There are plenty of big name coaches in college football. Everyone recognizes the names of Nick Saban, Les Miles, Urban Meyer and many more. However, many of these big names are the head coaches in the BCS conferences, with the schools that soak up almost all of the spotlight. Many, like Les Miles, worked as coordinators at BCS schools and used those credentials to earn a head coaching gig. However, many of the “top-notch” coaches started at the lower level schools and worked their way up. Saban began his head coaching career at the University of Toledo. Meyer began his at Bowling Green State University.
The non-BCS conferences are filled with coaching talent with many different backgrounds. There are some who led elite programs at the highest level, and even won national titles. There are some who are “young, up and coming,” working their way up the FBS ranks. There are also a few who have had the opportunity to move to bigger programs, but chose to stay and build their program.
Without further adieu, here are the top-10 coaches, not at a BCS program:
10. Jim McElwain (Colorado State)
McElwain may not have had a great season to begin his head coaching career, but he is in the beginning stages of building a program and he has the coaching pedigree to understand what it takes. He was the offensive coordinator of the the Alabama teams that won the national championships during the 2009 and 2011 seasons, so he knows what it takes to win. Colorado State went 4-8 in McElwain’s first season, but look for a more improved Rams team heading forward, as McElwain begins to bring in his own players.
9. Tim DeRuyter (Fresno State)
DeRuyter had a great career as a defensive coordinator at Ohio, Nevada, Air Force and Texas A&M, but was thrown into interim head coaching position at A&M after the firing of Mike Sherman prior to the Meineke Car Care Bowl. DeRuyter led the Aggies to a 33-22 victory over Northwestern, and was impressive enough to be offered the head coaching job at Fresno State. In 2012, DeRuyter did not disappoint. The Bulldogs finished 9-4 and made an appearance in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.
8. Matt Campbell (Toledo)
Matt Campbell started off his head coaching career in the 2011 Military Bowl with an exciting 42-41 win over Air Force. Campbell was thrust into head coaching duties when Tim Beckman accepted an opening to fill the vacant head coach position at Illinois. Campbell continued his success, leading the Rockets to a 9-4 record and an appearance in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. The most impressive part? Prior to Kliff Kingsbury’s hiring at Texas Tech, Campbell was the youngest head coach in the FBS. Campbell enters 2013 in his second full season with a record of 10-4 and a bowl win, all at the age of 33.
7. Frank Solich (Ohio)
Solich goes unnoticed among Division I coaches, as he currently is in the Mid-American Conference and isn’t the next “young, up-and-coming coach” that the BCS schools are looking for to lead their teams. However, Solich has had an incredibly successful career, including a great stint at Nebraska from 1998-2003, where he posted a 58-19 record, with one conference championship and two BCS bowl appearances, including a 31-21 victory over Tennessee in the 2000 Rose Bowl. However, Nebraska expected more from the program, as Solich was the replacement after legendary coach, Tom Osborne, retired.
The Cornhuskers were expected to be consistent national title contenders, and Solich did not show the ability to do that in his last years years in Lincoln, posting records of 7-7 and 9-3. After being fired shortly after the 2003 season, Solich returned to coaching in 2005 as the head coach of Ohio University. Since then, he has a record of 59-44, with three appearances in the conference championship game, but no conference titles. However, he has turned the Bobcats into a respectable program, as they enter 2013 with a streak of four consecutive winning seasons and two straight bowl wins.
6. Ken Niumatalolo (Navy)
Niumatalolo inherited the Navy position from Paul Johnson, who left to become the head coach of Georgia Tech in 2007 before the Midshipmen’s Poinsettia Bowl matchup against Utah. Navy suffered a 35-32 loss, but Niumatalolo showed enough to the university to be promoted from offensive coordinator/interim head coach, to the head coach position. He has had a solid career thus far, posting a career record of 40-26. However, this record is significantly more impressive, as Niumatalolo faces tough recruiting challenges. Since Navy is a military academy, players have a strict training regimen and a challenging academic curriculum... to prepare for their four year commitment to serving their country after graduation.
Because of this, Navy has virtually no opportunity to recruit the top high school athletes who have dreams of playing in the NFL. They have to recruit men with high character, strong work ethic, and a strong desire to protect and serve the United States of America. This uphill battle should put Navy one step behind the rest of Division I, but Niumatalolo has done a great job keeping his team competitive, only having one losing season during his tenure.
5. Larry Blakeney (Troy)
Blakeney is currently the longest-tenured head coach in the NCAA. He began his head coaching career with Troy State University, a Division II school in 1991. During his tenure, Troy State has become Troy University and transitioned from a Division II school to an FBS program. While the past couple seasons have been nearly as successful, Blakeney has a career record of 168-99-1 with eight total conference championships (three in FCS and five in FBS), including a streak from 2006-2010, when Troy won five straight Sun Belt conference championships. The most notable player to come from Troy during Blakeney’s tenure is current Dallas Cowboys pro-bowler, Demarcus Ware.
4. Larry Coker (Texas- San Antonio)
Any coach who carries a BCS National Title deserves his name on this list. Coker was the head coach of the 2001 Miami (FL) national championship, which is considered to be one of the greatest teams in NCAA history, as well as the 2002 national runner-up Hurricanes, who lost in a triple overtime heart breaker to Maurice Clarett and the Ohio State Buckeyes. Coker has been assigned the challenge to help UTSA transition into the FBS.
The Roadunners had an incredibly successful first season in the WAC, finishing 3-3 in the conference, including wins over Idaho and New Mexico State. This season will be a real test for UTSA, as they move to the Mountain West, as well as a full FBS schedule and play teams like Oklahoma State and Arizona. They will rely heavily on Coker’s previous experience to help guide the team as they continue to develop into a Division I program.
3. Bronco Mendenhall (BYU)
Similar to Niumatalolo, Mendenhall has an uphill battle when it comes to recruiting. BYU is a Mormon university that has a strict conduct code that restricts the non-football activities of his players. On top of this, the Mormon faith expects its young men to participate in a two-year service trip. Facing all of these challenges, Mendenhall has still continued to succeed at BYU. Since he started at BYU in 2005, Mendenhall has never had a losing season and been to a bowl game every year, and his Cougars have gone 6-2 in those bowl games.
2. Bobby Petrino (Western Kentucky)
Fellow eDraft columnist Jason Marcum discussed Petrino in his article earlier this week, and he was spot on. Petrino did a great job building Louisville and Arkansas into top-notch programs during his stints at each school. He has a career record of 75-26 during his career as a college coach, and he’s inheriting an up-and-coming Western Kentucky team coming off its first ever bowl appearance. Petrino has the ability to turn WKU into a legitimate contender, as he carries an SEC pedigree and plenty of connections in the south to build recruiting pipelines.
1. Chris Peterson (Boise State)
Peterson has been incredibly successful at Boise State since he took over the job in 2006. During his time as head coach, he has a career record of 84-8. Yes, as a coach at a non-BCS school, Peterson has yet to lose 10 total games in his seven-year career. The most games he’s ever lost in a season is three. On top of all of this, Peterson’s team has played and won two BCS bowl games, most notably in 2007, when the “Cinderella” Broncos upset the heavily-favored Oklahoma Sooner in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. He has had multiple opportunities to move on to more prestigious programs, but has remained loyal to Boise State and continues to build the Broncos into consistent BCS contenders.
Peterson is also an excellent recruiter and has produced NFL-caliber talent during his time. Some of his most notable players are former first round picks : Ryan Clady, Doug Martin, Shea McClellan and Kyle Wilson.