Who Are The Most Intriguing Coaches In College Football This Season? | Others Receiving Votes

Uh, I did my first most intriguing list of the season, the most intriguing coaches, top 25 of those.

This is not necessarily a list of who's best, it is a list of who's most interesting.

To me, you guys are gonna have different opinions.

Uh, I'm not going to give away the whole list, but spoiler alert, Kurt Cignnetti's number one, because of course, Kurt Cignettti is number one.

Now, number 2 was pretty compelling, and I had to give it some thought, but until somebody beats Kurt Signnetti in a game, he's by far the most interesting coach in college football.

You guys, uh, give me your thoughts.

Who, who would you, who are you most intrigued by, uh, heading into this season, Brian?

Well, I would add, uh, I would have had Lane and, and Kyle Whittingham, your #3.

Uh, I think I would have had them ahead of Kurt, uh, just because we know what we're gonna get.

We, we know what we're gonna get out of Kurt.

So like I, I, I, you know, and, and truthfully, like it is a more interesting season for Indiana just because not only do they have that target on their back, they're not gonna surprise anybody .

Like this is a, you know, the, the, the hunter becoming the hunted, uh, type of situation.

Like we, we, we know that's gonna happen there in Bloomington, and I think I'm, I'm excited to kind of see what, what, what that kind of provokes out of, out of Kurt.

But like Lane Kiffin, everything that happened in the offseason and even the end of last season, like I, I think he's, he's a clear number one in my mind.

To me, the thing that, that struck me, uh, reading your list is the guy that's, that's not on there, that is in, uh, uh, how, how, how did you determine, uh, other coaches considered.

The number one guy on the other coaches considered, I would have put like right behind Kyle Whittingham in Davos winning.

Uh, I, I think it's a fascinating situation.

There at Clemson.

Like you have a national title win , a multiple national title-winning head coach, and we only have a couple of those, you know, you can count them on one hand in, in, in the sport right now, and he might be facing the most interesting situation in terms of where the expectations are that he has set at that program, how they have not met them, how, how he has been very much, I'm gonna do it my way, and it is a my way or the highway type of situation there at Clemson.

And if the results are not there, and I think you've already seen the Issues bubble up, uh, these last couple of years where they have not, uh, come anywhere close to kind of the Clemson teams that we know.

Like, I, I think it's a fascinating year.

He's rebooted his staff a little bit, um, you know, kind of getting the band back together with, with Chad Morris coming in there an offensive coordinator.

Um, they, they seem to express a lot of faith in, in their quarterback position, even though it's not a guy that, um, you know, we, we've seen much of .

Like it, it's just a fascinating, fascinating year.

I think Ver Dabo Swinney, you add on top of that an, an ACC.

Where, you know what, they, they could finish 2nd, they could finish 15th.

Like, I mean, it's really kind of all over the place.

I think the ACC is a little bit stronger than, uh, than it was a year ago.

So, uh, you add that in, Miami making the national title game, Virginia Tech spending money, uh, like it's just an interesting year, I think for Dabo and for Clemson as a program.

See that the difference between you and I there is I've already given up on Dabo, OK.

Last year to me was the interesting year and they went 7 and 6 , so.

I've, I've made my mind up and maybe he'll turn it around and prove me wrong, he has before, uh, but we'll see.

Kevin, have you given up on Luke Fickle yet?

Oh yeah, oh yeah, like, I don't know, I, I found him to be maybe the most interesting figure, non-Sci at Big 10 Media Day, just in the sense of like, how often do you really get a coach who understands that they're on the hot seat and is willing to talk about it.

Again, man, I haven't been good enough.

Like we have not been good enough as a part.

We haven't gotten where we wanted to go.

And yes, like he is going to mix in like every coach, you know, we had to build it from the ground up.

We wanted to do things a different way, but like he's also open with his failings, and I think they're better.

He's open with how much money they spent to try to be better, which means there are no excuses.

if they aren't a lot better.

They have this massive week one game where, look, I don't think anyone's expecting them to beat, beat Notre Dame, but it would be a statement of its own if Wisconsin is in that football game, if they are battling, like, if, if, if, if that is a 4 quarter football game, that is a good sign for a Wisconsin team with a much more manageable schedule.

And look, I, I've, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm suckered in, like this guy's been left for dead 3 years ago, we thought he was, you know, one of the best coaches in college football or one of the emerging best coaches in college football.

Like, I don't think these guys forget how to do this , and I understand it's hard to climb out of it once you're in it, but I'm intrigued enough by the roster, intrigued enough by the quarterback, and, you know, intrigued by a coach being willing to say, like, I've, I haven't been good enough and I better fix it.

If not, I'm gonna be probably on, on podcasts like you guys, uh, this time next year.

We'll have Ficle on, absolutely.

I like Luke.

He's, uh, I am shocked at, at the way things have gone for him there.

I really am.

I thought that was total home run hire and it's been anything but the schedule kind of gives him a chance.

I mean, they do open with Notre Dame.

That's, we're gonna just , you know, write down L there, but They don't play Indiana, they don't play Ohio State, they don't play Oregon.

So you take the top 3 threats in the, right now, at least in the Big 10 off the schedule, and if they're improved enough, you can, you know, you find enough wins, maybe at least get a winning record and you get a 5th season.

But, uh, I think from where Wisconsin was to where it is, has been a pretty precipitous fall and an indication they weren't really ready for the modern era.

