College Football Rankings: The 25 Most Annoying Figures in NCAA Football History
Collage Football Rankings: Most Annoying Edition
College football rankings can center on just about anything: players, coaches, programs, fans, etc.
Taking it to the next extreme, we’ve decided to rank the 25 most annoying figures in college football history. They can be players, coaches, administrators, fans, etc.—anyone associated with a college game.
Since “annoying” is a pretty subjective and fluid word, we’ll try to hone in on the definition: anyone deceitful, arrogant, presumptuous, shortsighted, obnoxious, or just plain unlikable qualifies, even if their reputation was blown out of proportion by the media, fans, or cynics.
No. 25: Deion Sanders
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Deion’s showboating back during his days in Tallahassee is not enough to land Prime Time on this list.
But his involvement in the Dez Bryant fiasco last year is.
Maybe neither did anything illegal, but ultimately it cost Bryant nine games and the entire Big XII schedule.
Bryant was just a college kid enamored by the glitz and glamor of an NFL legend. Sanders should have known better or at least advised Bryant better.
No. 24: Jimmy Clausen
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If you’re going to declare college choice by arriving on campus in a stretch Hummer limo a few hours before the team’s annual spring scrimmage, you better perform.
While Clausen posted two seasons of great personal stats as a sophomore and junior, he didn’t produce that many wins for the Irish. In games that he started, Notre Dame lost more than they won.
And getting punched in the face outside of a bar so you have to play a game against Stanford with a black eye? That’s not exactly along the same distinguished lines of Joe Montana, Joe Theismann, and Johnny Lujack.
No. 23: Mike Garrett
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The Trojans have had six Heisman Trophy winners during their storied history. So it would take a lot for the man who won the first to fall from favor with the USC fans.
But Mike Garrett, the 1965 Heisman winner and school’s Athletic Director from 1993 to 2010, may have.
Not only was he at the helm when the O.J. Mayo basketball scandal hit USC, but it was on his watch that the USC dynasty was taken to the woodshed by the NCAA.
And if that wasn’t enough, he’s the one who replaced Pete Carroll with Lane Kiffin, who should be an honorable mention on this list.
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No. 22: Sebastian Janikowski
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To many, kickers are like young children: they should be seen and not heard.
They only play a handful of snaps and don’t get their uniforms dirty.
That’s why Sebastian Janikowski lands on this list.
The Seminoles were national championship contenders in 1998 and 1999, posting a 23-2 record and back-to-back BCS Championship Games.
But their kicker repeatedly nudged his way into the headlines by repeatedly being arrested for getting into fights.
No. 21: Terrelle Pryor
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Pryor’s involvement in the recent tattoo scandal is certainly a blemish on his career. And if he leaves Columbus next year without a national championship, the suspension he and his teammates drew will always leave Buckeye fans wondering “what if.”
But because Pryor made the whole world wait with bated breath while he decided where to attend college, he helped make it easier for players like JaDaveon Clowney to consume ridiculous amounts of attention as HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETES.
And people still wonder how players get big heads.
No. 20: Richard Nixon
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You gotta know the history for this entry.
In 1969, the Texas Longhorns went undefeated and defeated second-ranked Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl. But Joe Paterno’s Penn State Nittany Lions also went undefeated, and beat Missouri in the Orange Bowl.
Nevertheless, Texas won the AP National Championship.
Now, the Longhorns had a great national championship resume, probably better than Penn State's.
But the voters had to be unfairly influenced.
In early December, President Richard Nixon declared that the winner of the December 6 Arkansas-Texas game, which he was attending in Fayetteville, to be the National Champion.
Texas bested Arkansas 15-14 and after the game, Nixon presented Royal with a plaque declaring the Longhorns the champs.
Since many believe that Nixon’s attendance at the Texas-Arkansas game and declaration of a national champion was a political stunt to improve his popularity in the South, Tricky Dick was never a more apt nickname.
No. 19: Cecil Newton
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For now, we won’t allow the sins of the father to reflect on the son; Cam was never charged or found in violation of NCAA rules regarding his pay-for-play scandal with Mississippi State.
But his father was.
Let’s assume he did “act alone” and Cam knew nothing about his father asking for money. His actions nearly ruined a Heisman Trophy season for his son and a National Championship season for an entire school (and they may still—who knows what will be revealed down the road).
No matter what, Cecil became as much of a story as Cam.
Was he going to be at the Heisman announcement? Was he going to be at the BCS Championship? If he wasn’t supposed to be in Glendale for the game against Oregon, why was he photographed on the field afterward?
If nothing else, he sapped a lot of the football out of the 2010 college football season.
No. 18: Les Miles
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Controversy just surrounds this guy like a black cloud.
Whether it’s his decision making on the field, his decision making off the field with recruiting, his potential departure to Michigan, or his seemingly imminent firing, he seems to be a side show every year.
