Who was the Best and Worst Head Coach you have ever spoken with

Best: Ryan Marks (The University of Texas-Pan American)- Marks is great to speak with, witty, informed, energetic.

Worst: Nick Saban (LSU/Alabama)- This guy gives a great interview when he knows he is on camera/audio recorder. However, catch him outside of those circumstances and he can be very difficult to handle.

 

There was a football player at my college (forget his name), but he managed to answer every question with a "Yes, sir" or "No, sir." If those responses didn't apply, it was a sentence of less than five words.

Best has got to be a high school tennis coach in my area right now. He can talk too much sometimes, but you never leave without enough info.

 

Best: John Wooden
Worst: Bill Belichick

 

You have to love the NY Times style of capitalizing "Head Coach" in the thread titie.

 

Best/worst is so subjective... biggest asshole? best quote? Best accessibility?
John Gutekunst was dull as dishwater, but accessible as hell. Tracked me down in the bowels of the Metrodome after one game to finish a conversation...

Best I've ever dealt with in terms of a quote or to work with was/is Charlie Coles of Miami University.
Worst? George Perles. Or Saban. Or anyone of a hundred high school coaches, including the f-tard my former high school hired that I dealt with at a former stop....

 

How many coaches have these threads about the best and worst reporters on their private message boards?

 

Best - Troy Calhoun of Air Force. Talked with him one time when the team was in town for the Armed Forces Bowl and just a genuine guy.

Worst - Darrin Horn of S. Carolina basketball. Just an all-around pain.

 

George Karl

 

Don't know who the best and worst are without giving it some thought, but off the top of my head:

Great to deal with -- Ron Gardenhire, Mike Ditka, Bobby Cremins, Joe Torre, Don Nelson
Terrible to deal with -- Bruce Arena, Bob Knight (duh), Urban Meyer, Ron Prince, Mike Fratello

 

Oh, yeah, forgot one:

Terrible -- Geno Auriemma

 

Best: John Merritt (RIP), head football coach at Tennessee State. Always a blast to talk to back in the day. Close runner-up: Some guy named Vitale, when he was coaching at the University of Detroit.

Worst: Emory Hale, a former legendary high school coach in Tennessee who flamed out after a couple of seasons at Austin Peay State U. Took exception to reporting we did on his team's academic (non) performance and gave me the "yes" "no" treatment for a full season. Jackass.

 

Best - Bobby Bowden
Worst - Urban Meyer