I didn't want to post this on the football board because too many there think football is everything.

Who do you think are the best coaches on campus?

I think our three best coaches are:

Gary Blair - transformed our women's bball team from awful awful awful to national contender. He is an excellent team leader, recruiter, and tireless A&M champion.

Steve Bultman - I don't think women's swimming was ever awful at A&M, but we were a nobody and clear stepchild to Texas before Bultman. We now have an NCAA top 10 program, Olympians, and the potential for multiple NCAA champions. A&M needs to promote him more - increase his visibility and earn the respect he deserves.

G Guerrieri - 13 (now 14?) trips to the NCAA tournament speaks for itself. It seems that no matter how hard Texas tries they can't finish a season as well as we do. G's only faults are not advancing past the elite 8 and losing in Austin too many times.

Blair is #1, no question. Turned that team completely around and does it with class. Couldn't find a nicer guy than him...

I second your thoughts on Bultman...he's easily the most underappreciated coach on this campus considering the level of success he has attained...what he did was not easy by any stretch of the imagination...I never thought I'd see the day that an A&M swimming team would ever beat Texas

In my mind, when I rank the coaches, it's kind of like diving or gymnastics where they consider "degree of difficulty". Football is certainly not everything, but it is definitely one of, if not THE hardest sport to be successful in for a variety of reasons not the least of which is how competitive it is and how much pressure there is on the coaches.

I mean, there is a huge difference in how Mike Sherman is scrutinized by thousands on Texags and hundreds of thousands across the state and how Steve Bultman is scrutinized by a dozen people on the "Other Sports" board.

It is Texas A&M, so there is pressure on every coach to win...just some more than others.

So as far as pressure goes, I would say:

1. Football
2. Men's Basketball
3. Baseball
4. Women's Basketball
5. Softball
6. Soccer
7. Track

The rest of the teams tie for 8th. I base this list largely on media coverage as well, and I imagine that the coaches' salaries from high to low are commensurate with that list.

So yeah, obviously Gillispie was #1 until he skipped town. At this point I agree with the above posters except I would put Jo at 3 because Softball is a more high-profile sport than swimming.

1. Blair
2. G
3. Jo

Obviously any of the "big 3" sports coaches would vault to the top of this list with even 1 or 2 great years. If we make a final 4 (maybe even sweet 16), CWS, or BCS bowl and that trumps all, IMHO.

I have to agree that Jo Evans needs to be included in the mix.

I think there is potential for Pat Henry to crack that list soon, too.

Additionally, I think it should be stated that the head coaches we are recognizing work with exceptional staff members, as well.

Just because something is more popular doesn't necessarily make the job itself more difficult...There is just more B.S. to deal with...The amount of resources, both financially and personnel-wise, committed to making a head football coach's job easier to deal with is way, way higher than many of these coaches in other sports.

While there is pressure to win and win now in football and basketball, the million dollar paychecks sure help ease the pain if you do fail.

Success is measured across the board by one thing: winning. It doesn't matter if there are 80,000 or 800 people there to be successful. Trophies and achievement-based awards are the ultimate measure of success, not popularity. Thankfully we have many coaches that are racking up both of these.

[This message has been edited by Look Out Below (edited 12/2/2008 3:33p).]

I agree with Look Out Below. Yes football carries the most pressure. No doubt about that. But football also gets the most resources BY FAR of any sport at A&M. A&M has top 25 of everything (budget, facilities) for football. But way below top 25 results.

Jo Evans is a top caliber coach. Perhaps equal to G in retrospect.

Although Pat Henry is a top coach, I just don't think he has accomplished as much as the top 4 (including Jo).

The interesting thing is that with Jo Evans, the top 4 are all women's coaches.

Let's not forget the challenge of recruiting with a small number of scholarships in these sports. Sherman, Turgeon, and Blair get to offer full scholarships.

