Worst Coaches in the SEC over the last 20 years

Well this type of debate is useless. Arnsparger used the talent that Stovall recruited. Arnsparger was known to dislike recruiting. So the talent level started to fall off when Archer inherited the program. At that time, FSU, Miami, and UF were all winning and all of the skill position players in the south were lining up to play for Spurier, Bowden, etc. We can debate who was the worse coach of all time, but the that's like comparing who the best of all time was. How do you compare coaches and players from different eras. Very difficult.

 

Not only did Archer have to recruit against the super programs but there was a character named George Eames in BR that did all he could to screw LSU.

 

First let me say that I agree that it's silly to compare coaches like this, but it's done all the time. From my jackass comment above, you should be able to infer that I don't hold either of these guys in high regard. However, I think people tend to pile on Curley unjustifiably due to misstated facts, to a poor understanding of history, or whatever. Take your post for example.

Arnsparger was only here for 3 yrs, so it's somewhat difficult to get complete picture. Without a doubt he benefited from Stovall's recruiting, but in spite of his reputation of disliking recruiting, Arnsparger brought in more NFL talent in a three year period than anyone until Saban. Recruiting dropped off his last year, but there was more talent in that class than any of Archer's. This said, Arnsparger probably caused some issues with the high school coaches that Archer inherited.

Archer really didn't compete against Spurrier. Spurrier's first year at FL was 90, i.e. Archer's last year. Hallman had to deal with all three, not Archer, and Hallman was able to improve recruiting.

The single thing that probably did Archer in was prop 48 (min academic standards). Prop 48 was instituted around his first year (not sure exactly when it started). This really changed recruiting, especially in LA. However, he was the program manager at the time, so he was responsible for having a plan and strategy for dealing with it. He failed, and he should take responsibility for it.

 

Out of 4 Archer recruiting classes, a total of 6 players were drafted (1 2nd rd; 3 3rd rnd; 1 6th rd; and 1 9th rd).

In Archer's 4 yrs, a total of 20 (3 more were drafted, but they wouldn't be drafted today because of how late they were picked) players were drafted (3 1st rd; 2 2n rd; 3 3rd rnd; 4 4th rd; 1 5th rd; 1 6th rd; 2 7th rd; 1 8th rd; and 3 9th rd)

Out of 4 Hallman recruiting classes, a total of 9 players were drafted. Not a great deal more, but they were more likely difference makers (3 1st rd; 3 2nd rd; and 3 3rd rnd)

In Hallman's 4 yrs a total of 6 players were drafted (mostly Archer's recruits), (1 2nd rd; 4 3rd rnd--one was one of his recruits; and 1 6th rd)

The point of this is that there was a measurable difference in talent between Hallman and Archer.

Where in the article are they saying they are ranking only "coaching" ability? If we are only talking about coaching, why are there no assistant coaches listed? The reason is that this is about head coaches and the results they achieved. Without an explicit statement that they are only considering "coaching," and not recruiting or player relations, the reasonable assumption would be the totality of what it takes to be a head coach. "He sucks at recruiting and is abysmal at player relations, but he is a hell of head coach" just doesn't sound right to me.

 

What I said was "From MY jackass comment." (See my reply to Bengal Buddy above)

 

I hated that for my years at LSU, we had Mike Archer and Curley Hallman as the football coaches. What a freakin' bummer.

But everybody was excited about Hallman when he came in. Remember the "Crazy 'bout Curley" bumper stickers?

I graduated in '92, but had a date for the '93 AU game (the year they went undefeated.) I admit it; we got up and left during the 3rd quarter of that azz whippin'. One of our fans yelled at us, "Hey, way to support the program!"

My date yelled back, "I may be crazy 'bout Curley, but I'm not ready to be committed."

Those were dark days.

 

i thought you were gonna say... "the Perry bowl"

 

id say he rode it out til the instigators (marshall, king and jaquet, in particular) left

curley was fired from muscle shoals