July 14, 2005
Switzer, Schembechler among coaches starting own poll
Former Georgia coach Vince Dooley told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that a group of Hall of Fame coaches are gathering this week to discuss starting their own college football poll.
Under the structure of the Master Coaches Survey, coaches would put together their poll by watching game films, making reports on the teams and taking part in a conference call to finalize the rankings."If everything is the way they say it's going to be, then I'd like to do it," said [Gene] Stallings, who won the 1992 national championship at Alabama. "If I was an average person interested in the rankings, I'd want to know what some of the coaches who have no ax to grind are thinking. I'd want to hear from coaches who have actually played in a championship game."
The Master Coaches Survey is the brainchild of Atlanta attorney Andy Curtin. Under the proposed system, each coach would be paid to watch game film, comment on teams and represent the poll, and potentially appear on a TV show based on the poll. The long term goal of the MCS poll would be inclusion in the BCS.
According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the coaches who have been invited to participate are:
John Cooper, Ohio State
Terry Donahue, UCLA
Vince Dooley, Georgia
Pat Dye, Auburn
LaVell Edwards, BYU
Hayden Fry, Iowa
Don James, Washington
Frank Kush, Arizona State
Dick MacPherson, Syracuse
Bill Mallory, Indiana
Don Nehlen, West Virginia
John Robinson, USC
Bo Schembechler, Michigan
R.C. Slocum, Texas A&M
Gene Stallings, Alabama
Barry Switzer, Oklahoma
George Welsh, Virginia
Wow! That's a pretty impressive coaching brain-trust. Can you imagine the stories these guys could tell? (Can you imagine the pile of cash they've paid to field their starting lineups?!) There are a couple of notable omissions - Tom Osborne, Lou Holtz, and Darryl Royal immediately come to mind - but who's to say that they weren't asked as well. I don't know how these guys were selected or if the list could eventually be expanded, but the idea of the MCS is great.
I can see this idea crumbling under the weight of the collective egos, but if it succeeds, the poll could give guys like Paterno & Bowden a new role after they hang up their whistles, presuming that the speaking tour and golf course don't claim them first.
As far as polls go, it would be really hard not to think that the MCS would instantly become the 800lb gorilla. I mean, how can you say that these guys don't know what they're talking about?!
Comments:
posted on July 15, 2005 11:13 AM — link — abuse?Kevin Donahue said:
Funny you should mention that. Fanblogs has done a poll for the last year: Fanblogs XIV
Heath said:
posted on July 15, 2005 2:44 PM — 24.30.242.77 — link — abuse?
I understand the concern about multiple polls, but this sounds like the best idea yet! I very rarely watch TV, outside of college football, but I would watch a show with these guys discussing their choices and observations EVERY DAY! I mean, the difference between these guys discussing the game and a normal sports reporter would be like the difference between Steven Spielberg discussing one of his movies and a movie critic discussing it. These coaches know the inner workings of a team, a coach's mind, a program, etc. better than anyone. DO IT! DO IT!
Heath Truitt said:
posted on July 15, 2005 2:46 PM — 24.30.242.77 — link — abuse?
I understand the concern about multiple polls, but this sounds like the best idea yet! I very rarely watch TV, outside of college football, but I would watch a show with these guys discussing their choices and observations EVERY DAY! I mean, the difference between these guys discussing the game and a normal sports reporter would be like the difference between Steven Spielberg analyzing one of his movies and a movie critic analyzing it. These coaches know the inner workings of a team, a coach's mind, a program, etc. better than anyone. DO IT! DO IT!
posted on July 15, 2005 4:05 PM — link — abuse?
Don't forget Brett "never coached a game in his life" from Fanblogs comments.
There's not a single guy on the list that doesn't have street cred. A lot of schools would give their eye teeth to have one of these guys on the sidelines.
posted on July 15, 2005 4:27 PM — 209.16.242.81 — link — abuse?
Dain: you make your comments as though there haven't been dozens-to-hundreds of college football Top X polls run every year for about as long as football as been around.
Just because you've only heard of two of them doesn't mean there are only two.
Jeff said:
posted on July 15, 2005 7:10 PM — 24.197.126.228 — link — abuse?
Pete,
Exactly.... there's a poll that gave Arkansas a title that nobody else did in the 50s or 60s. There used to be a ton of polls all the way up into the 80s at least. That's why there was always the term "consensus" National Champions when it wasn't split. It wasn't just the 2 main ones now.mouse said:
posted on July 23, 2005 3:18 PM — 151.200.170.254 — link — abuse?
These guys are all geezers. I don't think they'll have the energy to follow the teams. Another biased poll based off the 1 or 2 games watched over the weekend...and the scores that they'll see in the Sunday paper or a .com site. I don't see the gain.
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Matt said:
posted on July 15, 2005 8:52 AM — 24.99.86.118 — link — abuse?I think the MCS poll is a great idea; I'm surprised one of the only articles about it is the AJC article. Good post.