Bultman has to split 14 scholarships amongst all the swimmers and divers. He has to convince some kids to pay their own way, yet allocate more to kids from out of state or country to come to B/CS. Same number for soccer. Just 12 for softball. Men's baseball gets 11.7 (!).

Some very good points, esp. about a sport's popularity not having much to do with anyting.

That said, don't even try to compare the difficulty and pressure of coaching these other sports with football. I am actually a bigger fan of the non-revenue sports than I am of the big ones but even I have to concede...football coaches put in 80-hour weeks during the season and travel around the country almost nonstop during the offseason.

I have friends that coach D1 soccer and tennis. They work long hours (nowhere near football, but still long hours) during the season but during the offseason they work a LOT less than us 9-to-5ers do. Tennis doesn't trade game film, doesn't stay at the office til midnight formulating a game plan, doesn't have to do in-home visits (and if they do they are recruting for maybe 1 or 2 spots per year...3 max). It's really silly to even try and make the comparison.

A great point was made about recruiting with partial scholarships. That must be very difficult (not so much at A&M where the tuition is very reasonable, but definitely at private schools).

Anyway, just my .02

Blair
G
Jo
Henry

Harry - I won't argue a bit about how hard football coaches work. They are also paid very well.

But let's go back to the point (I think) of this thread. The best coaches. I don't think our best coaches on campus work in Kyle Field. At least it doesn't look look that way today to me.

[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 12/2/2008 9:08p).]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Childress yet. He has done a pretty remarkable turnaround job so far.

in his three years:
Big XII tourney champs
Big XII reg. season champs
2 regional championships
2 super-regional berths

He has the benefit of a great assistant coach in Deggs IMHO, but some could argue that so does Blair in Schaeffer. Not saying I disagree, just throwing his name in the mix...also he is projected to have the Ags as a consensus top 5 team in the preseason.

I'm not saying that Sherman is the best coach at A&M, but I don't think he has been here long enough to even be considered in the running. One year with collegiate athletes makes it hard to judge.

I also agree with a previous poster (I think) saying that it is very subjective. There are so many different variables in each sport that makes it so hard to determine the "best coach". Its like comparing apples to oranges, ya they're both fruits, but which is the best fruit? Same thing with coaches. Each sport is so different, (how its played, how its coached) and everything is weighed so much differently (player talent, training importance, the mental edge, coaching strategy, etc). I just think its very hard to determine the single "best coach" at A&M

That being said, I think that overall, all sports included, A&M has one of the top overall coaching staffs in the country. Not only is A&M a place for the best athletes to come play, but it is definitely becoming a place for the best coaches in the nation, whether brought here from elsewhere, or developed from within.

1. G
2. G
3. G

give 'em time, but no one else is close yet

I don't think you can say that no one is close since Jo Evans had them in the NCAA Championship game last year.

I am not about to rank a 1st/2nd/3rd but Coach G has to be in that mix.

Great stuff on this thread. Gotta throw Bobby K from tennis in the mix. He may not have many conference trophies in the case, but he runs a super clean program and graduates his ladies as true members of the Aggie family. And while I don't believe he would ever do it, Bobby would make a great AD.

^
|
Building Champions?

I agree this is a subjective topic. Childress could be a top 3 coach if he keeps going. I also agree G is a great coach and has a long history of success. But when will he break through the elite 8.

I don't think running a clean program and graduating your athletes is enough to be a great coach. You gotta win a lot.

So maybe the list needs have five names on it. Add G and Jo Evans to the OP's list. Childress on the edge. Maybe Pat Henry too.

We're close to the top in a handful of sports, and we definately have great coaches in:

W. Basketball,
softball,
and soccer

quote:

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I don't think running a clean program and graduating your athletes is enough to be a great coach.

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I agree. What that makes you is a great guy.

I just don't think you can knock a guy too hard that has made the NCAAs 12 out of the last 13 years or whatever. I don't think he's a great coach, but someone that knows more than me about tennis: How many coaches out there in women's college tennis are better? I can't imagine that there are too many.

