Ranking the Head Coaches

[AUApostle 7,648]

Here are our head football coaches since Shug Jordan.  How would you rank them (Bill Oliver not included) from best to worst? 

 

Shug Jordan

Doug Barfield

Pat Dye

Terry Bowden

Tommy Tuberville

Gene Chizik

Gus Malzahn

 

[BakerBoys1234 0]

Pat (Brought us back)

Gene  (NC)

Tommy (Bama ×6)

Gus (NC appearance-2 greatest plays ever)

Terry (Winning streak)

Doug (I was in school then...)

[lca408 366]

Pat Dye

Tommy Tuberville

Terry Bowden

Gene Chizik

Gus Malzahn

Doug Barfield

 

It's weird seeing it like this. I'm not high on Terry Bowden but I can't quite put Gene over Terry just because he won an NC. Bowden at least made it to Atlanta in '97 with his own players and that was 5 years in. I think Gene would be a much better head coach now than he was when he was here but still, can't quite do it. To me, Pat and Tommy are solidly at the top but even there, you can't make the case that Tuberville is all that great. I guess I'm struck by how "blah" the coaches listed here are. Even though Dye is legendary in his own way, he's not what I would call a top tier coach in college football history. If Gus could ever learn how to actually function as a competent head coach on the field, he could move up.

 

[AUIH1 1,515]

15 minutes ago, lca408 said:

Pat Dye

Tommy Tuberville

Terry Bowden

Gene Chizik

Gus Malzahn

Doug Barfield

 

It's weird seeing it like this. I'm not high on Terry Bowden but I can't quite put Gene over Terry just because he won an NC. Bowden at least made it to Atlanta in '97 with his own players and that was 5 years in. I think Gene would be a much better head coach now than he was when he was here but still, can't quite do it. To me, Pat and Tommy are solidly at the top but even there, you can't make the case that Tuberville is all that great. I guess I'm struck by how "blah" the coaches listed here are. Even though Dye is legendary in his own way, he's not what I would call a top tier coach in college football history. If Gus could ever learn how to actually function as a competent head coach on the field, he could move up.

 

I would swap Gus and Chizik.  I think Chizik is a poor HC as he proved at Iowa State and AU (without Cam).  I can't stand Bowden, but I can see him third or behind Gus and Chizik.  Dye and Tuberville are clearly 1 and 2.

wde  

[steeleagle 2,945]

How you can not put a 

10 minutes ago, lca408 said:

Pat Dye

Tommy Tuberville

Terry Bowden

Gene Chizik

Gus Malzahn

Doug Barfield

 

It's weird seeing it like this. I'm not high on Terry Bowden but I can't quite put Gene over Terry just because he won an NC. Bowden at least made it to Atlanta in '97 with his own players and that was 5 years in. I think Gene would be a much better head coach now than he was when he was here but still, can't quite do it. To me, Pat and Tommy are solidly at the top but even there, you can't make the case that Tuberville is all that great. I guess I'm struck by how "blah" the coaches listed here are. Even though Dye is legendary in his own way, he's not what I would call a top tier coach in college football history. If Gus could ever learn how to actually function as a competent head coach on the field, he could move up.

 

I think all can agree on the top and bottom of this list.

I agree with most of your comments but I never liked using the reason 'his players'.  The key is the coach still found a way to get those same players to play at a higher level and win, so I give credit for sure to those coaches. 

The only coach I would change is I still have Chizik above Bowden. As long as we have wanted a NC, we got it with Chizik, and he HAS to get credit for doing it for us, regardless of excuses like "well he had Cam...any coach could win one with him". That is an assumption. Chizik did it. 

Bowden does deserve to be above Gus, because I think he was a very good on field coach. He beat Alabama 3 times. Maybe he was not a good recruiter, but maybe he needed a kick in the butt and time to change. I think he would have won back to back 10 wins seasons in his first 2 years if we had not been on probation. 

I do feel bad for Chizik and Malzahn, since they had to compete against Saban at his best, especially Gus. 

Gus could begin a move upward, but only if he beats GA and Alabama somehow. I don't think he will do it, and this will be his last year in the current situation he has his team. We will see.....

[cctiger 571]

Coach Dye

Coach Tuberville

Terry Bowden

Gus Malzahn

Doug Barfield

Gene Chizik.

I don't care if Chiz did win a NC, he is still absolutely the worst coach to ever walk the sidelines during my lifetime. And if Barfield had not been so stubborn and devoted to P.W.Underwood and had hired even a half decent DC, his coaching results would have been a lot more productive in terms of wins.  Bowden was a pretty good coach, he just didn't keep his mind in the right place and let it drift off to other things and other people......Tubs was good most of the time, he could have been better at times. He had his ups and downs but was fundamentally a good coach, and his zeal for recruiting lacked at times. Malfunctionzahn, I have no comment at this time since I was against his hiring from the start. Shug was the man, along with Coach Dye.

 

 

[Tiger 8,817]

Ranking Chizik is tough. Because while he was Larry Coker level bad it did yield us a national title.

But I will say Chizik did one hell of a job rehabilitating the program after 2008. We were as broken as we could've been at that point (this was before we knew we could reach 2012 level depths), and he got us seemingly back on track and started crushing it on the recruiting trail.

But all in all I think a national title and a worst season in a program's history cancel one another out. So if we take those out of the question Chizik may be on par with Gus. Gus is just more consistent with his mediocrity.

