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re: Favorite SEC football coach you have met
Posted on 7/6/26 at 9:08 pm to BroomfieldReb
Posted on 7/6/26 at 9:08 pm to BroomfieldReb
I’ve got three. Bill Oliver is number one. Funny arse fella. Mal Moore, unbelievably nice and Max Howell, fantastic human being
This post was edited on 7/6/26 at 9:19 pm
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Posted on 7/6/26 at 9:11 pm to BroomfieldReb
Cutcliffe was really nice and entertained my incessant rambling as a 11 year old way longer than he should have 
People have their opinion of him but Hugh Freeze was always really easy to talk to and was pretty down to earth.
People have their opinion of him but Hugh Freeze was always really easy to talk to and was pretty down to earth.
Posted on 7/7/26 at 12:26 am to BroomfieldReb
I met Spurrier and Donovan..both nice but used to it prob..were patient though.
Not a coach but I met Aaron Hern once..he only shot me in the leg...was very nice of him to consider my life. Nice guy.
Not a coach but I met Aaron Hern once..he only shot me in the leg...was very nice of him to consider my life. Nice guy.
Posted on 7/7/26 at 12:37 am to Henry Jones Jr
I didn't exactly meet Nick Saban but i Tiger Baited him going from hole 2 and 3 at the Pebble Beach Pro Am after they beat LSU in the Championship game.. He was pissed and it made my day.
I met future Coach Orgeron when he played for Northwestern St. in his last game. I was a football manager for Northeast They played at Northeast La. to end the season and it was my turn to clean up visitor locker room.
Him and Bobby Hebert were the only 2 left in the locker room and Bobby was being interviewed by Jerry Byrd with the Shreveport newspaper. Jerry Byrd was my swim Coach as a kid.
I stood there with him and we talked for a few while we waited for the interview to finish. Nice guy. My parents both went to Northwestern St and we lived in Natchitoches for a year while my parents worked on their masters.
I met future Coach Orgeron when he played for Northwestern St. in his last game. I was a football manager for Northeast They played at Northeast La. to end the season and it was my turn to clean up visitor locker room.
Him and Bobby Hebert were the only 2 left in the locker room and Bobby was being interviewed by Jerry Byrd with the Shreveport newspaper. Jerry Byrd was my swim Coach as a kid.
I stood there with him and we talked for a few while we waited for the interview to finish. Nice guy. My parents both went to Northwestern St and we lived in Natchitoches for a year while my parents worked on their masters.
This post was edited on 7/7/26 at 12:40 am
Posted on 7/7/26 at 1:46 am to TigerTiger12914
SEC Football coaches:
Gene Stallings - was an incredibly nice guy. Just as warm and as personable a person as you could ever meet. I met him at a charity event where I was the event photographer. A couple with an autistic child was introduced to him and Gene made that kid the center of his universe for a few minutes despite all the schedule pressure and other people around him.
Nick Saban - a lot more personable than you might think. Out of football season, that is. A lot of people who think he is a jerk don't realize that when he is in that mode, he is just all focused 100% on football with not much time for friendship building.
Pat Dye - congenial but something made my spine crawl about the guy. Yeah. I know, "Auburn!" but that's really not it at all, I have met other Auburn coaches I liked (see below). Something just set my spidey-sense off for some reason. I kept the conversation as short as I politely could.
Houston Nutt - exchanged a hello with him in Fayetteville one year- but not much beyond that. Seemed like a player's coach just listening to him, though.
A bit off topic but sort of related:
Wimp Sanderson - nice enough but that was a long time ago.
Dale Brown - Also a long time ago but I just remember that he was cutting up with Joe Dean courtside during warmups at the time and it was non-stop fun and laughter. Super friendly to me as was Joe Dean. I think Joe was tickled when I told him I loved the old TVS broadcasts of SEC basketball.
Joe B. Hall - was cussing like a sailor on the elevator ride I shared with him one year at the SEC tournament.
Sonny Smith - very friendly to a young kid (me) who had no shot whatsoever at playing basketball. I really liked the guy.
Mark Gottfried - meh. Didn't seem to have much personality to me. I actually met his ex-wife several times before they married, she was a tutor to some guys in the dorm I lived in. She was a smokeshow back then and his model daughter took after her mom, thankfully.
