Big Ten Coaching Board

The coaching rankings for the Big Ten. Each week, the rankings will be updated to reflect each coaches game and season-to-date performances.

Jim Tressell
Ohio State
Yeah, he's lost two back-to-back national championship games. Yeah, he coaches in a league that appears to be on a downturn, and it's become Ohio State and their 10 little bros, but the teams that Tressell has put together have really been top 5 worthy, and the talent around Columbus right now is unreal. This team is said to be better than any team Tressell has had, and with a victory in L.A. will mean another BCS Championship Game, which would mean Tressell would be strung up in SEC country. Win or lose that Championship Game, Tressell has come to dominate the Big Ten, and that doesn't look to change.

Bret Bielema
Wisconsin
Bret Bulimia has not missed a beat since taking over for Barry Alzarez, and many forget that Wisconsin was not too far away from taking on Ohio State in the 2006 National Title Game due to the Big Ten scheduling. Bieliema's teams have been competitive, which has moved him slightly ahead of Paterno, who is on his last leg through the conference.

Joe Paterno
Penn State
Tough to put the all-time coaching leader (I don't count Bowden's wins at Stanford against Berry High and Alabama Women's Institutional College for the Blind) at third in the Big 10. But Paterno has gone 32-32 in Big Ten play, and other than the 2005 Orange Bowl season, the feisty old coach has not had extreme success in the twilight (evening?, dusk?) of his career. I hope he dies on the field.

Rich Rodriguez
Michigan
RichRod is getting credit for his success at WVU, Clemson and Tulane, but I wonder if he really knows what it's going to be like coaching in a conference like the Big Ten. Sure, it may not be the SEC, but the Big Ten will offer much more competition annually, than the Big East did. Also, it will be interesting to see how Michigan recruits for the spread. Obviously the loss of Tyler Pryor to Ohio State was a huge blow. Michigan's coach should never be lower than third on this list.

Joe Tiller
Purdue
Tiller is in the twilight of his career and has done an admirable job at Purdue, becoming the face of the Boilermakers, which I think puts him on a liquor bottle somewhere in Indiana. Prior to his arrival in '97, Purdue had been to five bowl games - ever. Since he arrived, the Boilermakers have attended 11 bowl games, including a 2000 Rose Bowl appearance. This is Tiller's final season at Purdue, with a succession plan in place, so not only will he not really care about where he's ranked (like all the other coaches do), but I don't really care either.

Kirk Ferentz
Iowa
Ferentz continually declined NFL job after NFL job, with most thinking it was only a matter of time. Now Ferentz is looking to hang on to his job in Iowa City. Long gone are the days of Brad Banks; Iowa has sunk to mediocrity, and it's only because of the little depth of quality Big Ten coaches that Ferentz hangs on to No. 6. It won't be surprising though for Zook, Dantonio, and even Brewester to jump Ferentz; possibly even this season.

Ron Zook
Illinois
The Zooker lead Illinois to a BCS game in 2007. He's always been known as a good recruiter, and laid the foundation for the 2006 National Championship Gators, but he also was unable to win in a powerful conference like the SEC and, other than the Ohio State game, he didn't really win big games with the Illini. Plus, if the Rose Bowl weren't such big dillholes, UGA would've played USC in that game last year, and Illinois would've played in the Alamo or Citrus or Sun Bowl, so I can't give him too much credit for an antiquated ruling by a group that doesn't care to see a competitive game. Not to mention that USC kicked his ass.

Mark Dantonio
Michigan State
Dantonio left for MSU from Cincinnati before last season, and I have a feeling that he's a Schiano type that has the ability to do good things in East Lansing. The only problem is that, even with Michigan flailing, the Spartans have that SouthCarolina-esque mentality of losing any game that it's suppose to win and squandering any lead that it might have. It's not so much of coincidences, as that MSU now seems to believe that they will eventually lose. I don't think Dantonio can change that, but if he can, he'll earn a top 3 position in these rankings, because i think he can get talent there.

Pat Fitzgerald
Northwestern
Pat Fitzgerald is in a similar boat to Bill Lynch, as Fitz became the NU coach following the sudden death of Randy Walker. While he has not had great success at Northwestern - tallying a 10-14 mark in two seasons - Fitzgerald has received praise from the administration, and has been able to lead the Wildcats to victories over mediocre Big Ten teams. Sure that doesn't sound like much, but a string of those will get Northwestern into a bowl game, and that's all they can really ask for in Evanston.

Bill Lynch
Indiana
I know very little about Bill Lynch, but under the circumstances, there really hasn't been much time to get a handle on him. He lead the team to a bowl game in his first year, completing the goal of the late Hoosier coach Terry Hoeppner of 'Playing 13.' He lead Indiana to a 7-6 season and their first bowl since '93. This was enough for the administration to sign him on to a 4 year contract, but I have my doubts that he will be able to do anything with Indiana in the Big 10. For the record, Hoeppner would've been around No. 6 in this poll.

Tim Brewster
Minnesota
Brewster is down this low after a horrible first year with the Gophers, but he will probably shoot to the middle of the pack this season. People around Minnesota are content with Brewster, despite the 1-11, and as my grandpappy used to say, if people are content in Minnesota, you'd better make sure they're not frozen to death.