Spurrier is better than Woody & Bo
By Gene Sapakoff
COLUMBIA -- Steve Spurrier has partly himself to blame. The Head Ball Coach was on a blue-ribbon panel The Sporting News assembled before unveiling its list of "Sports' 50 Greatest Coaches."
Every sport.
All-time.
The panel of more than 100 included current coaches (including the College of Charleston's Bobby Cremins), former coaches (they asked Lou Holtz) and other experts (but not Erin Andrews).
Spurrier said he is not surprised he didn't make the cut.
"If Roy Williams at North Carolina wasn't in the top 50, I don't feel bad at all," Spurrier said.
Asked if factors such as major NCAA violations and probation should be included when assembling such lists, Spurrier shrugged and said such calls are for "you media guys."
Yes, cheating and other scandals should count.
And Spurrier and his clean slate belong among the top 50.
The Sporting News top 10:
1. John Wooden
2. Vince Lombardi
3. Bear Bryant
4. Phil Jackson
5. Don Shula
6. Red Auerbach
7. Scotty Bowman
8. Dean Smith
9. Casey Stengel
10. Knute Rockne
No Spurrier issue here, though Shula and Stengel are ranked way too high. Maybe a trend is developing: People really like Don Shula and a lot of people still don't like Steve Spurrier.
Passing fancy
The second 10:
11. Pat Summitt
12. Paul Brown
13. Joe Paterno
14. George Halas
15. Chuck Noll
16. Bob Knight
17. Joe Gibbs
18. Tom Landry
19. Mike Krzyzewski
20. Bill Belichick
Again, Spurrier is not a top 20 candidate. But he is 1-0 against Belichick.
As much as winning a national title and six Southeastern Conference championships, the Spurrier ticket is innovation. He breathed fun into SEC football with a passing attack that made others play catch-up. No SEC coach before or since changed the game quite as much.
The third 10
21. Adolph Rupp
22. Joe McCarthy
23. Eddie Robinson
24. Bobby Bowden
25. John McGraw
26. Bill Walsh
27. Woody Hayes
28. Connie Mack
29. Bud Wilkinson
30. Pat Riley
Woody Hayes won three national titles and 13 Big Ten titles at Ohio State. But 'ol Woody disgraced himself and his university when he slugged a Clemson football player in a bowl game.
Spurrier stepped in to help restore rivalry order after Clemson and South Carolina players slugged each other.
The Duke test
Surely, Spurrier belongs somewhere in this fourth 10:
31. Pete Newell
32. Joe Torre
33. Bill Parcells
34. Tom Osborne
35. Walter Alston
36. Bo Schembechler
37. Toe Blake
38. Sparky Anderson
39. Al Arbour
40. Amos Alonzo Stagg
Bo Schembechler was a fine "Michigan man."
But, c'mon now, do you think Bo could have won at Duke?
Spurrier won at Duke, capturing a share of the 1989 Atlantic Coast Conference crown with less talent on the roster than any ACC champion of the last 35 years.
Schembechler overall: 234-65-8 (.775).
Hayes overall: 238-72-10 (.759).
Spurrier overall: 170-62-2 (.731).
Do you know what kind of Big Ten riff-raff Woody and Bo coached against all those years?
Yet there is no Head Ball Coach in the final 10:
41. Tony La Russa
42. Geno Auriemma
43. Dick Irvin
44. Ara Parseghian
45. Chuck Daly
46. Bobby Cox
47. Hank Iba
48. Tommy Lasorda
49. Gregg Popovich
50. Herb Brooks
Spurrier and Roy Williams (also on the panel) are not the only omissions. Ex-Dallas Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson was pretty good at winning Super Bowls and Denny Crum's underrated Louisville basketball accomplishments look better every year.
So Spurrier is in good company, which makes for a feistier debate.
Reach Gene Sapakoff at gsapakoff@postandcourier.com.
or 937-5593.
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Comments
tallblonde (anonymous) says...
Hey - Even The Sporting News has its standards....*LOL*
**GO DAWGS!**
August 16, 2009 at 9:40 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
bigriver1 (anonymous) says...
When you coach at sc you become the laughing stock. Did it to himself.
** GO SOONERS **
August 16, 2009 at 10:08 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ashleyriver (anonymous) says...
bigriver---looks like your Sooners are loaded for grizzly again this season. Hope they can beat the 'horns......the Red River Clash ought to be a doozy.
(btw--articles/rankings like this are designed to do little more than "spur" discussion and arguments....be sure to take as just that...it certainly isn't definitive)
August 16, 2009 at 11:13 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
bigriver1 (anonymous) says...
Thanks Ashley. Horns will be tough as always. Sam is a good one. Lets get it on already.
I am a transplant from OK. Just get tired of these lamecocks who have never done anything talking bs.
I respect Clemson. They have many championships and put a whipping on my Sooners once. They have a right to talk.
Shamecocks talk, but why?
100 years, never played in a major bowl? Pitiful.
August 16, 2009 at 11:47 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
nappyd (anonymous) says...