Final off-topic:
Had a 30 minute conversation with Bart Starr once. Much like Gene Stallings, just a kind and wonderful man. Could not have been any nicer to me and shared his time, all in a circumstance where the crowd we were in was getting highly frustrated. One of my prouder "coaching photos" I have ever had taken. The planet is a worse place for his leaving us.
Gene Stallings - was an incredibly nice guy. Just as warm and as personable a person as you could ever meet. I met him at a charity event where I was the event photographer. A couple with an autistic child was introduced to him and Gene made that kid the center of his universe for a few minutes despite all the schedule pressure and other people around him.
Nick Saban - a lot more personable than you might think. Out of football season, that is. A lot of people who think he is a jerk don't realize that when he is in that mode, he is just all focused 100% on football with not much time for friendship building.
Pat Dye - congenial but something made my spine crawl about the guy. Yeah. I know, "Auburn!" but that's really not it at all, I have met other Auburn coaches I liked (see below). Something just set my spidey-sense off for some reason. I kept the conversation as short as I politely could.
Houston Nutt - exchanged a hello with him in Fayetteville one year- but not much beyond that. Seemed like a player's coach just listening to him, though.
A bit off topic but sort of related:
Wimp Sanderson - nice enough but that was a long time ago.
Dale Brown - Also a long time ago but I just remember that he was cutting up with Joe Dean courtside during warmups at the time and it was non-stop fun and laughter. Super friendly to me as was Joe Dean. I think Joe was tickled when I told him I loved the old TVS broadcasts of SEC basketball.
Joe B. Hall - was cussing like a sailor on the elevator ride I shared with him one year at the SEC tournament.
Sonny Smith - very friendly to a young kid (me) who had no shot whatsoever at playing basketball. I really liked the guy.
Mark Gottfried - meh. Didn't seem to have much personality to me. I actually met his ex-wife several times before they married, she was a tutor to some guys in the dorm I lived in. She was a smokeshow back then and his model daughter took after her mom, thankfully.
Final off-topic:
Had a 30 minute conversation with Bart Starr once. Much like Gene Stallings, just a kind and wonderful man. Could not have been any nicer to me and shared his time, all in a circumstance where the crowd we were in was getting highly frustrated. One of my prouder "coaching photos" I have ever had taken. The planet is a worse place for his leaving us.
Posted on 7/7/26 at 2:01 am to BroomfieldReb
Sat a few rows from Charlie McClendon at a local park. He had a grandkid on his lap and seemed like a generally good guy. Didn’t bother him.
Posted on 7/7/26 at 3:27 am to dchog
100% agree on Ken Hatfield, great guy and very down to earth.
Posted on 7/7/26 at 7:06 am to Tackle74
Stallings— his daughter and her family live here in Waco. He was memorably nice. Tremendous man.
Off topic (but I live in Waco)
Grant Teaff — really good guy. Hard not to like him
FA Dry— again, really nice
Art Briles— quiet and low key. Nice guy
Kendall Briles — didn’t say much but not rude
Aranda — VERY quiet but very very nice
Scott Drew— outgoing, engaging; very committed to his players. Great person
One of my kids met Switzer several times in Norman. One time, Barry went to the trunk of his car, and brought back 2 copies of “Bootleggers Boy” and gave personalized copies for my dad and for me. My son said switzer was one of the most charismatic people he had ever met
Off topic (but I live in Waco)
Grant Teaff — really good guy. Hard not to like him
FA Dry— again, really nice
Art Briles— quiet and low key. Nice guy
Kendall Briles — didn’t say much but not rude
Aranda — VERY quiet but very very nice
Scott Drew— outgoing, engaging; very committed to his players. Great person
One of my kids met Switzer several times in Norman. One time, Barry went to the trunk of his car, and brought back 2 copies of “Bootleggers Boy” and gave personalized copies for my dad and for me. My son said switzer was one of the most charismatic people he had ever met
Posted on 7/7/26 at 7:15 am to dchog
quote:
Met Ken Hatfield who played a joke on me as an usher in 2007. Nicest person I have ever met. Too bad hog fans treated him like shite in the 80s.
Hatfield is no doubt one the nicest people on Earth.
