Don't look at me; he did it!

Sometimes Many times, I have a tendency to focus on recent history instead of looking at the larger historical spectrum when the subject is sports.  I think many sports fans and even sports-resource-entities (media outlets, blogs, etc.) tend to do the same when thinking about the significance of upcoming matchups or individual/group athletic accomplishments.  We throw a lot of hyperbole around by labeling sporting events as “greatest ever” or trying to find statistics that support our sentiments about specific individuals as “best ever.”

That being said, the 2008-2009 BCS National Championship game is going to be the greatest ever.

Obviously we can’t really resort to that type of hyperbole until the game is in the books; but, there are several characteristics about the University of Florida Gators vs. University of Oklahoma Sooners clash that’s coming up in t-minus 22 days that are intriguing such as a Heisman Memorial Trophy winning quarterback on each sideline, both teams coming into bowl season hot, and both teams being coached by a previous national-championship-winning coach…which is what we’re going to focus on today.

And yes, you read that right; one of the two coaches, Urban Meyer for the Gators or Bob Stoops for the Sooners, will emerge from the game as a two-time national championship coach…and in this blogger’s opinion, that’s significant. 

Only two active coaches have won multiple outright national championships:  Joe Paterno (Penn State – ‘82,’86) and Bobby Bowden (FSU – ‘93,’99).  And, no; Pete Carroll does not count.  He has coached in two national championship games and won only one of those.  Yes, he coached Southern Cal to the AP national championship the year Nick Saban won the BCS national championship with LSU, but I’m not counting him in this category because he earned that split national championship in an era when there is supposed to be a set national championship game between #1 and #2.  His team was neither of those but he received the AP national championship regardless.  Argue about the system all you want, but I would prefer that to be on a different post.  This one’s pertains to outright, consensus national championships.  If you don’t know the difference between a national champion and an outright, consensus national champion, then I will direct you to 1935 when Princeton, Southern Methodist, Minnesota, and LSU all claim the national championship and also to 1964 when Alabammer, Arkansas, and Notre Dame all claim the national championship.  You can figure it out for yourself from there…

Anywho, back to the two coaches…one of these guys will be a two-time national champion coach and will join the ranks of Paterno and Bowden as the only active coaches with multiple national championships on their resumes.  So why do I think that’s significant?  Well, because JoePa and Bobby are getting a little long in the tooth, a little grey upstairs, a little creaky around the joints, a little…you get the idea…they’re aging and won’t be around much longer.  And, on top of the age factor, not many people consider either coach’s respective teams as national title contenders in the near future.  Both play in somewhat recently weak conferences and have been mediocre in their respective conference, except for this season’s Penn State team, who had a chance to play for the national title but blew it against an inferior Big 10 opponent like most were anticipating. 

The point is that outside of ‘Noles fans and Nittany Lions fans, not many college football sleuths are predicting FSU or PSU to return to dominance under their active coaches any time soon.  However, Meyer (44 yrs. old) and Stoops (48 yrs. old) are both fairly young guys and both have the opportunity to position their teams for additional future national championship runs, especially considering the manner that their teams consistently hang around the top 10 each season.  In fact, Stoops will be coaching in his third opportunity to win his second national championship…

Which brings me to another point: the second national championship seems harder to achieve than the first.  Here’s the list of coaches just in the last 10 years who have had the opportunity, but failed, at least once in their attempt to reach their second championship: Bobby Bowden, Bob Stoops, Larry Coker, Jim Tressel, and Pete Carroll.  Only Bowden got over the hump; the rest have yet to do so.  If you believe in trends and/or superstition, the previous little factoid does not bode well for Meyer. 

I guess I would need to dive into the research a little deeper to confirm this, but I think based on what is written above and the opportunity that Meyer and Stoops each have in three weeks and a day from today, I can conclude that the coaching is superb in college football right now.  Maybe it’s no different at or near the top than any other time period; but, in the past ten years, there have been eight opportunities for a coach to win a second national championship.  And one could justify saying that Paterno, Nick Saban, and Mack Brown were all one game away from the chance to notch another one in their belts this season as well.

Both Urban Meyer and Bob Stoops have already joined the exclusive club of national-championship-winning coaches; one of them will join the elite fraternity of multiple national-championship-winning coaches on January 8, 2009.  It’s going to be the best coaching matchup ever!

I need to throw out a hat tip to HickokSports.com for having a list of college football national champions and the respective coaches dating back to 1869…you should check it out sometime if you’re as fascinated as I am about the historical steps to the dance that is college football.

Oh yeah, I keep meaning to add email contacts to posts:
 - for complaints, tips, and/or donations - mizerle06(at)gmail(dot)com
 - for compliments – spartyandfriends(at)gmail(dot)com

Popularity: 1% [?]