If we're going to talk teams whipping up on crappy teams like Ohio State & Michigan have done for decades, let's not forget Alabama actually had an easy SEC slate for years. Simply, the SEC of today wasn't the same thing especially not during segregation.
Something else to wonder about: are the coaches on this list really that good or were they simply lucky enough to have better/best players than anyone else? and it doesn't just apply to college football or MLB baseball. Phil Jackson is an example because he's always had the best or close to the best players in the league. From MJ to Shaq to Kobe. He wouldn't have had his record if he coached the Clippers.
August 16, 2009 at 11:54 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
nature_lover (anonymous) says...
bigriver1, glad you chimed in for the Big XII. Since you're in that conference, let's not forget the man responsible for the greatest turnaround in college football history (go ahead and google it), and the mentor of your coach and many others.
August 16, 2009 at 1:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Human77 (anonymous) says...
How does this Sapakoff guy have a job? Comparing Spurrier to Woody and Bo? He should not even be mentioned in the same sentence as them. Woody and Bo are legends, Old ball coach had a good run at Florida, but has done nothing in the past decade. Duke has a football program? Not now and not then. By the way, Woody won 5 National Championships, coached the only 2 time Heisman trophy winner of all time, and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame! As Woody once said "To hell with exciting. I'd rather be drab as hell and win." Go Bucks!
August 16, 2009 at 4:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tallblonde (anonymous) says...
Human77 - I think Gene meant "Spurrier is better than Woody Woodpecker & Bo-o Boo" (Yogi Bear's sidekick)....that's the only explanation I can think of.... ;-)
....apologies to Woody Woodpecker & Yogi & Boo-Boo....
August 16, 2009 at 6:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
coxysworld64 (anonymous) says...
First off, Human77, well said and GO BUCKS!! Second, this reporter obviously is a diehard Spurrier fan. What has he done lately? Nada. As for OSU and Michigan whipping on crappy teams, so what, they still have to play the game. So this means that Miami(Fla) was a crappy team when they played OSU in the NC in 2002 and all of those great USC (University of Southern California, not South Carolina all you wishful thinkers) and UCLA teams of the 70's are now merely reduced to being a crappy team because Ohio State beat a few of them in the Rose Bowl. Every Notre Dame team has now been reduced to being crappy because they played Michigan. What have the "great and mighty" South Carolina teams done? Be crappy, play crappy, and give all the ACC and SEC powerhouses a guaranteed win on their schedules. I'm pretty sure if you were to ask Rich Rodriguez(Michigan) and Jim Tressel(Ohio State) if they would like to play either of those SC teams this year that they would jump at the chance to throw an oldschool beat down on "them there Southern boys". Then South Carolina and Clemson would be reduced (really?) to being crappy teams because they played Ohio State and Michigan. Have a nice day!!!
August 16, 2009 at 8:50 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
surfer (anonymous) says...
South Carolina is 2-0 against your good ole buckeyes, or maybe you forgot the back to back whoopings we put on y'all a few years back. Also if you think Sapakof is a Spurrier homer then you obviously don't read his columns much.
THE (???) Ohio State 0-9 against the SEC and 0-2 against the poor old Gamecocks. What a proud tradition.
August 16, 2009 at 9:07 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JRob (anonymous) says...
Bo is the only person on that list without a championship. He shouldn't be on it. You can argue who should replace him--Roy Williams, Jim Calhoun, Spurrier or someone else.
August 16, 2009 at 9:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
coxysworld64 (anonymous) says...
surfer umm 31-28 with a last second field goal in 2002 isn't a whooping, just a well played game by both sides. But 24-7 in 2001 is a whooping so you're 50% there. 1st time I've read Sapakof's column and probably the last. OSU all time record is 808-305-53 and those mere 11 games are just a small cog in our proud tradition. South Carolina all-time 528-529-44. OSU consensus All-Americans 168. South Carolina 51. OSU started in 1890, SC in 1892. Our tradition is winning, SC's is about 50% there.
August 16, 2009 at 10:15 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
surfer (anonymous) says...
True the last second field goal wasn't a whooping, but the best part about those victories is they came in large part on the back of a former Ohio state Mr. Football who was shunned by your proud university. Just goes to show pride won't get you very far. Also, it was dang cold that first year. I honestly was surprised our boys played as well as they did in the cold. The low the day of the game was a record setting 39 degrees if I'm not mistaken. Down right freezing by Tampa standards.
Also you'd be better served not reading any more of Sapakof's columns unless it's a column before a bowl where either the Gamecocks or the Tiggers are going to be playing your Buckeyes. Even then it'll still probably be a waste of time. Trust me on this. I read them, but I guess it's because I'm a glutton for punishment. I am a Gamecock after all.
August 16, 2009 at 10:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
coxysworld64 (anonymous) says...
surfer hope the gamecocks have a good season this year and maybe we'll see each other in a bowl game soon. ahhh yes football season has finally arrived. i was getting bored with all of the michael jackson this and healthcare reform that. finally something worthwhile to spend our time on.
August 16, 2009 at 11:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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