A lot of that he can’t help; it’s just the nature of college football today. So maybe he alone isn’t an obnoxious or annoying person, but the baggage that surrounds Miles certainly is. Especially if you don’t care about the SEC.
No. 17: Woody Hayes
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Hayes did many great things for college football. And he put together one of the greatest runs in college football history.
But a coach who punches an opposing player (and that wasn’t the only outburst he had—there were plenty well-publicized ones with officials) has to be included on a list such as this.
Furthermore (and this is why LeGarrette Blount and a few other brawlers aren’t on this list), Hayes refused to evolve with the game and the times, remaining wedded to his “three yards and a cloud of dust” philosophy even as the college game was becoming more wide open.
He also didn’t like his players becoming involved in social issues.
No. 16: Brian Bosworth
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This should be a no-brainer, shouldn’t it?
College football players are really hard to include on this list, because for the most part, their tenure is limited to just a few years in the spotlight. Unlike head coaches or broadcasters, they move on and are quickly replaced so they don’t leave as much of a lasting imprint.
But not so with Oklahoma’s two-time Butkus winner.
First, his self-dubbed nickname, “The Boz,” was obnoxious.
So were the haircuts and the complaining about the NCAA. But by testing positive for steroids he completely threw away all of his on-the-field accomplishments and was revealed as something of a fraud. So his act was even more absurd.
No. 15: Tim Tebow
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Tebow may as well be the anti-Bosworth.
While at Florida, he was as buttoned up and pristine as any player in the history of sports. He did tons of charity work, reportedly remained chaste in college, didn’t get into any trouble, was an incomparable player and seemed like a genuinely great person.
That’s kind of why so many people didn’t like him.
Certainly there were tens of thousands of people (most of whom lived in North Florida) who loved Tebow. And I personally like him as well.
But for millions of sports fans outside Gator Nation, hearing about his picture-perfect image—in every game he played—got a bit tired. So perhaps the collective members of the media, like Thom Brennaman during the 2008 National Championship Game, deserve more blame here.
But it was Tebow whom they were talking about.
No. 14: Joe Paterno
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I know I am walking a fine line here: first knocking Saint Tebow and now Joe Pa.
But, throughout six different decades, Paterno has given American sports fans plenty of reasons to be annoyed.
For one, during the last few years he seems more like a figurehead and not a head coach. How involved is he in the day-to-day running of the program? There is a “hangers-on” feel to his tenure. And that sort of rubs some of the luster off his continually growing record number of wins.
As many fans (including Penn State's) feel, he should step down gracefully and let someone else take over the program.
No. 13: Bobby Bowden
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Because he recently stepped down, Bowden hasn’t been a hanger-on quite in the same way that Paterno still is.
But Paterno didn’t preside over an extremely sketchy program, either.
No one can be sure how much Bowden knew about the behind-the-scenes events that eventually earned FSU the nickname “Free Shoes University.”
But could he really have been oblivious to it?
And he is largely responsible for the semi-annual Bowden Bowl adventures, against son Tommy, that often turned into an event that made people roll their eyes at the television screen.
The first few episodes were cut and a nice story, but after that, it got a little overplayed.
No. 12: Steve Spurrier
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Spurrier is the most unique figure in the history of college football.
Not only was he a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, but he later coached a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback (Danny Wuerffel) to a National Championship.
But the whole “Fun’N’Gun” approach by “the Ol’ Ball Coach” is a bit overplayed. Furthermore, an arrogance does seem to perpetually emanate whenever he talks.
And while he does deserve endless praise for the success he achieved, his failure in the NFL, and the fact that he hasn’t won an SEC title in a decade, does bump him down a few pegs on the genius-o-meter—especially after Urban Meyer won twice as many national titles as Spurrier in half the time.
No. 11: Lee Corso
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Corso’s act on ESPN’s College Gameday is occasionally entertaining. He’s got the trademark line, “not so fast my friend.” And he does display plenty of football knowledge when he speaks.
But the goofiness of his predictions, donning the Gator mascot head or Ohio State’s Brutus’ head, is less than dignified—especially for a man who was a Big Ten head coach for a decade.
After a dozen or so weeks of watching that, the entire nation needs the long vacation of an offseason.
No. 10: Orrin Hatch
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Maybe we need a democrat on this list since Nixon is already on here. But it’s too difficult to leave off Orrin Hatch.
The senior senator from Utah has twice thrown his name into the college football world when it didn’t belong.
In 2009, he wanted the United States justice department to have hearings on the BCS. It was noble that he wanted to revamp a system that needs revamping. But considering how the Utah Utes, which happened to play in his home state, had twice finished undefeated and twice been snubbed by the BCS, politics seemed a major motive.
