Mark Dantonio is just a phone call away.

You might as well go after Bellichek or Saban if you think any of those guys are leaving those programs after Spring practice. Ironically the only quality coach I can think of that would pull something like that is the one you just let go. Sure, go after Gruden. But the rest of those guys are not even worth thinking about.

The draft prospects are not that enticing because you only have them for one year and there will be a gigantic off-field distraction.

Really? Saban has outgrown his reputation of "I'll go anywhere at any time"? I never thought I'd see the day. From an Auburn fan, no less.

RichRod could probably be coaxed away...

Would be hilarious if Mallet were still there.

I'm sure you could forklift mark mangino into fayetteville

define tiers?

Two programs-- he got UH started back on the right track, which is how he got the Baylor job in the first place.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...&sct=hp_t11_a0

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...-his-mistress/

I'm not so sure that 4 years of petrino success makes Arky a 2nd tier place.

They were pretty good under Broyles in the 70s and Holtz in the 80s.

Tier 1 means you have a history of winning national titles and are usually contending for the conference championship. T2 teams are winning record teams that sometimes are in the conference race.

Oh, I thought he got the Baylor job just because nobody else wanted it.

that means tier 1+2 is like half the country. I think it's more nuanced than that.

tier one is schools is the elite. Bama, USC, etc. Expect multiple conference titles per decade and very often contend for national titles. These schools halfway recruit themselves.

tier two is schools who semi-frequently win conference titles and infrequently compete for national titles. Think UGA, Oregon.

Arkansas has never won an SEC title in 20 years of trying. Last year was probably the first time in 30 years or longer they finished in the top 5. They have a **** recruiting base surrounded by giants like Alabama, Texas and LSU. Basically, there's no way Arky is a tier 2 job. Arky might not even be in the top half of the SEC. I'd argue Bama, LSU, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Auburn are all above, and you could make arguments for TAMU and USCe.

ZOOK one time.

Edit: that might be the likker tawkin

Well the SEC is so strong that most of them outside of Vandy are T2.

btw there are only 3 tiers in BCS right? To use the Bug12. eOSU and UM, 2 would be every one else except T3 of Indiana, Purdue, and Minnesota.

Arkansas it tier 2 but tier 2 is actually pretty dang good.

Of the 120 football programs I'd say maybe at most 10 are tier 1, another 15-20 probably tier 2. There's probably an order for them in those categories too, like some tier 2 programs are better than other t2's, etc.

T1 is like
Texas
Oklahoma
Nebraska?
Miami???
Florida St
OSU
Michigan
Alabama
USC
LSU
Florida

I think that's it, may be missing one or two.

Nebraska: tier 1 or 2? Currently.

Because something I read (on teh woopig probably) during the search that produced Petrino went: we are a rural state with only one city that is mid-size at best. How can we compete for NC? Ask ****ing Nebraska, they're the same thing we are.

that's like half the top tier 1&2 teams, wtf

that's pretty much the whole B1G and most of the SEC.

The makings of a t1 school are like a long tradition of serious winning (national and conference titles), a huge fan base, national media coverage on a regular basis, awesome facilities, and a ton of money to pour into the program. It's a rather arbitrary term of course.

This is probably a good rough estimate

http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data...m_rankings.php

Through whatever made up ranking components they threw together it produces a list that is probably a decent rule of thumb, I wouldnt' get hung up on individual order, but just the general neighborhood a team is in. It also is counting all of time equally, so programs that became powerhouses only recently (like within the past few decades) are probably lower than they should be, teams like Florida, FSU, Miami, etc. It's like the entire state of Florida didn't discover football till the 80's. Programs that were powerhouses for along time but have fallen off are probably too high, but whatever.

1 Alabama
2 Notre Dame (IN)
3 Southern California
4 Oklahoma
5 Michigan
6 Ohio St.
7 Texas
8 Nebraska
9 Louisiana St.
10 Tennessee
11 Georgia
12 Penn St.
13 Florida
14 Miami (FL)
15 Georgia Tech
16 Auburn (AL)
17 Minnesota
18 Washington
19 Pittsburgh (PA)
20 Texas A&M
21 Florida St.
22 Arkansas
23 UCLA
24 Michigan St.
25 Illinois
26 Wisconsin
27 Stanford (CA)
28 Iowa
29 Mississippi
30 Texas Christian
31 California
32 Princeton (NJ)
33 Clemson (SC)
34 Yale (CT)
35 Missouri
36 Purdue (IN)
37 Pennsylvania
38 Syracuse (NY)
39 Colorado
40 Army (NY)
41 Oregon
42 Harvard (MA)
43 Northwestern (IL)
44 Baylor (TX)
45 Navy (MD)
46 North Carolina
47 Vanderbilt (TN)
48 Mississippi St.
49 Kansas
50 Southern Methodist (TX)
51 Rice (TX)
52 Kentucky
53 Indiana
54 Tulane (LA)
55 Duke (NC)
56 Maryland
57 Cornell (NY)
58 Oregon St.
59 Washington St.
60 Virginia Tech
61 West Virginia
62 Oklahoma St.
63 Dartmouth (NH)
64 South Carolina
65 Texas Tech
66 Boston College (MA)
67 Virginia
68 North Carolina St.
69 Iowa St.
70 Kansas St.
71 Houston (TX)
72 Brown (RI)
73 Arizona
74 Arizona St.
75 Colgate (NY)
76 Wake Forest (NC)
77 Grambling St. (LA)
78 Rutgers (NJ)
79 Columbia (NY)
80 Lafayette (PA)
81 Air Force (CO)
82 Florida A&M
83 Tulsa (OK)
84 Holy Cross (MA)
85 Lehigh (PA)
86 Southern Mississippi
87 Utah
88 Tennessee St.
89 Brigham Young (UT)
90 Southern (LA)
91 Boise St. (ID)
92 Bucknell (PA)
93 Delaware
94 Villanova (PA)
95 Furman (SC)
96 North Dakota St.
97 Cincinnati (OH)
98 Georgia Southern
99 Temple (PA)
100 San Diego St. (CA)
101 Memphis (TN)
102 Louisville (KY)
103 Louisiana Tech
104 Miami (OH)
105 Hawaii
106 Fordham (NY)
107 William & Mary (VA)
108 Appalachian St. (NC)
109 Georgetown (DC)
110 Jackson St. (MS)
111 East Carolina (NC)
112 South Carolina St.
113 San Jose St. (CA)
114 Sewanee (TN)
115 Wyoming
116 Colorado St.
117 Dayton (OH)
118 Fresno St. (CA)
119 Idaho
120 Drake (IA)
121 North Texas
122 Virginia Military Institute
123 Montana
124 Utah St.
125 Alcorn St. (MS)

yeah that list is trash, mainly because it overrates history.

I did forget ND though. Tenn is probably a Q mark as well.

You might want to brush up on your geography

how bout this for tier 1? has your coach ever left for a "better" college job? or even been rumored? ie, it means that school is a stepping stone. afaik, no coach from osu, um, nd, usc, texas, bama have.

this is pretty good

Another list, by the Billingsley guy, once again completely arbitrary pulled out of butt numbers, but it's about how you would expect.

http://www.cfrc.com/Archives/Top_Programs_2011.htm