It appears that he's the R.C. Slocum of women's tennis.

Childress definitely needs to be on that list. He might be at the top of it in 2-3 years.

IMO...
1. Gary Blair. Can't argue with results. Worked his magic, runs a clean program, and teaches his players to do things the right way.

2. Pat Henry. His record speaks for itself. We'll be seeing a lot more Ags in the Olympics now that he's here. Still has work to do on men's side, but that he's our best shot at winning an NCAA title in the near future should alone get him on this list.

3. Rob Childress. Conference title in year 3, 2x Super Regionals, plus he almost recruits too well. The baseball program is in very good hands.

I'd also like to point out that none of those three appear ready to leave A&M any time soon, and all are Byrne hires.

G is hurt by his lack of post-season success.
Jo inherited a program where "Texas A&M" actually means something important. She's taken too long to get us back to where we've been.
I would argue Denton will be making this list in the coming years.

quote:

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Building Champions?

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Doesn't say 'Building Championships' now does it? Plain and simple - Bobby builds champions. He makes NCAA's nearly every year, competes with TX an Baylor for tops in the Big 12, and brings pride to Aggie athletics with the way he runs his program.

No one else but Coach G and Joe Evan have had the same amount of long term success in terms of making the post season. Rag on Bobby all you want Cooter - you do it every year. But Coach K keeps winning. Is his team elite? Are they a tennis dynasty? Nope. But he wins and competes for conference titles every season.

Bobby K a great coach? He has one of the top facilites in the country and comparartively good resourses yet he has consistently mediocre results. His teams are usually ranked around thirty and occasionallly he may break into the top twenty. How many times has he gone beyond the second round in the NCAAs? Has he ever sniffed the top ten. Has anyone out side of Texas A&M ever spoken of this program as a top program? His recruits are certainly nice young woman but how many have ever been ranked in the top 15 in singles - ever? How many SWC of Big Twelve titles has he won in the last twenty years? One or two? He is light years away from being a top coach.

Each to their own.

I mean he's not the John Wooden of college tennis or anything but he's not as awful as you're making him sound.

By the way Kleinecke HAS made it to the sweet 16 (2004), won a SWC championship, and two Big XII championships (2003 and 2004). One of them was a tournament championship but we're going to count that b/c we sure as hell count them in other sports like soccer, don't we?

Make a list of coaches that HAVE done the things you listed (Made it past the 2nd round of NCAAs, had all-american players, won multiple conference titles).

There is only one coach who has done better in our conference and maybe a dozen in the country. Again, those of you slamming him: Make a list of coaches that have had more success over the last 10 years. It's harder than you think.



[This message has been edited by Harry Dunne (edited 12/7/2008 7:47p).]

Well said Harry

nm

[This message has been edited by Harry Dunne (edited 12/7/2008 8:05p).]

Pat Henry-17 National titles at LSU. That's all!!

^
When he wins one for A&M, then I'll agree.

He is definitely getting close - especially with the women. This spring might be it.

Denton will never make the list.

Olsen- not sure how you can say no one else is even close to G. WOW. Blair had his team in the elite 8 last year, which is the best that G has ever done, and he took over a program that was the dreg of college womens bb.

and what about Henry, who has resurrected both the womens and men's track teams to have them both in the top 3 in the country?

With all of G's talent and resources, he needs to start cracking the final four before he could ever be considered the best coach here, imo.

midtn,

you never answered my question in the other thread. what, in your opinion, is wrong with denton and mckinley, and who would you rather have?

I think Denton will do a good job. I like the recruiting he has done so far.

In principle, I have a problem with coaches being obese. I think it's hard to ask your kids to have discipline when you so obviously lack it. Other than that, I think he's doing a good job so far.

quote:

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Gotta throw Bobby K from tennis in the mix. He may not have many conference trophies in the case, but he runs a super clean program

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Hilarious.