Here's the list of coaches. They also rank the 128 coaching jobs.

First, the jobs:
NIU - 78
Toledo - 82
Ohio - 86
Miami - 91
BG - 94
CMU - 106
WMU - 110
Akron - 112
Kent - 113
Ball State - 115
Buffalo - 120
U.Mass - 125
EMU - yep, dead last, at 128

Then the coaches:
Pete Lembo, Ball State #48
Terry Bowden, Akron #65
Frank Solich, Ohio  #68
Dino Babers, BGSU #79
Matt Campbell, Toledo #84
Rod Carey, NIU #96
Mark Whipple, U.Mass #104
Jeff Quinn, Buffalo #105
Dan Enos, CMU #110
Chuck Martin, Miami #111
Paul Haynes, Kent #116
Chris Creighton, EMU #117
PJ Fleck, WMU #123

The only way Terry Bowden ranks ahead of Frank is if the consumption of biscuits and gravy is the primary consideration.

Mark Mangino might petition Iowa State to allow him to attend on behalf of the Big 12 for diplomatic reasons. 

 

This is awful. I only looked at the MAC and top 20 and I can find numerous errors. how is Jimbo not in the top 5 after taking a team to a title in 4 years? How is James Franklin at Penn State 11th. Frank has a better resume than he does as does les miles and 20 other coaches below him and as stated above how is Akron's coach above Frank. Hate to be this negative but this is awful.

How many years and no MAC title?

1968 and never..... Is it acceptable that he hasn't won it? no, but he has gotten closer than anyone else in recent history and I would be shocked if we don't get one in the next 5 years. This program is only going to go up with Frank at the helm. With the new IPF and attendance at a high creating a great atmosphere good recruits are going to want to come here. With that and decent coaching we will get the results. and coaching is one thing we have to give Frank credit on. If you look back at our recruiting classes they haven't been the top in the MAC. He hasn't been the best recruiter but he always coaches up what he has to a great level and makes them competitive. If this practice facility can bring in those good recruits watch out because we will have a heck of a team.

You can't really compare the situation at Akron to Ohio. While Knorr may not have improved the program, he wasn't a complete disaster, at least not on the scale of some coaches we've seen recently at schools like Akron or Miami. Using Sagarin numbers to compare (since they are readily available), the average for Ohio the prior three years under Grobe were 63.50. Under Knorr the average was 57.49, down, but not by a massive amount.

Let's compare that to iCoach. In the last three years under Brookhart, the average was 57.47. Under iCoach, the average was 41.58.  No one else could do that, right? Well, the average under Molnar's predecessor was 57.45, and Molnar managed a 2 year average of 41.64. Thus, if you want to compare Bowden to someone, compare him to Whipple. Can Whipple pick up the pieces as well as Bowden did? Better? We'll have to wait and see.

Back to comparing Akron pre-Bowden to Ohio pre-Solich. Akron had gone downhill much faster, and was in worse shape, by far. On the other hand, Bowden got to start with a nice new stadium, and an indoor practice facility. I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that Akron also has malls, well known to be an important recruiting tool. Thus, he started with a worse team, but far better facilities, and in an urban setting.

Bowden, in his first two years has raised the average from 41.58 to 53.05, a substantial improvement, but even now he doesn't have Akron playing as well as Ohio was playing under Knorr, or for that matter, as well as Akron was under Brookhart. If you want to compare him to Solich, let's see what he does from here.

Now, wait a minute.  This inability to see the truth...er, ability to not see the forest for the trees...has to stop.

I like Coach Solich a lot.  And we're in a lot better shape than we were when he came on.  But we haven't beaten a MAC team with a record over .500 for a long time (two years?).  Look, it's start showing clear improvement this year and get to the MAC title game in within a couple of years after that or...

And, sorry good friend,,Coach Knorr is roundly acknowledged as a fine man.  But during his time here, it was bad. Bad. Hey, Beefs had the longest losing streak in the nation.  Guess who they ended it against and who coached that team.  There's a reason that the k word became a verb.  It's no fun to state this truth, but his tenure was in no way a success.  It was a nosedive.

Agree with Monroe here.  Burke inherited a very tough situation and was able to cobble together .500 campaigns on average.  Knorr took the helm of a steady ship and immediately put it into the rocks.  Only coach I know who name was regularly used as a verb.(still is occasionally) 

My edit...Knorr inherited a tough situation as well.  New coach who had to assemble an entire staff.

Well, let me pose the question this way: Regardless of what you think of the job Knorr did with the players he had, at the end of his term, was the program in shambles? Were there any pieces in place which his successor could use to rebuild from? That, to me, is the difference between a "nosedive" and a "crash and burn".

This isn't something where we need to agree. I just think that iCoach was significantly worse than Knorr, and that he did far more harm to the Akron program than Knorr did to the Ohio program. I think that there were still some good players in the program when Solich got to Ohio. I do think Solich did a fine job of improving and adding to those pieces, and turning the program around, but I think he had some pieces left to start with.

By contrast, I don't think iCoach left much behind, so I don't think it's fair to compare Bowden's first two years to Solich's first two. Solich would not have won a MAC East in his second year, starting with what Bowden had to start with. I think even Whipple, at UMass, has more to work with than Bowden had.

I think the next two years will tell more about how good a coach Bowden is than the first two did.

With a Bowden you get "Just Win Baby" with the approach to recruiting/education/scholarship management etc. that brings. With coach Solich you get "More Than Winning" with a much different approach to recruiting/education/scholarship management etc.. Solich's approach is what it is and it for sure is not apples to apples comparing him to a Bowden.

I saw that fire again, in the Spring videos, though only from the defensive players. In every video, every defensive player interviewed looked pumped and excited. That's a start. To be honest, the offensive players looked a little like they were getting overwhelmed in scrimmages by the swarming defense, but hey, when they play other teams, it will only be easier for the offense.

I like starting with a good defense, though. So far, every year Ohio has had a very good defense, they have had a great season, so this year may be better than I have been expecting.

FWIW.  Legendary recruiting guru, Tom Lemming, called coach Solich "a crackerjack recruiter."  I share that view.  And, judging from the number of his assistants hired away by other institutions, Frank Solich is a "crackerjack recruiter" of assistant coaches as well.