And if that wasn’t enough, a year later Hatch urged President Barack Obama to invite the Boise State Broncos (another team located relatively near his home state) to the White House alongside the BCS Champion Alabama Crimson Tide.
Hatch has every right to urge change to the BCS system, but doing so from Capitol Hill seems like he’s more interested in scoring political points with his constituents than actually fixing a broken system.
No. 9: Rich Rodriguez
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People in the states of West Virginia and Michigan would probably put him on the top of this list. And while those are fairly biased perspectives, Rodriguez has become a pretty unlikable figure across the nation.
He burned bridges at Morgantown and did the same in Ann Arbor, where he earned the storied Wolverines program their first ever NCAA sanction.
When players transfer from Michigan to Ohio State (Justin Boren) because of Rodriguez and his staff’s lack of “family value,” that raises plenty of questions.
Plus, does he really need wristbands to stand and coach on the sidelines?
No. 8: Mark May….Or Is It Lou Holtz
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Some people are Mark May fans, Lou Holtz haters. For others, it’s the other way around.
Neither is perfect and both say their share of trite, obvious statements from that halftime/postgame ESPN studio.
But May’s bandwagon of critics is probably a little bit heavier. He comes off as a bit more self-impressed than Holtz.
As much as any, this entry will stir the pot.
No. 7: Reggie Bush
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Heisman Trophy winners have a pretty varied history. There are the iconic legends who practically walk on water: Roger Staubach, Archie Griffin, Tim Tebow.
And then there are a few who haven’t quite exemplified the “truest” nature of the Heisman Trophy: O.J. Simpson, Cam Newton, Paul Hornung.
But only one has actually RETURNED his Heisman Trophy because of its questionable legitimacy: former Trojan star, Reggie Bush.
Even worse than that action, he never admitted to any complicity in the scandal that cost USC wins, scholarships and postseason berths, and said that returning the Heisman was not an admission of guilt.
It’s hard to imagine a more annoying statement than that.
No. 6: Nick Saban
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If you’re not a fan of the Tide, what reason is there to really like Nick Saban?
He is without a doubt one of the best coaches in America—maybe the best.
But he isn’t exactly the model of stability.
He left his first head coaching job at Toledo after one season, left Michigan State after five, left LSU after five more. And after the disaster in Miami, he returned to the college game (despite assuring the public he wasn’t) for Alabama.
People must be out there taking bets on how long till he leaves Tuscaloosa.
There is no rule that a coach has to stay put for X number of seasons. But as the face of a program, a head coach should project some semblance of loyalty to the players and university.
No. 5: Bobby Petrino
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Along with the previous entry on this list, Petrino is the poster boy for the opportunistic, seemingly greedy college football head coach.
Less than six months after signing a 10-year deal, he bolted Louisville for the Atlanta Falcons, only to sneak out in the middle of the night and promptly take over at Arkansas.
And since he owns an 11-13 record in the SEC, it’s hard to think he’s worth all the fuss.
No. 4: Governor Bill Clements
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There is plenty of blame to go around for what happened to the once proud SMU program that is just now rebounding after two decades of turmoil.
But former Texas Governor Bill Clements deserves as much as any and was the most highly-visible participant in college football’s worst scandal.
Clements and the board of governors at SMU agreed to continue paying players, even after they promised the school and the NCAA they would stop.
That was the straw that broke the camel’s back and the NCAA crushed SMU with the first ever “Death Penalty.”
No. 3: Beano Cooke
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I personally enjoy Beano Cooke’s commentary on the college football landscape. So this entry is more of a representation of what I think most of the rest of the country thinks.
But then again, the reasons I like Beano, are the same reasons most people don’t.
Cooke comes off as a crotchety curmudgeon who thinks everything was better 50 years ago than it is today.
To me, that’s endearing and often humorous, like listening to your grandpa spout off about “the olden days.”
But his Andy Rooney-like ramblings can certainly be off-putting to younger crowds, who find his wistful attitude for the days of Bud Wilkinson, goal posts on the goal line, and Ovaltine boring and lame.
No. 2: Brent Musburger
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Everyone has an announcer they can’t stand listening to.
For me, it’s Musburger.
Not only does he seem to be trying too hard with fake emotion and cherry-picked insights, but he has a habit of referring to players by their first name. For whatever reason he tries to make us think that he is friends with “Terrelle” Pryor, or “Carson” Palmer.
More annoying than that little quirk, his views on steroids are out of whack.
No. 1: Roy Kramer
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As the commissioner of the SEC, Kramer achieved some great things. During his tenure from 1990 to 2002 he laid the groundwork for the conference to become the most dominant, and competitive one in the nation.
But if you’re not a fan of the BCS system (and I am not) than most of your disgust should be directed at Kramer.
Most people consider him “the Father of the BCS,” having worked towards its creation and implementation in the mid 1990s.
Enough said.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
