Top five worst college football coaches to deal with?

He also provides some great quotes.

 

Snyder may have mellowed out in his time off, or maybe it's because it's fresh to him again, but our college beat guy actually got Snyder on the phone this summer and talked to him for a good 15 minutes. Seemed pretty odd because I've always heard Snyder was impossible.

As for my experiences, Saban definitely tops the list.

 

Paterno is great if you're national media, but a nightmare if you're a beat writer.

 

He's the gridiron Coach K, if you will.

 

i used to have to transcribe -- word for word (ugg) -- chuck amato pressers for a Web site i worked for ... my goodness ...

 

Mumme's now at a D-III school that hasn't won a game in nearly two years. Dealing with the media probably isn't going to be that big an issue.

 

In his defense, I did get a boxed lunch from KFC once a week during football season (at his weekly press conference) and free food in the press box on game days. As a college sophomore who lost his scholarship the first year on campus, such perks were more helpful than a coach who actually wanted to answer questions.

 

Tyrone Willingham, especially in year 4 at Washington, was a nightmare.

 

So you're saying that Perkins has the coaching tree of jerkiness? That could be a fun story if written well.

 

Anyone know what Leach's summer project was?

 

I would not disagree with any of the previous comments on Paterno, but I would also say that if you catch him on the right day, he can be alternately funny, introspective and enlightening. He was pretty good, for instance, during his Media Day presser last week, as when he told a funny Kerry Collins story, said the present team was "lousy," trashed one of his d-linemen for being overweight and one of his DBs for being unfocused, etc.

But as far as closing down the borders to the media, no one has done it better over the years. Part of it is a result of geography; he's out there in the middle of nowhere, far from any major media outlets.

 

Know what's scary about this thread? Most of the coaches mentioned as jerks have high winning percentages. Perhaps that's why they can afford to be jerks, but the correlation is disturbing.