Sporting News on Brandon

orangeandbrown · Post by **orangeandbrown** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 3:45 pm

This dude in the Sporting News ranks Brandon the top coach in the MAC. Here is his write up.

The one and only: Gregg Brandon, Bowling Green. He expanded Meyer's spread option offense in 2003 and now has one of the nation's most prolific passing games. A second 10-win season in three years will lead to a nice BCS job.

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/vi ... hp?t=11544

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 4:23 pm

If the only part of coaching is X's & O's (especially on offense) I could see this rating. Unfortunately for coach Brandon there is more to coaching than that. I don't see how a guy who has continually gotten outcoached in big games (especially 2nd half adjustments) can possibly be the best coach in the conference.

Last year he was brutally outcoached by both Tom Amstutz & Joe Novak when coming out of halftime.

As much as it pains me to say it Tom Amstutz is the best coach in the MAC, if for no other reason than he's actually won MAC titles (is there another HC in the entire conference who even has one as the HC?).

Coach Brandon is a great recruiter and a brilliant X's & O's guy, but his track record in big road games is not good enough for me to name him the best coach in the conference.

UK Peregrine · Post by **UK Peregrine** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 4:44 pm

hammb wrote:Tom Amstutz is the best coach in the MAC

I don't care what your rationalizations are, this is teetering on treasonous ground. Until further notice, you sir are on double secret probation. You can rationalize who the best LB is, whether Josh will make the Browns roster, or even which gentlemen's club has the best ambiance, but you never ever rationalize why UT is better than BG in anything. You just don't do it.

1987alum · Post by **1987alum** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 4:48 pm

hammb:

Good evaluation of Coach B, IMO. From what I can see, he's a great recruiter, phenomenal with the Xs & Os and a top-notch motivator. The nuances of the game and halftime adjustments are what we management geeks like to call "growth opportunities."

FWIW, a lot of folks in Philly will tell you that Andy Reid is good at evaluating talent, drawing up the Xs & Os and managing team dynamics. His track record with clock management and other game details leaves a lot to be desired.

Coaches, like players, can and must improve.

Flipper · Post by **Flipper** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 5:14 pm

Eh...I think the staff handled the second half adjustments just fine in the Motor City Bowl, the 2003 UT game and the GMAC bowl.

Not stopping the freight trains in Dekalb and Toledo in 2004 are definite black marks though....

Bleeding Orange · Post by **Bleeding Orange** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 6:26 pm

That is an excellent point, Flip. We do tend to forget about those games after the two big losses last year.

We can't forget about the Purdon't victory, either.

UK Peregrine · Post by **UK Peregrine** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 7:37 pm

Hold on a minute Hammb and '87, before we dub Amstutz the best coach in the MAC. We have to level the playing field a little bit, right?

So let's look at both coaches first two year coaches to be a little more objective. In Tom's first two season he was 19-7, Brandon is 20-6. Amstutz was 1-1 in bowls, Brandon is 2-0. Amstutz had two MAC West titles, Brandon has one MAC West title. And Amstutz had the one MAC Championship in 2001 and we all know Brandon has zero thus far.

All and all, looking at their first two years as coaches I think they look pretty damn close. Also keep in mind that Amstutz inherited a team that went 10-1 under Pinkel and Brandon inherited a team from Meyer that was 9-3. So Amstutz may have had slightly better talent that first year than Brandon did and may have assisted Amstutz in winning that first MAC Championship.

Brandon is one and one head up with Amstutz and Novak. So I don't quite see how people can be so quick to dub Amstutz or Brandon the best coach. If you want to do it based on the fact that Amstutz has two more years of experience as a head coach, then so be it, that's your perogative. I on the other hand will reserve judgement for now for the simple fact that Brandon and Amstutz numbers in the first two years are essentially a wash depending on what you deem most important.

*EDIT* Sorry, I was on a role and just kept typing without looking at the original mess of a paragraph. I inserted a few breaks for readability.

Rightupinthere · Post by **Rightupinthere** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 9:33 pm

UK Peregrine wrote:Hold on a minute Hammb and '87, before we dub Amstutz the best coach in the MAC. We have to level the playing field a little bit, right? So let's look at both coaches first two year coaches to be a little more objective. In Tom's first two season he was 19-7, Brandon is 20-6. Amstutz was 1-1 in bowls, Brandon is 2-0. Amstutz had two MAC West titles, Brandon has one MAC West title. And Amstutz had the one MAC Championship in 2001 and we all know Brandon has zero thus far. All and all, looking at their first two years as coaches I think they look pretty damn close. Also keep im mind that Amstutz inherited a team that went 10-1 under Pinkel and Brandon inherited a team from Meyer that was 9-3. So Amstutz may have had slightly better talent that first year than Brandon did and may have assisted Amstutz in winning that first MAC Championship. Brandon is one and one head up with Amstutz and Novak. So I don't quite see how people can be so quick to dub Amstutz or Brandon the best coach. If you want to do it based on the fact that Amstutz has two more years of experience as a head coach, then so be it, that's your perogative. I on the other hand will reserve judgement for now for the simple fact that Brandon and Amstutz numbers in the first two years are essentially a wash depending on what you deem most important.

