best coach/worst coach in your program's history

[BigSkyBears]

Rich Kotite.

The best or worst?

[kdinva]

Best:
John McKenna, 1953-1965, numerous SoCon championships (and usually playing only 3 games in Lex., out of 10), VMI's last undefeated season (9-0-1 in 1957).
Also, Bob Thalman, 1971-1983, two SoCon championships, most of the time did more with less (similar to Mills at Char. South).

Worst:
Ted Cain, 1997-1998, 3-18, had a "Full Metal Jacket" attitude with the players (who already got enough of that away from football), ran off more players than Chief Brodie did on the beach of the "Jaws" set when he screamed: "SHARK!!!!!)

[billsheets]

Best: tubby raymond 300 wins in 35 years. Very honorable mention: bill murray and david nelson. 61 years,420+ wins, 6 national titles and 3 college football hall of fame coaches. We at UD have been truly blessed. WORST anyone before 1940.

[Aho Old Guy]

[clenz]

NDSU

Gil Dobie was undefeated but was only there a couple years, so the best coach would be Darrell Mudra, who turned the program around in the early 1960's and won the first of 8 National Championships.

Worst record was Del Anderson 1-16-1 in 1954-55 seasons.


PS: Even Darrell Mudra couldn't win a championship at UNI

I think Mudra would be near the top of the list at any of his schools...sans Arizona (or whoever it was) where he was there for two years and won 4 games.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

Clawson (Best)
J. Marshall (Worst)

[youngterrier]

Best is Jerry Moore. Longest tenured coach by a mile. 3 National Titles. 21 years at App with a .79 win percentage is pretty impressive.

Not sure who the worst is. There are a few with short tenures and bad records, but I don't know enough about them to say who the worst is.

And, off topic question for a Wofford fan... was Bob Breitenstein... Appalachian's coach in 1959... Eric Breitenstein's grandfather? I knew Eric was from the Boone area and saw that name on the list of App's coaches and got curious.

yes I'm 95% sure he is. I heard something about that recently at least. EB's older brother also played at App State for one of their national championships.

Best Coach for Wofford College: Mike Ayers

worst: we've had other coaches?

[Ivytalk]

Harvard's current coach, Tim Murphy, is hands-down best.

Worst? I could look it up, but I'm too lazy.

[g-webb1994]

Best: Woody Fish. Patton has done well, and you can make a valid argument for him, but Woody is still an icon on campus. I remember taking a swimming course that he taught while at G-W, he was an absolute trip, and still is if you get to talk with him.

Worst: George Litton, although a real nice guy and current chair of the Cleveland County Board of Education.

One trivia nugget...1983, our head coach for one year with a 5-6 record...Ellis Johnson, current DC at South Carolina on Steve Spurrier's staff.

[jrj1976urspider]

I would have to say there is a tie for the best coach in University of Richmond football. Frank Jones (1966-1973) coached the Spiders to the only bowl victory in school history. 1968 Tangerine Bowl : Richmond 49 Ohio Univ. 42. Mike London coached the Spiders to the National Championship in 2008... Richmond 24 Montana 7. However, notice that I said London "coached" that team. He did not build that NC. Dave Clawson (2002-2007) recruited the players that made up that National Champion. As for the worst coach, I'm not sure. Richmond has had some woeful teams over the years. Dal Shealy had two winless campaigns (1979 &1982). From 1964 -1965 Richmond had the nation's longest losing streak of 19 games. The coach's name escapes me. Oh, wait a minute...his last name was Merrick.

[T-Dog]

Best - Jerry Moore. Not really much to debate there.

Worst - Mike Working. His name is banned on the MMB. Has a 1-2 record against Western. Screwed our program up so much that Mack Brown could only go 6-5 in his only year (including a 45-14 loss to Western) and Sparky Woods went 4-7 in 1984 (losing 34-7 to Western) before turning it around.

[AshevilleApp]

Best - Jerry Moore. Not really much to debate there.

Worst - Mike Working. His name is banned on the MMB. Has a 1-2 record against Western. Screwed our program up so much that Mack Brown could only go 6-5 in his only year (including a 45-14 loss to Western) and Sparky Woods went 4-7 in 1984 (losing 34-7 to Western) before turning it around.

"ASU Football isn't Working" "Coach Cantwell can't Coach Well". Great era for ASU sports.

[Appaholic]

Best - Jerry Moore. Not really much to debate there.

Worst - Mike Working. His name is banned on the MMB. Has a 1-2 record against Western. Screwed our program up so much that Mack Brown could only go 6-5 in his only year (including a 45-14 loss to Western) and Sparky Woods went 4-7 in 1984 (losing 34-7 to Western) before turning it around.

"ASU Football isn't Working" "Coach Cantwell can't Coach Well". Great era for ASU sports.