When I moved to Houston in my early 20s, he was HC at Rice. I was on the campus one day, and a friend dared me to go to his office and see if I could meet him. I went in, told his assistant I was a lifelong Hog fan, and just wanted to say hello. She said he was out of the office and did I want to leave a name and number. I said what the hell and did. Figured it was to just get me out of there, which I understood,
Later that afternoon, I was at home and the phone rang. I couldn't believe that it was Hatfield. He was incredibly nice, talked to me for at least 10 minutes, and invited me to come back by the office and he'd give me some tickets to a game that fall. I know, it's not a hard ticket, but to take the time to call back a random stranger who was a fan speaks volumes about what an incredible person he is.
Posted on 7/7/26 at 7:54 am to DocHog
I was fortunate to attend a practice before a bowl game against the Bucknuts. Coach Stallings called me over to where he was coaching the secondary. Only time in my life that my knees turned to noodles. An incredible human being, but a very intimidating one as well. I had previously spoken to him on the phone because a friend of mine knew I knew the kid that intercepted the letter regarding Langham. My friend and Stallings had a mutual friend in common and I received a call from Stallings. Never heard a rant like that before. He was calm at the end of the call.
Funny Stallings story. It was Proctor, I think, that was struggling at practice with field goals. Stallings walks over to him and asked what the problem was. He said you make me nervous coach. Stallings said......I'll be at every game son.
Funny Stallings story. It was Proctor, I think, that was struggling at practice with field goals. Stallings walks over to him and asked what the problem was. He said you make me nervous coach. Stallings said......I'll be at every game son.
Posted on 7/7/26 at 7:55 am to hogwildinhouston
My uncle played football with him in Helena. I have a picture of both back in junior high.
Arkansas was primarily recruiting my uncle and they ended up offering Hatfield and others such as Bill Gray.
Arkansas was primarily recruiting my uncle and they ended up offering Hatfield and others such as Bill Gray.
Posted on 7/7/26 at 8:59 am to BroomfieldReb
Terry Price an absolute gem of a person.
Posted on 7/7/26 at 9:00 am to BroomfieldReb
Terry Price an absolute gem of a person
Posted on 7/7/26 at 9:22 am to azcatiger
quote:
RC Slocum. Great guy, even though I hate the Aggies.
Les Miles.
Ditto on this. He came from not much in government housing in Louisiana and you could tell that really humble upbringing influenced him greatly. In a business of crazy personalities, he was just a good man.
There is a restaurant in Dallas called Tupinamba run by a crazy Ag supporter Eddie Dominguez. I walked in one late Sunday and Slocum was just finishing up lunch and could not have been more gracious, sitting with us for 10 minutes and talking over his life after coaching. He posed for photos. It was a fun moment.
I assume Slocum ate there a lot, as he had his own menu item.
RC Slocum Special at Tupinamba
This post was edited on 7/7/26 at 9:25 am
Posted on 7/7/26 at 9:37 am to BroomfieldReb
I've only met Bill Curry and Mark Stoops. Both were gracious and classy.
Posted on 7/7/26 at 10:23 am to BroomfieldReb
Mark Richt is the most genuniely good person imaginable.
Richt and Meyer spoke at the high school football team banquet two years in a row. Meyer showed up about 15 minutes after it started, got up and spoke for about 5 minutes about the importance of winning, and then dipped out and went back to the airport.
Richt came the next year. Stayed to the very end, clapped for every junior varsity best special teams player award, and shook hundreds of hands.
The man is a saint.
Richt and Meyer spoke at the high school football team banquet two years in a row. Meyer showed up about 15 minutes after it started, got up and spoke for about 5 minutes about the importance of winning, and then dipped out and went back to the airport.
Richt came the next year. Stayed to the very end, clapped for every junior varsity best special teams player award, and shook hundreds of hands.
The man is a saint.
Posted on 7/7/26 at 10:47 am to skrayper
Gene Stallings was hands down the most wonderful person ive met. He was very happy we spoke to John Mark and included him in our conversation.
Posted on 7/7/26 at 12:04 pm to BroomfieldReb
The Bear when I was about 8-9 years of age. ( and I’m a LSU fan)
Posted on 7/7/26 at 12:36 pm to BroomfieldReb
Johnny Majors, then Gene Stallings. The biggest d**k was former Vandy men's basketball coach Eddie Fogler.
Posted on 7/7/26 at 12:53 pm to reggierayreb
That's suspect
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