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I’m doing no such thing. by revressbo

I named all the coaches who could reasonably be considered the best in the game at the moment, and *then* listed if they are first-time coaches or have previous experience.

Go ahead and tighten the list. Obviously Saban’s at the top. He of course had experience prior to Bama (and LSU). But I think Swinney, Smart and Day would be in most top-five lists. They’re all first-time head coaches. I was overinclusive in my initial list, but if anything, if you tighten the list, the only “elite” current head coach with previous experience is Nick Saban.

If you want to say it’s not fair that I’m only including current college coaches and leaving out others like Meyer, Tressel, Carroll, etc., then that’s fine (although Bob Stoops from that generation was also a first-time head coach). From the current crop of what most would consider the best coaches in the game, about half, if not majority, are first-time head coaches.

It’s not a flimsy point. The point is simply that you don’t need to have previous head coaching experience to win/contend for a championship.