In late March, a listener to “Until Saturday” submitted a voicemail message to the podcast asking simply: Who would be on your Mount Rushmore of college football coaches? This resulted in a podcast episode and column, which you can read here.
This same listener submitted another Mount Rushmore topic: Who are the biggest villains in college football?
This was a tricky subject to deal with, especially since there have been some truly reprehensible people affiliated with the sport. We’re going to ignore these people.
We, instead focused mainly on what happened on the ground and goes back no further than 1980.
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Here are our lists.
Ari Wasserman
1. Larry Scott, Pac-12 commissioner: No matter who you root for, there’s probably a part of you that despises the fact that the Pac-12 no longer exists. One could blame television networks, individual programs that sought realignment opportunities, university presidents or other commissioners, but no one’s actions have made the sport’s current reality more possible than Scott’s .
Where did Scott go wrong? It’s a combination of factors ranging from bad TV deals to expensive office buildings in San Francisco. The thing that stands out the most? The creation of the Pac-12 Network and, more importantly, Scott’s failure to find a way to include it in more cable and/or satellite TV packages. This lead to U.S.C. And UCLA seeking more lucrative television rights deals and, ultimately, the demise of an entire conference.
Larry Scott’s tenure as Pac-12 commissioner helped bring down the conference. (Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
2. Urban Meyer, Florida and state of ohio coach: Who has a more complicated legacy than Meyer? For one thing, he’s a three-time national championship-winning head coach. On the other hand, problems arose during his tenures at Florida and Ohio State.
When he was at Florida, Ohio State fans hated him because he represented the big, bad SEC and the team the Buckeyes couldn’t beat, including in the 2006 national title game. After Meyer left – a period during which he was endlessly mocked for having what many considered a made-up health problem – he went to Ohio State, a program hated by fans Across the country. He elevated the Ohio State program to what it is today, winning a national title along the way, but he left shortly after a scandal involving the former assistant coach. Zach Smith.
Meyer is undoubtedly one of the most successful coaches of all time, but he is viewed by many as someone who broke the rules along the way. He had many victories and there were many off-field incidents that followed him into his short stint with the team. NFL as coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. It’s a whole cocktail of hatred for fans who seek to despise a person.
3. Jim Harbaugh, Michigan coach: Harbaugh, now the coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, is one of the most eccentric personalities to ever coach college football. He restarted Stanfordand was on the verge of winning a Super Bowl with the San Francisco 49ers. Then he showed up at Michigan and immediately began posting veiled photos on Twitter of his opponents, climbing trees, throwing the ball around shirtless and hosting satellite camps.
After failing to beat his arch rival or reach the Big Ten championship game in the first five years of his tenure, he finally knocked off Ohio State and immediately implied that Buckeyes coach Ryan Day was ” born at third base.” During the final year of his time at Michigan, Harbaugh participated in two NCAA investigations, then won a national title on the heels of one of the biggest cheating scandals the sport has ever seen. It’s a winner. He marches to the beat of his own drum. And he thumbed his nose at the NCAA on his way to winning it all. He will miss this sport.
4. Brian Bosworth, Oklahoma linebacker: A linebacker who played violently and physically embodied his position, Bosworth was college football’s bad boy. He played for Oklahoma for three seasons, was a two-time unanimous All-American and winner of the first two Butkus Awards – still the only two-time winner. But if Bosworth’s crushing punches and mullet-style fade haircut put people on the offensive, don’t forget how the sport took him when he was suspended from the Orange Bowl after his first year for taking steroids. During the third quarter of the Orange Bowl, Bosworth removed his football jersey to reveal one that read, “NCAA: National Communists Against Athletes.” He is one of the most famous players in college football history.
GO FURTHER
Who is on your Mount Rushmore college football coaching staff?
Sam Khan
1. Mark Emmert, former NCAA president: Fair or not, Emmert became a punching bag and symbol of the NCAA’s resistance to change during his 12-year tenure, which ended in 2023. At a time when college sports needed a visionary To guide him through what would be the most significant period of change in its history, Emmert instead asked why college athletes should be prevented from profiting from their name, image and likeness.
