BCS Bowl Games: Ranking the Coaches of All the BCS Bowls

As is typical in BCS bowls, the coaches in these games are all some of the best of the best. They’ve shown great leadership on and off the field to guide their teams to this point.

We have the AP Coach of the Year award winner as well as a number of past winners in this bunch, and some will likely win the award in the near future.

Here’s a ranking of all of the coaches playing in a BCS bowl.

Dabo Swinney

Dabo is easily the worst coach in a BCS bowl. His Clemson Tigers were sparked by one guy and one guy alone, offensive coordinator Chad Morris. He’s been brilliant wherever he has gone, and the university had to shell out some serious cash in order to keep him for next season.

Clemson has put some great talent into the NFL, but they haven’t been able to turn it into wins under Dabo. With Morris calling the plays, that all changed.

David Shaw

Shaw very well could be a great coach, but we need to hold off on passing judgment on him until after this season. Stanford will likely lose Andrew Luck, Jonathan Martin and David DeCastro to the NFL draft, as well as a number of receivers.

That doesn’t account for a defense which has struggled mightily against the best offenses it's faced all season. If he can keep the Cardinal competitive in the Pac-12 next year, his stock will go through the roof. Until then, let’s remember that he is still a first-year head coach.

Dana Holgorsen

There’s no doubt that Holgorsen is an offensive genius, but the way his team got to the Orange Bowl leaves a lot to be desired. His Mountaineers looked apathetic in their last two games which they needed to win to get here.

West Virginia should continue to improve under his watch, especially if Geno Smith, Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey all return for their senior seasons. But until he fixes the team’s apparent motivation issue, he won’t be regarded as a great head coach.

Brady Hoke

This is where things start to get really challenging. Hoke comes in now just because he is new to the big stage of Michigan and because of defensive coordinator Greg Mattison.

The former Ravens DC made one of the single biggest transformations of a defense in recent history, taking a unit that ranked 102nd in points allowed to seventh in just one year. Whether it was Mattison or Hoke is a great question, but you would have to assume that Mattison had more to do with it.

Bret Bielema

In his first year as head coach, Wisconsin went 12-1, and it’s won 10 or more games the past three years, including wining the Big Ten the past two years.

When he’s done coaching, he could go down as the best coach in the school’s history over now-athletic director Barry Alvarez. The Big Ten Leaders division is all but a lock for the Badgers to win now that Ohio State has a postseason ban.

Mike Gundy

Gundy’s success at Oklahoma State hasn’t come overnight, but he has his team at the top of the Big 12. The Cowboys don’t look like they’re going to be giving that up anytime soon.

They have won more games and more conference games every single year under his watch and were a double-overtime loss away from playing for the national championship this year. The Pokes stand to lose a bunch of talent after this year’s draft, so if he can keep up this success, he could go down as an all-time great.

Chip Kelly

Kelly has had to with a number of off -issues in his career from player arrests to paying $25,000 for bogus recruiting information. If it weren’t for that, he’d be considered an absolute superstar in the coaching world.

During his three years at Oregon, the Ducks have won at least 10 games and have gone to a BCS bowl, including narrowly losing to Auburn in last year’s national championship. With great recruiting classes on their way, his success will only continue.

Frank Beamer

With Joe Paterno and Jim Tressel getting axed, Beamer has more wins than any other active Division I coach. He has led his alma mater Virginia Tech to BCS bowls in four of the past five years and a national title appearance at the end of the 1999 season. The Hokies also have the longest active 10-game winning streak in the country.

The only problem is that his teams have had trouble winning the marquee games. Start doing that, and he could be the best coach in this list.

Les Miles

There’s no substitute for a national championship. Miles won one in 2007 and is the favorite to win another one this year. The only thing keeping him out of the top spot is the trouble he’s had with clock management.

The Mad Hatter nearly cost his team multiple games with poor execution late in games, and sometimes his crazy play calls backfire. Fix those things, and you have the best coach in the country.

Nick Saban

Saban has won two national championships already and has won double-digit games in the past four years. It’s next to impossible to argue with those numbers.

He is bringing in elite recruits, and if you’re a star on his team, you’ll get drafted high by the NFL. Until proven otherwise, Saban is not only the best coach in the BCS but also the best coach in the country.