This argument happens every year, when looking across the country analyzing what each program does and it’s future potential to achieve. Recently, Mike Farrell of Rivals ranked the top-10 coaching jobs in the nation and Notre Dame did not make his list.
The Irish were mentioned after the initial 10, along with Michigan, Miami (FL), Oregon and Penn State. Is this too low? Is this just right?
The SEC leads the charge with half of the teams in Farrell’s top-10, which seems like it has to be off. How can a top-10 job be one that will finish consistently behind 3-4 other teams?
No argument from me with Alabama at the top of the list, you can extend it to the top 3 schools with Ohio State and Clemson. Those three consist of the elite-elite football schools.
Fourth on the list is Texas, a bit high in my estimation. They still have some pull, but haven’t been consistently good in years. Since 2010, the Longhorns have had under .500 records in 4 seasons, only breaking double-digit wins once in that time frame. Maybe in the early 2000’s a ranking this high for the Longhorns makes sense, but right now, they’re not a top-10 coaching job in my estimation.
The Trojans are next, in the same time frame, USC has just one under .500 season and four 10+ win years. Five is a bit high for me, but they should be inside the top 10.
Georgia (6), LSU (7), Oklahoma (8), and Florida (9) make up a group you can’t make too many arguments against being included, but it’s the tenth team that shouldn’t be in Texas A&M.
Like their Lone Star counterpart, they have not had much on-field success in the last 10 years. Just one 10-win season since ‘10, two since 1998 if you expand the time frame further. Farrell is off his rocker that the Aggies are a top 10 coaching job.
How about the team that’s made the College Football Playoffs two of the last three years? Four straight ten-plus win seasons, 5 of the last 6, two top-5 finishes in the last three years? Is that not enough to put Notre Dame inside the top-10?
I guess according to Farrell you have to have multiple average seasons and be in the SEC for him to view your coaching job as top-10 outfit. Not sure what he’s looking at, but he got this one wrong, Notre Dame should be considered a top-10 coaching job. Period.