Dienhart: ‘Expect a breakout this fall’

General NCS Football Rankings & Lists Tom O'Brien83

A couple of years ago we highlighted various media exercises where Tom O’Brien was garnering praise and high rankings. It may be worth some of your time to do a little surfing.

As you can see from some of the previous links, Tom Dienhart was writing for The Sporting News in the past. Today, Dienhart writes for SI.com and has reprised his rankings of ACC Coaches. (Link)

You have to give Dienhart major ‘props’ for exhibiting a trait with which that most media members struggle mightily – consistency. Two years ago, Dienhart ranked Tom O’Brien #3 in the ACC…and, without any reason to make a change…he does the same thing this year.

1. Jim Grobe, Wake Forest
2. Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech

3. Tom O’Brien, N.C. State

There are few better coaches in the nation than the perpetually underrated O’Brien, who thrives on running a smart, disciplined program. He was 75-45 at Boston College from 1997-2006. Unappreciated in Chestnut Hill, O’Brien is starting to turn around the Wolfpack, going 11-14 in his first two years. He was at his best last fall, when he rallied the Wolfpack from a 2-6 start to four consecutive victories and a bowl trip. Expect a breakout this fall.

4. Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech
5. Butch Davis, North Carolina
6. Bobby Bowden, Florida State
7. Al Groh, Virginia
8. Ralph Friedgen, Maryland
9. David Cutcliffe, Duke
10. Dabo Swinney, Clemson
11. Randy Shannon, Miami
12. Frank Spaziani, Boston College

Note that Dienhart – whose list includes some interesting tidbits and rationale for each coach – ranks David Cutcliffe in 9th position. This is a rationale departure from ESPN’s Heather Dinich’s love for Duke’s coach that we discussed in this related entry from last year that you should check out.

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General NCS Football Rankings & Lists Tom O'Brien

83 Responses to Dienhart: ‘Expect a breakout this fall’

  1. Gene 04/14/2009 at 3:29 PM #

    Set standards for our coaches?

    We have several non-revenue sports finishing dead last or close to it on a regular basis. We’ve kept coaches on for years, who have barely produced any positive results or haven’t done anything significant and finish in the bottom third of the conference on an annual basis.

    Fans expect to win and compete and not be the doormats of the ACC for the money they contribute to the athletics department. Some basic standards should exist, like don’t finish DFL or close to it on an annual basis.

    Women’s volleyball once lost 71 straight conference games, before that coach was let go. This was over something like 3 seasons. We won 3 conference games last year, which was one better than a couple of schools, so we weren’t DFL for once.

    Carolina’s woman’s soccer program is the premier program in their sport. They are far more dominating than Carolna men’s basketball. Just think about it for a second. We kept Kerrigan, who was a great player for us in the 1980’s, on as coach for so long we became irrelevant in the sport. After going 0-10 in the conference last year and finishing dead last, she was replaced.

    I just can’t picture Carolina sitting pat, when NCSU is winning, even in non-revenue sports. They didn’t do it with women’s basketball, 20 years ago. If we had achieved dynastic status in any sport, I expect Carolina to do everything in their power to surpass us.

    We just hang on to coaches, who not only fail to win anything but finish in the bottom of the conference on an annual basis.

    We aren’t competing against other schools. Our athletics department is just trying not to trip over itself.

    So what standard should be expected? Regular post-season appearances for most sports. Finishing in the top third of the conference – 4th place or higher – on a regular basis and for now, at least, contending for a conference title a few times a decade. If we can get that far across the board, than I say we have to up the bar in some sports to go for national titles, but let’s at least be able sit up on our own and crawl before we can be expected to start standing and walking, let alone running and competing.

  2. Gene 04/14/2009 at 3:33 PM #

    I am pissed about the way our university handles PR.

    I was surprised by how little attention the university pays to Cullen Jones. He’s not Michael Phelps, but I think he’s the only swimmer from the ACC to have an Olympic gold medal. That should be worth some good PR, unless it’s a sort of weird Lawrence Taylor-Carolina relationship, where the athlete is somehow basically forgotten as having attended the school.

  3. waxhaw 04/14/2009 at 6:54 PM #

    ^ That’s another great example.

    As for LT, I always assumed that they wanted to distance themselves from him because of his academic stature. I’ve heard that he could not read. I would imagine that is a gross exaggeration but he probably make Hakeem Nicks look like a rocket scientist.

  4. turfpack 04/14/2009 at 9:47 PM #

    Noah-Sorry one of those day at work.I watched Tony run mabe 15-20 times- that little rock step he had earlier in his career and side step was there in the few plays I saw.The coaches I talk to seemed pleased with his spring progress.I thought he looked good over all-he was smiling and carrying on with his teammates.I had heard alot about this teams working habits and I left very impressed-expect a good year from this team-8-9 wins not out of the question.

  5. Greywolf 04/15/2009 at 9:26 AM #

    “Fans expect to win and compete and not be the doormats of the ACC for the money they contribute to the athletics department.”
    `
    Times have changed since I worked on WPC membership drives. I have in fact NEVER made a check out to the athletics department. In those archaic days fans joined the WPC to support Wolfpack athletics through donating money primarily used for scholarships. For me and other small donors – numerically the vast majority of donors are small — it was a way to be a part of Wolfpack athletics. I never once considered that my piss ant donations entitled me to expect wins. In those older times we considered it to be a privilege to support athletics thru providing scholarship money.
    `
    I wonder if the Dail family is indignant about the lack of wins since they have donated so much in support of NCSU athletics.

  6. waxhaw 04/15/2009 at 1:48 PM #

    You make a great point about expecting wins for donations. Most people I know would never hold the university hostage with their donations.

    HOWEVER, I think it is perfectly fine to want the programs to strive for excellence. If our leadership doesn’t share that goal, it should be perfectly fine to want new leadership.

  7. Greywolf 04/16/2009 at 2:59 PM #

    “HOWEVER, I think it is perfectly fine to want the programs to strive for excellence. If our leadership doesn’t share that goal, it should be perfectly fine to want new leadership.”
    `
    Absolutely!! I think the question is not ‘does our leadership share the goal of excellence’ but is ‘to what extent is our leadership willing to go in search of the goal of excellence’. Unfortunately creating a winning program or programs is not as simple as firing one coach and bringing in another as some would have us believe.
    `
    Like all good managers, coaches are looking at the tools the programs have to offer before they sign on. Variables such as recruiting budgets, travel budgets, assistant allocation and salary provisions, and facilities. The significance of facilities being on a par with competing schools is a part of the multifaceted mix that goes into having winning programs.

  8. redfred2 04/16/2009 at 7:35 PM #

    “Unfortunately creating a winning program or programs is not as simple as firing one coach and bringing in another as some would have us believe.”

    Greywolf, I’ve said that same thing a million times, and I totally agree with your statement on that topic.

    But the next paragraph, that makes no sense to me at all.

    One trick ponies do not equate to “good managers”.

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