A couple of breaks in there would have been stellar.

I understand what you are saying and it would be difficult to choose the best coach in the MAC. I don't believe Brandon is the best coach.......yet.

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 11:53 pm

UK Peregrine wrote:Hold on a minute Hammb and '87, before we dub Amstutz the best coach in the MAC. We have to level the playing field a little bit, right?

So let's look at both coaches first two year coaches to be a little more objective. In Tom's first two season he was 19-7, Brandon is 20-6. Amstutz was 1-1 in bowls, Brandon is 2-0. Amstutz had two MAC West titles, Brandon has one MAC West title. And Amstutz had the one MAC Championship in 2001 and we all know Brandon has zero thus far.

All and all, looking at their first two years as coaches I think they look pretty damn close. Also keep in mind that Amstutz inherited a team that went 10-1 under Pinkel and Brandon inherited a team from Meyer that was 9-3. So Amstutz may have had slightly better talent that first year than Brandon did and may have assisted Amstutz in winning that first MAC Championship.

Brandon is one and one head up with Amstutz and Novak. So I don't quite see how people can be so quick to dub Amstutz or Brandon the best coach. If you want to do it based on the fact that Amstutz has two more years of experience as a head coach, then so be it, that's your perogative. I on the other hand will reserve judgement for now for the simple fact that Brandon and Amstutz numbers in the first two years are essentially a wash depending on what you deem most important.

*EDIT* Sorry, I was on a role and just kept typing without looking at the original mess of a paragraph. I inserted a few breaks for

readability.

Amstutz is no longer in his first 2 years of coaching at UT, so I think this is pretty irrelevant. The topic is who is the best coach in the MAC right now. Brandon could grow into the best coach in the MAC, for sure, but right now I'm real hard pressed, no matter how orange my glasses are, to not pick the guy with multiple MAC titles.

bgmaggot00 · Post by **bgmaggot00** » Sat Aug 27, 2005 2:19 am

I'm not saying anything either way, but I think Frank Solich's name should be brought up at least once in this discussion. Take a look at his bio here.

http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml ... E_PAGE=YES

Yeah, not too bad.

TG1996 · Post by **TG1996** » Sat Aug 27, 2005 4:16 pm

bgmaggot00 wrote:I'm not saying anything either way, but I think Frank Solich's name should be brought up at least once in this discussion.

Because he got run out of Nebraska and hasn't coached a down in the MAC yet? Yeah. He's the best.

Woo. Hoo.

kdog27 · Post by **kdog27** » Sat Aug 27, 2005 4:32 pm

Well Nebraska football has gotten even worse since he was there. No bowl game last year. He was what 58-19 there? Not saying that means anything but I don't think his being runout was justified.

San Diego Falcon · Post by **San Diego Falcon** » Sat Aug 27, 2005 6:02 pm

Amstutz has my vote as the best coach in the MAC. He's had Toledo right in the middle of the conference race every year he's been head coach (including the years in which they didn't actually win it) even in those years when the expectations weren't that high. You have to tip your cap to him they way he brought his team back last year after getting killed at Minnesota and Kansas (most other teams would have crumbled).

UK Peregrine · Post by **UK Peregrine** » Sat Aug 27, 2005 6:37 pm

hammb wrote:Amstutz is no longer in his first 2 years of coaching at UT, so I think this is pretty irrelevant. The topic is who is the best coach in the MAC right now. Brandon could grow into the best coach in the MAC, for sure, but right now I'm real hard pressed, no matter how orange my glasses are, to not pick the guy with multiple MAC titles.

I hardly think it is irrelevant. If you want to go on the fact that Amstutz has two more years as a head coach and that makes him worthy of being deemed the best coach, that's prefectly fine with me.

My point is that when comparing the two, the playing field is inherently uneven when you include Amstutz's two additional years as a head coach over Brandon. If those extra two years make him a better coach than Brandon at this time, then that's fair enough as well. I just feel strongly that the best way to objectively evaluate these two is by leveling the playing field and looking at how they did in their first two seasons. And as you can see from my comparisons, they are pretty damn close in their first two seasons.

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Sat Aug 27, 2005 7:46 pm

Forced to vote and be objective and stuff, I'd vote for Joe Novak.

He started with nothing and built it up into quite a nice little program. He hasn't won the MAC yet, but look where he started: Zero.