking the USC job, and Arkansas is admittedly the definition of a middle of the pack SEC West team.
I get that USC is not a traditional powerhouse program, but after 4 years of being under one of the "greatest coaches ever," and while being located in a nice recruiting area, that "excuse" should not be given much weight.
Saban is a level or two above Spurrier in terms of overall head coaching ability, and it's not close.
3
Posted on 7/22/14 at 7:22 pm to Jon Ham
Good analysis.
Posted on 7/22/14 at 7:27 pm to Jon Ham
quote:
I get that USC is not a traditional powerhouse program, but after 4 years of being under one of the "greatest coaches ever," and while being located in a nice recruiting area, that "excuse" should not be given much weight.
I don't think you do get it. Spurrier is by far the most successful coach in USC's history, a history that is littered with the remnants of coaches that did fine at other schools but fell into the abyss at USC (ask LSU fans about Dietzel, or, for that matter, ND fans about Holtz.) USC is like Vandy or Kentucky -- they literally had no hope of ever contending for a NC in the not-too-distant past (well, excepting the Bear's time at UK, of course.) Judging Spurrier as not being one of the greatest on the basis of his tenure at USC is flawed when there are likely only a handful of coaches that could have achieved the same level of success.
Also, the bit about SEC light earlier in your post cuts both ways...he's also managed to build up USC in a tougher SEC, no?
Posted on 7/23/14 at 1:03 am to Jon Ham
quote:
10-10 bowl record
1-2 against Houston Nutt's Arkansas teams.
9 seasons at USC, has seen 1 conference championship game and got blown out. Not 1 BCS game appearance. A handful of these years it wasn't like UT, UF, and UGA were the dominant programs they could be.
As Florida's coach in the 90's he dominated, but Florida is the most talent rich state and at the time the SEC was SEC "light," not the powerhouse SEC we've seen the last decade. What he did in the 90's deserves respect and a place in history, but should be just one aspect of the coach Spurrier is.
He's a great coach, just not the "genius" or near the top of "greatest coaches" as some like to believe.
He's had 9 years to build USC, yet the results have yet to earn him anywhere near the reputation he built at Florida. While he has built the program and maintained it, he has proven himself to simply be a top coach in today's game, not the legendary genius. Last year he got beat by a depleted UT team under first year coach Butch Jones. He got taken to the woodshed in 2012 by second year head coach Will Muschamp. A "genius" like Spurrier in his 8th or 9th year at a program should not be beat by the likes of these coaches in their first or second year if he is the "genius" people like to believe he is.
In 2011, where USC finished 11-2 (which they seem to be doing every year), he beat up on a weak East but got smoked by a good Arkansas team and got beat at home by a mediocre Auburn team - showing that if he had been coaching in the West these years he wouldn't seen as many double digit win totals. Pretty sure he has a losing record against Arkansas since taking the USC job, and Arkansas is admittedly the definition of a middle of the pack SEC West team.
I get that USC is not a traditional powerhouse program, but after 4 years of being under one of the "greatest coaches ever," and while being located in a nice recruiting area, that "excuse" should not be given much weight.
Saban is a level or two above Spurrier in terms of overall head coaching ability, and it's not close.
And there's no way 62-24 would've happened to Saban.
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