Um, another coach, I think I had number 8 on the list, but the intrigue keeps getting worse, really, for Bill Belichick at, uh, North Carolina.

He was number 1 on my list last year, and then, I mean, it was just a brutal season.

It was 4 and 8.

his girlfriend made more headlines than he did, came, you know, a very kind of prominent sideshow, and now, In this offseason heading into year 2, the general manager is on paid administrative leave.

Three words you never want to associated with yourself.

Better than unpaid administrative leave, but still, you don't want to be on paid administrative leave.

Michael Lombardi, we talked about him, I think it was last week, maybe 2 weeks ago, anyway, what a train wreck he's been.

But now, Bill's son, Steve Belichick, defensive coordinator, uh, is on medical leave .

I hope everything is OK with him, but these are the people.

That were closest to Bill Belichick and the reason the people he leaned on to build around coming in here.

His son is DC, his buddy, riding buddy from the Patriots' days, Michael Lombardi, his girlfriend, they've all been the problems so far.

What the hell is going on there, Brian Fisher, is there any way to dig out of Bill Belichick's self-inflicted wounds here?

I, I think it's gonna be tough, you know, like I, I don't see the roster being in, in that much of a better place to where they can, um, you know, and, and, and to me it's not just the roster, but like the schedule this year is so much more difficult than it was a year ago.

Like that was part of the reason there was a lot of optimism.

All right, he can hit the ground running, right?

Uh, you know, they, they, they don't play any of the top threats, you know, they get a lot of the, uh, teams that you would expect to be good on that ACC schedule at home .

Uh, all right, you know, OK, Bill, Bill Belichick can coach them up and, and maybe win 89, 10 games, right?

You know, and make a big splash and then that, you know, is gonna be kind of rolling downhill in terms of leading to more success and Uh, the, the boulders rolling downhill.

It's just gonna land flat on Bill Belichick at this point, you know, and I think that's, that's gonna be the problem.

Like I, I do anticipate, um, you know, his son Steve to, to get back, like I'm, I'm not necessarily worried about, uh, you know, any, any issues with that, uh, just cause you have such a great defensive mind, somebody who is so hands-on, uh, on, on that defense, but like it, it definitely is concerning, and I think, um, you know, with, with some new faces there in Chapel Hill above Bill Belichick, like, you know, that, that does kind of add to the intrigue and, you know, what, what is that?

Time where we're , we're gonna just, we're we're we're gonna pull the handbrake off and, and, and we're, we're gonna go and, and just, um, you know, clean house.

Like when, when, what is that point, you know, in, in the season, uh, and can we potentially get there this year instead of making this an offseason thing, uh, for, for North Carolina.

I think that's, that's gonna be key, uh, surrounding him because what, let's face it, every time they lose a game, we're gonna be talking about Bill Belichick's job status.

Like that's not a good position to be in as a program and, um, And probably not where anybody expected, not only they're in Chapel Hill, but I think across the football universe at this point, uh, to think that we would, uh, be not only counting this as, as a failure on his resume, but that we would be at this point in his tenure, like you, you know, start of year two, we're, we're gonna talk game after game after game, uh, you know, about his job status, and, uh, I think that's that's gonna be the thing that is gonna hover over the Tar Heels, um, really until that basketball season starts.

They're, they're in the triangle.

If, if there was a team that needed like, uh, you know, Absolute joke of an opener against an FCS team, it was North Carolina.

Instead, not only do you play TCU, you play them in Ireland and you play them with a spotlight of the entire football world watching.

There is literally no other football to watch on uh the , the 29th at 11 a.m. Central time than Carolina TCU and I just, I mean, knowing how disastrous losing in Ireland has been to teams in the past.

I, I, I just don't know how this doesn't go really poorly, right?

Like, again, there's gonna be a lot of quit.

Outside this organization on Bill Belichick, if they lose and lose ugly early and It's hard not to imagine that.

We get the same thing, you know, like how, how does this not happen to North Carolina this year?

With the way, like, internally, how do you keep the belief when, if, if and when you get blown out in Ireland, if and when you're staring down this, this brutal schedule, if and when you're hearing the questions, and by the way, like, it's great that Carolina wanted to go young and, you know, recruit high school players, like, all those guys realize they may not be here next year, right?

Like, they, you don't even have the, like, I, I guess maybe everybody has to like play for your next contract mentality now in college football.

I guess that's what you have to hope is, is gonna happen with this group.

Because, like, believing in the shield of North Carolina doesn't seem overly optimistic.

No, that's the thing, I mean, the, the, the, the risk involved, and I've, we've seen this in places where if there were already Doubts, if there was already pressure, if there were cracks in the foundation, and you start bad, there's no getting it back in modern college football.

I mean, when it goes bad, it goes bad and people start bailing.

And if you've got, if you're counting on a bunch of freshmen, a lot of young guys that have to step in or transfers that could have one step out real fast, uh, 1 ft out the door.

Uh, and yes, I think starting 1 and 5.

It is likely, frankly.

TCU in Ireland, East Tennessee State, that's your chance to win at Clemson, Notre Dame, at Pitt, at Duke.

Whew! Uh, and especially Duke's a rivalry game.

If you go through that game and you're 1 and 5, even if there are a couple of wins on the back half of the schedule, by then , I wonder how many people within and without of the program will have checked out.

So, Nothing is going well for North Carolina.

Maybe they'll shock us.

Maybe Bobby Pittrino will dial it up and shock the world in Ireland, and we will have a totally different discussion, uh, on August 30th, but we'll see.