With the Big Twelve spending the week touting its football teams in Kansas City, maybe it's time to check out how some of the coaches in the league rate with their players. CoachRatings.com ranks college coaches based on a series of questions answered by athletes who've had direct experience with the coach. It's not a perfectly balanced system, but it appears they've done their best to make the ratings fair for all.
Before the players are allowed to vote, their identity must be validated by an outside source, usually their high school coach. Until a coach has a minimum of 10 ratings, their numbers are considered "pending", because they could be skewed one way or the other. It's a 10 point system.
Nationally, Iowa's Kirk Ferentz ranks number one with a 9.7. Not all coaches have been rated, because not every school has had players voting. Among Big 12 schools here's how the rankings shake out, including coaches who departed after last season.
Mack Brown - Texas (9.5)
Mike Leach - Texas Tech (9.0) rating pending (not enough qualifying votes)
Gary Barnett - Colorado (8.3)
Dan McCarney - Iowa State (8.0)
Bob Stoops - Oklahoma (7.8)
Gary Pinkel - Missouri (7.4)
Dennis Franchione -Texas A&M (6.9)
Bill Snyder - Kansas State (5.4)
Barnett, who was ousted in the off season at Colorado, had 60% of his players/voters described him as "well respected". 16% more said he was "a mentor/role model". He also received solid marks for caring about his players off the field. 45% of his players said UT's Mack Brown was "a mentor/role model", the other 55% used "father figure" and "well respected" to best describe him.
MU's Gary Pinkel was most described as "well respected" and "drill sergeant". No suprise on the second one there. He also received good marks for emphasizing getting a degree and treating players the same no matter what their race. KU's Mark Mangino doesn't show up on the list, apparently not having any votes. I can't say if that's a good or bad thing. Many coaches don't appear on the list.
Interestingly, newly retired Kansas State coach Bill Snyder is tied for last in the rankings. While 40% of his players said he was "well respected", 48% described him as "corrupt". I'm guessing that's not a good thing. This is from opinions entered by 25 former players, so take from it what you will. Snyder received high marks for emphasizing getting a degree and most players said it was his way or the highway at K-State.
Are there any suprises here? In Snyder's case it may be that several players with bad experiences skewed his numbers, but if you look at the coaches rated nationally you find that most of the men who who run solid, winning programs, such as Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech, Jim Tressel at Ohio State, Mark Richt at Georgia and Chuck Amato at N.C. State scored well, above 8.2 each. Another old school coach, Joe Paterno, didn't fare that well either at 6.5.
Maybe the rating is an indication Snyder made the decision to step down at the right time. It would be nice to see ratings on all coaches. It might help some high school players when it comes to choosing a school to attend.