Coach Kevin Cantwin...

[Appaholic]

Best - Jerry Moore. Not really much to debate there.

Worst - Mike Working. His name is banned on the MMB. Has a 1-2 record against Western. Screwed our program up so much that Mack Brown could only go 6-5 in his only year (including a 45-14 loss to Western) and Sparky Woods went 4-7 in 1984 (losing 34-7 to Western) before turning it around.

Agree about Mike Working, but wouldn't lay Mack Brown's lack of success at this feet. This is the same Mack Brown who was 2-20 at UNC his first two years, never one a single big game his entire tenure at Carolina & was, with his brother Watson at Vandy, one-half of the "Lose Brothers".....

[bjtheflamesfan]

The same Mack Brown who went to Texas and has had a run of success (this year being the exception) that won them a national championship in 2006 and made him one of the top coaches in Longhorn history?

[CatMom]

The same Mack Brown who went to Texas and has had a run of success (this year being the exception) that won them a national championship in 2006 and made him one of the top coaches in Longhorn history?

The same

[Gil Dobie]

The same Mack Brown who went to Texas and has had a run of success (this year being the exception) that won them a national championship in 2006 and made him one of the top coaches in Longhorn history?

The same

How does Jim Wacker fit into Texas St Coaching lore?

[eagleskins]

GSU

Best

1a Paul Johnson
1b Erk Russell

Worst

1a Chris Hatcher
1b Brian Van Gorder

[Green Laser]

Best: Bob Mattos, 1978-1992 (Passed away last year at the age of 68) RIP. Wiinningest coach in school history, led the 1988 team to the DII playoffs where the Hornets won their first two games. An amazing man and coach.

Worst: Steve Mooshagian, 2003-2006 (Worst coach EVER!). This guy did absolutely nothing during his short tenure, except complain.

Herky,

I agree Coach Mattos was our best coach. Great Man, Great Coach, Great Hornet. Rest in peace Coach Mattos.

While Mooshagian is a proven loser at 11-33 (.250%) in three seasons we unfortunately have a had a even bigger loser.
Glenn Brady 1976-1977 was 2-18-1 for a blazing winning percentage of (.119%)! It's Brady's mess that Coach Mattos was hired to clean up.

[CatMom]

The same

How does Jim Wacker fit into Texas St Coaching lore?

Jim Wacker
Coach
1979-82 42-8 .840 winning %
3 Lone Star Conference Championships
2 NCAA DII Championships (81, 82)
AD 1998 - 2001
passed in 2003, after which the field was renamed


Before us Wacker also coached Texas Lutheran to 2 NAIA Championships and North Dakota made the DII semis under him.

[Aho Old Guy]

The same Mack Brown who went to Texas and has had a run of success (this year being the exception) that won them a national championship in 2006 and made him one of the top coaches in Longhorn history?

The same

The same Mack Brown that used John Settle to return kicks, and would have thrown Dino Hackett off the team if not for Sparky Woods.

[Aho Old Guy]

The same Mack Brown who went to Texas and has had a run of success (this year being the exception) that won them a national championship in 2006 and made him one of the top coaches in Longhorn history?

The same

The same Mack Brown that used John Settle to return kicks, and would have thrown Dino Hackett off the team if not for Sparky Woods.

...

Worst - Mike Working. His name is banned on the MMB. Has a 1-2 record against Western. Screwed our program up so much that Mack Brown could only go 6-5 in his only year (including a 45-14 loss to Western) and Sparky Woods went 4-7 in 1984 (losing 34-7 to Western) before turning it around.

Not my job to defend MW --- but he recruited the core players for Hack Brown and Sparky.

[bonarae]

Harvard:

The Crimson has had many coaches only lasting for a year, especially in the early years of football.

Best coach: Percy Haughton (classic era). 71-7-5 record for 9 seasons and we grabbed three national championships during that time period.
Tim Murphy (modern era), currently has five Ivy League championships credited to him. The 1997 squad was the first Harvard squad to go undefeated and untied in Ivy League play. 2001 and 2004 were also undefeated seasons.

In the 2000's, Harvard finished seventh in all of Division I (FBS/FCS combined) and second in the FCS level (Montana was first) in terms of the winning percentage of all games played.

Worst coach: Lloyd Jordan, 24-31-3 during seven seasons (last years as independent, 1950-53 and first three Ivy League years.)

[mainejeff]

For Maine:

Best - Tom Lichtenburg
Worst - Jack Cosgrove (unfortunately, he's both the winningest and losingest coach in Maine football history )

[JBB]

Earl Solmonson didnt do the NDSU program any favors. He stayed 2 yrs, used up all of Don Mortons great recruits, left the cupboard bare and quit during the playoffs to take a job in Montana, State or U I really cant remember, failed there and was gone.