[80Tiger 899]

Dye

Shug

Tuberville

Chiz

Gus

Bowden

Barfield

[milehighfan 1,239]

1. Shug

2. Dye

3. Tubervile

4. Chizik 

5. Malzahn

6. Bowden

7. Barfield 

I put Shug at the top because he was a class act, both on and off the field. A lot of people seem to forget he was head coach for Auburn's first national championship (albeit we were on probation)

I put Dye second because he spit in bama's eye and showed them things were about to change.

I put Tubs third mainly because he beat bama six straight times. But at the end he didn't seem to care much about recruiting

The rest I think you could put in any order but this happened to be mine. Chiz took them from the outhouse to the penthouse back to the outhouse. Malzahn seems to be taking a long walk off a short pier. Bowden didn't seem to have a clue about recruiting and Barfield, nice guy, did the best he could. Was not cut out to be Auburn's head coach.

 

 

[NoALtiger 3,849]

4 hours ago, lca408 said:

Pat Dye

Tommy Tuberville

Terry Bowden

Gene Chizik

Gus Malzahn

Doug Barfield

 

It's weird seeing it like this. I'm not high on Terry Bowden but I can't quite put Gene over Terry just because he won an NC. Bowden at least made it to Atlanta in '97 with his own players and that was 5 years in. I think Gene would be a much better head coach now than he was when he was here but still, can't quite do it. To me, Pat and Tommy are solidly at the top but even there, you can't make the case that Tuberville is all that great. I guess I'm struck by how "blah" the coaches listed here are. Even though Dye is legendary in his own way, he's not what I would call a top tier coach in college football history. If Gus could ever learn how to actually function as a competent head coach on the field, he could move up.

 

How’s Coach Dye not a top tier coach? He’s in the College Football Hall of Fame. Pretty top tier to me. 

[TexasTiger 12,810]

I've lived thru many coaches...

Dye

Shug

Tuberville

Bowden

Gus

Barfield

Chiz 

[auskull 239]

I was in school when Shug was coach. Gotta rank him 1st even though Dye may have been a better coach. Shug was probably one of the bravest and most patriotic people (a hero) of that era in addition to being a good coach. The Bear once said Shug had more courage in his little finger than he had in his whole body. Everybody else is kinda on a level below these two.

Tuberville (Great player development)

Bowden (Great offensive mind)

Gus (Still learning and growing)

Tie: Chiz (Good defensive mind); Barfield (Very good person) 

[dilligas 581]

Pat Dye 

Shug Jordan 

Tommy Tuberville

Gus Malzahn

Gene Chizik

Terry Bowden 

Doug Barfield

 

 

 

[aubaseball 2,583]

Shug

Dye

Bowden

Tubby

Gus

barfield

chizik

[Auburnfan91 1,407]

1. Shug Jordan - You  don't name the stadium after a coach if he's only you're 2nd best coach. He won Auburn's 1st undisputed NC. He also has the most all times wins in school history. 

2. Pat Dye - The field was named after him. He won at least a share of 4 SEC titles. Had Dye been able to win a NC, his resume of SEC titles and win percentage would have put him above Jordan. But without a NC, I put Dye at #2.

3. Tommy Tuberville - He won the SEC West twice and won an SEC title. The 2004 team that went 13-0 was left out of the BCS NC game but that still doesn't diminish how great that 2004 team was. On top of that Tuberville had a 6 game win streak over Alabama. 

4. Terry Bowden - When Bowden was hired he was basically viewed as an interim coach who was going to get Auburn through probation. Bowden started his Auburn career on a 20 game win streak which included an undefeated 1993 season. But because of probation the 1993 team who went 11-0  wasn't eligible to win the SEC title. Bowden also won the SEC West in 1997 and would finish his Auburn career with a 47-17-1 record.

5. Gus Malzahn - Started his head coaching career at Auburn with a sparkling 12-2 record which included an SEC title and BCS NC game appearance. Unfortunately, it's been all downhill since Malzahn's 1st season. The last 4 years have been an accumulation of disappointing seasons with inexplicable collapses. Malzahn's record against our rivals is why Malzahn isn't higher.

6. Gene Chizik - This is one coach on the list that is most subjective. How much value do you put in one season when everything else ranged from mediocre to horrible? The 2010 NC season will never be overlooked. Chizik won Auburn's first NC in 53 years. But that's really all you can point to during the Chizik era at Auburn. Much like Malzahn, Chizik's record against our rivals was bad. In fact in most of our losses to our rivals under Chizik, the game were blowouts where Auburn was even competitive. The almost immediate decline of the program which included a dismal 3-9 2012 season is why Chizik is so low despite winning the NC in 2010.

7. Doug Barfield - It's not easy following the most successful coach in school history. Barfield's best season at Auburn was an 8-3 record in 1979. He never beat Alabama and in his last year at Auburn in 1980 went winless in the SEC. Barfield also has the worst win-loss record of the 7 coaches on this list.

[lca408 366]

17 hours ago, NoALtiger said:

How’s Coach Dye not a top tier coach? He’s in the College Football Hall of Fame. Pretty top tier to me. 

Chizik will probably end up in the CFHOF eventually just because he won an NC (okay maybe not). Dye never did and while that shouldn't have to be a requirement for a "top tier" coach, I think it kind of is in his case when you compare him to some of his peers at the time - Dooley for instance, Bryant, Holtz, Ford, Johnson, Switzer, Schnelly, etc. Again, I think he's legendary in his own right and probably a better overall coach than Holtz was but he just never was able to get over that hump to win an NC. Came close in '83 and '88.

I didn't include Shug because the OP didn't. If we are including him, he obviously jumps to the top of the list but I would put he and Dye really close with Tubs a little further back.

[I_M4_AU 7,771]

If you don’t rank Shug the best, you just don’t know Auburn’s history.  JMO.