College Football: The Most Controversial Quotes by Coaches

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"I don't expect to win enough games to be put on NCAA probation. I just want to win enough to warrant an investigation." Bob Devaney, Nebraska.

Fans love them. Fans hate them. But by and large, they amuse the heck out of us.

We're talking about college football coaches. Sure, they are brilliant most of the time. But every now and then, they say something that is so ridiculous, it borders on insanity.

Mike Gundy seems like an obvious choice here for his "I'm a man, I'm 40" rant. In fact, we'll make him our first inductee into the Hall of Fame Quoters.

But what about these other coaches' quips for the most priceless quotes in the last 20 years?

Jim Harbaugh

In 2007, Jim Harbaugh made this startling statement after only being on the job a few months:

"Pete Carroll's only got one more year, though. He'll be there one more year. That's what I've heard. I heard it inside the staff."

OK, he was technically only "off" by a few years, but he certainly rattled a few coaches with that lollapolooza.

In fact, we're pretty sure both Harbaugh and Carroll maintained a rather cool relationship during Carroll's tenure at USC.

Beating USC two out of three years certainly didn't help thaw it out.

Les Miles

In 2008, Kathy Miles tried to lighten up her husband after a triple overtime loss to Arkansas by telling him, "You know Les, you're undefeated in regulation."

The BCS sales pitch was born, and associate Athletic Director Michael Bonnette began an email campaign to voters with the magic words “LSU is undefeated in regulation.” In his own words, he said, "We sold it."

But it was Les Miles who made everyone stop and laugh when he addressed the media in his weekly press conference.

“[LSU] hasn’t lost a game in regulation,” he said. “There has not been a team that has beaten us in 60 minutes.”

We're still reeling from Michigan fans in 2006 thinking a loss [to Ohio State] means a win. Now Les believes it?

Steve Spurrier

Back when Steve Spurrier was a football coach at Florida, he had a great sense of humor. He still does, but.....well, you know, it's hard to be funny when your program struggles to win seven games a year.

in 1991, Spurrier addressed some Gator fans by telling them that a fire had broken out at Auburn University's football dorm, burning 20 books.

"But the real tragedy was that 15 hadn't been colored yet," Spurrier added.

Zing!

Lou Holtz

The gold Kool-aid seems to still be filling Lou Holtz' cup every year. Sure he's a retired coach, but he still is called "Coach," so his quotes count here.

Last year Holtz, as usual, was asked who he thought would be in the BCS title game, and shockingly, he took it just a bit too far.

"I'd say it's going to be Florida and the University of Notre Dame," Holtz said. "They return 11 starters on offense. They return all three running backs, the two best wide receivers, they have a great defense coming back."

For the record, Notre Dame finished the 2009 season with these rankings:

Rushing: No. 84
Scoring Defense: No. 63
Rushing Defense: No. 89
Passing Defense: No. 76
Total Defense: No. 86

*crickets chirping*

Lee Corso

Lee Corso's "Hawaii doesn't win many games in the United States" is a widely cited quote.

We don't know where he said it or when, but it is still damn funny. We are pretty sure Corso meant the mainland.

Then again, maybe he didn't?

Lane Kiffin

Here is one way to endear yourself to your SEC brethren—lay down some smack against the defending champs in your first, and only year as head coach at Tennessee.

Lane Kiffin was serious. Or was he?

"I'm really looking forward to embracing some of the great traditions at the University of Tennessee, for instance the Vol Walk, running through the T, singing Rocky Top all night long after we beat Florida next year, it will be a blast".

Florida 23, Tennessee 10.

Urban Meyer

When Urban Meyer told his family he was resigning as Gators' head coach, his daughter Nikki hugged him and exclaimed, "I get my daddy back."

Not so fast, my friend.

"I saw it [his daughter's reaction] as a sign from God that this was the right thing to do," Meyer told The York Times.

At the time, it was a sweet, tear-jerking quote. But after un-resigning 24 hours after he resigned, now it's priceless.

Steve Spurrier

Playing Vanderbilt shouldn't be that big of a deal. Sure the 'Dores field a great team once every fifty years or so, but apparently, the South Carolina Gamecocks played a very mediocre, at best, Vanderbilt in 2007, and still couldn't beat them, losing 17-6.

Spurrier explained his team's loss this way:

"There's one sure way to stop us from scoring—give us the ball near the goal line."

Lane Kiffin

Perhaps if Kiffin had listened to a few of Lil Wayne's songs, he would not have tweeted that, even if Kiffin's name was mentioned in a song.

In fact, we would post some lyrics to some of Lil Wayne's songs to give you an idea of what this rapper sings (?), but, well, they aren't fit for mature audiences.

Mike Leach

Here's how Mike Leach described his players who use Twitter:

It’s “a bunch of narcissists that want to sit and type stuff about themselves all the time. We’ll put mirrors in some of their lockers if that’s necessary, but they don’t have to Twitter.”

It's also why Mike Leach didn't exactly pull favor from those outside the locker room. Come to think of it, a few inside the locker room didn't like him either.