Good coaching makes all the difference

Pundits claim programs can win now because of parity, but the stark reality is schools on the way up have great coaches.  Kansas State had played in just one bowl game in nearly a century until the arrival of Bill Snyder.  He transformed arguably the most woeful program in the history of college football with a tremendous work ethic and eye for coaching talent.  Nebraska hadn't claimed a Big Eight Conference Championship in 23 years when Bob Devaney took over the reins; within a decade he led them to their first two AP national titles.  His trusted assistant, Tom Osborne, was promoted after Devaney's departure, and he won nine games or better for his entire 25 year career as a head coach.  Virginia Tech was a second rate football school without a single bowl victory before Frank Beamer arrived in 1987.  In 1999 the Hokies played for the national title and flirted with another appearance in the championship 2005.  Urban Meyer took the Bowling Green Falcons to within a hair's breadth of crashing the party for the BCS in 2002 while bursting open the doors with Utah in 2004.

By way of contrast, it isn't parity that crippled Minnesota, Michigan State, Mississippi, and Texas Christian.  These universities have fallen from the football elite because their administrators have been unwise with their coaching hires and have failed to support their football programs.  Minnesota had four national titles in a span of 15 years to start the AP poll, but their lack of an on campus stadium and a string of poor coaches devastated their once proud legacy.  Only in recent years have they started to regain their status as a bowl worthy team under Glen Mason.  Yes, Mason may not be viewed as an elite coach, but he did turn Kansas into a winner (no small feat).  Michigan State went 163-78-7 from 1947 to 1972 but decades of questionable head coaches have taken their toll, and just when it appeared former Ohio State assistant, Nick Saban, was about to take them back to the promised land, Spartan administrators foolishly allowed him to be hired away by LSU.  Saban proceeded to win a national championship and 48 games in five seasons with the Tigers.

A similar story has played out at the Ole Miss.  Johnny Vaught had the Rebels atop the SEC and the polls in the 1950's and 60's, but his retirement left them in disarray.  Five mediocre coaches followed until they stumbled upon Tommy Tuberville in the wake of devastating NCAA sanctions.  Tuberville proceeded to breath life into a dying program, but the powers that be fiddled while Rome burned when Auburn decided to lure him away.  TCU was on the way up the ladder with a young coach named Francis Schmidt, but they allowed Ohio State to snatch him from under their noses and then kept Leo "Dutch" Meyer long after he had ceased to produce victories.  This led to a fifty year decline until Dennis Franchione and Gary Patterson arrived on the scene.