He then lobbied Congress to resolve the NCAA problem, to no avail. The organization’s hand was ultimately forced by resounding defeats in court and state laws passed in 2021, leading to the complicated situation we see today. The NCAA is a member-driven organization, and significant change to NIL or player compensation would have required consensus from school presidents, which it never had. But when it became clear that something had to give, the opportunity to be more proactive on these issues was never the chosen path. Someone had to take responsibility, and Emmert became that figurehead.
2. Sherwood Blount, Elder EMS amplifier: In an era when paying players or luring recruits with money was heresy, no one bent the rules like the Southwest Conference did in the 1980s. And no one in the SWC perfected this practice as much as SMU, who consequently received the “death penalty”. Blount, a Dallas real estate developer and SMU promoter, was one of the “Naughty Nine” promoters who received a ban from association with the program following multiple recruiting violations, and he was known as the most notorious of the group. He told NCAA investigators: “I can spend my money however I want.“Truly a man ahead of his time.
3. “The U” – Miami Hurricanes of the 1980s: The hurricanes of the 1980s (and even the early 1990s) were personified. They kicked everyone’s rears and then rubbed them in their opponents’ faces, earning the Canes many detractors. If you’ve seen ESPN’s 30 for 30 “The U,” you know what I mean. Alonzo Highsmith, Jerome Brown and Winston Moss refuse to shake hands during the toss before playing Oklahoma in 1986. Randal Hill runs through the Cotton Bowl tunnel after hitting Texas. The NCAA established a rule penalizing excessive celebrations, which has been nicknamed “the Miami rule” because it was clear which team was the inspiration. Regardless, the Canes won – a lot – winning four of their five national titles in that era.
4. our Lady: The current Fighting Irish aren’t as polarizing as they once were, but think of the program a lot like the New York Yankees: a ton of historic success that has earned the Irish a lot of hate. The Irish have the fourth-most wins in college football history, the second-most national titles among current FBS schools (and fourth-most overall). Notre Dame is the only major program with its own network television rights contract and the only major program not part of a football conference, and it has received significant attention in the structure of the College Football Playoff (see: the “Rule of Notre Dame” of the BCS). For a long time, the Fighting Irish were the anti-underdog. Tony Kornheiser called Notre Dame “America’s University of Football.” Oh, and let’s not forget that the Irish had run-ins with those former Miami teams, including the birth of the infamous “Catholics vs. Miami” T-shirt. Convicts” in 1988.
Mitch Light
1. Scott, George Kliavkoff, Pac-12 presidents: I’m just sad that the Pac-12 will soon be no more. Those who follow the league closely say the blame should be spread among the two commissioners, Scott and Kliavkoff, as well as school presidents across the league. It is simply astonishing that there is no longer a power conference on the West Coast.
2. Steve Spurrier, Florida and South Carolina coach: Spurrier was a master in the art of needling his opponents during his successful stays in Florida and South Carolina. One of his best lines: “But the real tragedy was that 15 books hadn’t been colored yet” after a fire at an Auburn library destroyed 20 books.
3. Charlie Weis, Notre Dame and Kansas coach: Weis was despised by college football fans across the country from the moment he uttered the phrase “decided schematic advantage” as Notre Dame’s coach. He used that decisive advantage to go 35-27 in five seasons at Notre Dame and 6-22 in two-plus seasons at Kansas.
4. Barry Switzer, Oklahoma coach: Switzer was college football’s bad boy during a 16-game stretch in Norman that included clashes with the SEC (not the conference, the Securities and Exchange Commission itself) and the NCAA. He went 157-29-4 overall and an incredible 100-11-1 in the Big Eight.
Honorable mention
- Cam Newton: Florida And Auburn strategist
- Hugh Freeze: coach of Ole Miss and Auburn
- Johnny Manziel: Texas A&M quarterback
- Nick Saban: Toledo, Michigan State, LSU And Alabama coach
- James Winston: State of Florida strategist
- Bobby Petrino: Arkansas, Louisville, Western Kentucky coach
- Desmond Howard: Michigan wide receiver
- Baker Mayfield: Oklahoma quarterback
- Deion Sanders: Colorado coach
- Tommy Tuberville: Ole MademoiselleAuburn, Texas Technology, Cincinnati coach
- Craig James: Former SMU running back and father of former Texas Tech wide receiver Adam James
- College football television rights holders
(Top photos by Brian Bosworth, Steve Spurrier: Peter Cosgrove/AP Photo, Chuck Solomon/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
