Best Ever College Fooball Coaches

#52
#52
tvolsfan said:
The Bear won multiple national titles pre integration, didn't he? You really think SWAC schools would dominate them? I obviously didn't watch these games, but it seems unlikely that SWAC schools would dominate, when they didn't really dominate all the other teams the played.
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Imagine a whites only college football team today. Then, imagine them playing Florida or USC. That's the answer. Grambling would have killed Bryant's segregated teams.
 
#53
#53
The Bear did win three nat'l titles before Bama integrated and three after, so nobody is really predicating his coaching prowess on whether or not he had black players.
 
#54
#54
milohimself said:
The Bear did win three nat'l titles before Bama integrated and three after, so nobody is really predicating his coaching prowess on whether or not he had black players.
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Correct. He won under both systems. Guys like Johnny Vaught, not so much.
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#55
#55
hatvol96 said:
Correct. He won under both systems. Guys like Johnny Vaught, not so much.
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In bowl games, they didn't play teams outside the south?

I'm actually not sure. I assumed they would have, but I could be wrong.

Either way, I'm still not really high on Robinson. He won most of his titles after integration, and even if they did have talent, it doesn't mean the other coaches were up to his level. He could still take advantage of the competition just as easily, unless he had more competition from other guys.

While we're on the subject, did Bryant really schedule USC so the university would let him integrate the team?
 
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#57
#57
tvolsfan said:
While we're on the subject, did Bryant really schedule USC so the university would let him integrate the team?
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One of Bryant's assistant coaches said Sam Cunningham did more to integrate the South in 20 minutes than Martin Luther King Jr did in 20 years
 
#58
#58
tvolsfan said:
IWhile we're on the subject, did Bryant really schedule USC so the university would let him integrate the team?
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Yes, and most of the coaches in the SWAC during Robinson's era were better than the rednecks running SEC programs.
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#59
#59
justingroves said:
One of Bryant's assistant coaches said Sam Cunningham did more to integrate the South in 20 minutes than Martin Luther King Jr did in 20 years
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Which is one of the most accurate statements of all time.
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#60
#60
justingroves said:
One of Bryant's assistant coaches said Sam Cunningham did more to integrate the South in 20 minutes than Martin Luther King Jr did in 20 years
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Just for accuracy:

"Jerry Claiborne, a Bryant assistant, said, 'Sam Cunningham did more to integrate Alabama in 60 minutes than Martin Luther King did in 20 years.'"
 
#61
#61
hatvol96 said:
Yes, and most of the coaches in the SWAC during Robinson's era were better than the rednecks running SEC programs.
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Are you sure about that, or just assuming? I find that very surprising. I don't know all that much about the SWAC, especially not what happened long before I was born. However, most of his success seems to be post-integration, and I still have a hard time including him on the list. I'm not saying he's wasn't very good, but I still don't think he's on the level of some of the other guys, many of whom did it at a higher level.
 
#62
#62
Since I started the thread, I guess I'll list my 5.

1. Bear Bryant
2. Knute Rockne
3. Woody Hayes
4. Bud Wilkinson
5. General Neyland

I probably left some people out, but I'll put more thought into it later.

And with that being said, I think Saban has a good chance to make this list in the future, and possibly Meyer as well.
 
#63
#63
The caliber of both players and coaches in the SWAC pre-integration is absolutely staggering. Nearly every great black player of the 1960s or 1970s came from that conference or from another HBCU.

Off the all-time AFL team, Clem Daniels (Prairie View A&M), Winston Hill (Texas Southern), Willie Brown and Buck Buchanan (Grambling), Tombstone Jackson (Southern). From the NFL's all-1960s team came Leroy Kelly (Morgan State), Willie Davis (Grambling), Deacon Jones (South Carolina State), and Lem Barney (Jackson State). From the NFL's all-1970s team were Walter Payton (Jackson State), Art Shell (Maryland-Eastern Shore), Rayfield Wright (Fort Valley State), Larry Little (Bethune-Cookman), Harold Carmichael (Southern), Ken Houston (Prairie View A&M), LC Greenwood (Arkansas-Pine Bluff), and Robert Brazile (Jackson State).

Yeah, these guys could play a little football. That doesn't even include guys like Otis Taylor either.
 
#64
#64
I think Bill Snyder for Kansas state should be in the discussion as well. He turned around the losingest program in College football. The way he turned around KSU was pretty revolutionary and I highly suggest reading his book about it. The man is a genius in his own right.
 
#65
#65
CornPoke said:
I think Bill Snyder for Kansas state should be in the discussion as well. He turned around the losingest program in College football. The way he turned around KSU was pretty revolutionary and I highly suggest reading his book about it. The man is a genius in his own right.
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Dropping admission standards to next to nothing and using JUCO players is revolutionary?
 
#66
#66
I always feel the need to give Howard Schenllenberger props for changing the game as we know it.
 
#68
#68
JoePa has been great, but his legacy would have been a lot better if he retired a while ago. Still doesn't diminish his accomplishments, but if he left after the 1986 season (just cut it off after his second and final national title to see it would have looked if he retired at age 60), I think his resume would look even better, despite the fact he wouldn't have the all time record. He would have had an winning percentage close to that of the General.
 
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#70
#70
I'm actually a little surprised Neyland isn't getting more love. Yes, I know he coached earlier on, but he did win 4 of UT's 6 titles in just 23 years (or something like that) and won a ridiculous percentage of games while dominating the Bear.
 
#72
#72
Lexvol said:
I always feel the need to give Howard Schenllenberger props for changing the game as we know it.
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I bet Howard occasionally sits late at night with a fine scotch and his pipe and wonders what might have been if he hadn't lost his mind and left the U for the USFL.
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#73
#73
Lexvol said:
I always feel the need to give Howard Schenllenberger props for changing the game as we know it.
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JJohnson was the real catalyst for the speed over size on D change. He's easily one of the top 5 ever, but his longevity leaves him from the debate.
 
#74
#74
tvolsfan said:
When exactly did the SEC teams begin integration?

And in any case, how many of his championships were prior to integration beginning?
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Nat Northington

KENTUCKY WIDEOUT (1966-67)

Northington and Greg Page both arrived at Kentucky in the fall of 1966 as the first black football players in SEC history.

Nat Northington

Northington became the one to officially break the color barrier on the field one year later, but that historic moment didn't come without heartbreak.

During an August practice in 1967, the Wildcats ran a pursuit drill that they had done in hundreds of practices. The drill is simple: One player has the football, the 11 defenders chase him and each hits the ballcarrier once and then backs off. Page, a defensive end, was the ballcarrier on this particular drill, and when the defenders cleared out, Page didn't get up.

Page never got up again. He was paralyzed and required a respirator. He died 38 days later.

The next day, Northington, a wide receiver who was Page's roommate, became the first black player to participate in an SEC game. Northington played several minutes in UK's 26-13 loss to Ole Miss in Lexington and appeared in three more games before leaving the team, distraught over his friend's death.

According to a Kentucky spokesman, Northington now lives in Louisville and refuses all interview requests.

"He paved the way for everybody," Florida senior wide receiver Jemalle Cornelius said. "Him being the first African-American in the SEC is big for us. There were a lot of African-Americans who have hopes and dreams of playing in the SEC, and that wouldn't have happened without him."

Trailblazers of the SEC | Jacksonville.com
 
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