Not sure why he would list Auburn first

Top 25 Most Difficult Head Coaching Jobs In College Football pic.twitter.com/3gdYpHPZbq

— Big Game Boomer (@BigGameBoomer) June 9, 2022

I would probably put Miss State at number one. No real tradition of being great and I'm not sure they have the blank checkbook for buying recruits that everyone else in the SEC West has.

Auburn has more booster vs administration disfunction than Texas. Rumors were Billy Napier couldn't get out of Auburn fast enough after his interview there. Still they do have lots of money and strong support so wouldn't call it #1.

Auburn deserves to be #1 because regardless of how much money they have, how well they recruit, or anything else, they're #2 in their state without a clear pathway of becoming #1 in their state; and they are surrounded by higher profile programs with higher ceilings to match - Georgia/Florida/Alabama.

If Auburn had less money, recruited substantially worse, were less disfunctional, and existed in a state with a lot fewer in-state blue chips, they would roughly be Oklahoma State.

Auburn is probably the toughest job in the country. The amount of support and resources they have would make it seem otherwise, but the expectations are wildly unbalanced.

The fans and boosters expect a Top 3 program - nationally - but the reality is that they are more like #17-18 in terms of actual results, long-term. They recruit well, but they're still the 6-7th team in the SEC when it comes to average recruiting rankings, #4 in their own division, and a distant #2 in their own state. Yet their fans expect a Top 3 finish and to beat Alabama every other year.

I have no qualms with them being #1. Vanderbilt at #2 is a joke, though. Their own admin doesn't even care about football. They just take the SEC TV payout and plow it into the baseball program.

Being from Nashville watching Vandy athletics is sad. Derek Mason on his way out gave an honest exit interview saying I wasn't the guy but you'll never have a guy if you don't put some money into the program. The new AD hired Clark Lea who comes from the Nashville private school scene and is expected to be able to get money into the program. The school also makes it hard for students to attend games, which is ridiculous.

I realize there can be different reasons different places may be difficult such as location for one place versus expectations at another place. Speaking of which how is UCLA there and Washington St not? Im not sure what standard they are using here to measure difficulty. If it is expectation then Texas has to be be one of the toughest places. If it is location, UCLA shouldn't be near that least.

boykin_spaniel said:

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Being from Nashville watching Vandy athletics is sad. Derek Mason on his way out gave an honest exit interview saying I wasn't the guy but you'll never have a guy if you don't put some money into the program. The new AD hired Clark Lea who comes from the Nashville private school scene and is expected to be able to get money into the program. The school also makes it hard for students to attend games, which is ridiculous.

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Vanderbilt did announce a $300M athletic upgrade last year - that's just enough to keep up with the big boys in the SEC.

PartyBear said:

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I realize there can be different reasons different places may be difficult such as location for one place versus expectations at another place. Speaking of which how is UCLA there and Washington St not? Im not sure what standard they are using here to measure difficulty. If it is expectation then Texas has to be be one of the toughest places. If it is location, UCLA shouldn't be near that least.

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Look at number twelve.

My mistake. I have a bad habit of just skimming a lot of stuff here or perhaps that is actually a good habit. Anyway I still don't get why UCLA would be considered a difficult place. I should note to me difficult means more challenging place to attract players etc or in other words on the more unglamorous side of the scale of places to be the HC.

Why do people still give Big Game Boomer any credibility? These lists are completely absurd.

Not including Texas is a monumental oversight.

Texas isn't that difficult of a job, in my opinion. Theoretically, it should be as easy to win there as it is to win at Alabama. They just keep shooting themselves in the dick with crappy coaching hires.

Pre-Briles, we would've been near the top of any such list.

And any school could get their name out of that situation by winning enough.

Mitch Henessey said:

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Texas isn't that difficult of a job, in my opinion. Theoretically, it should be as easy to win there as it is to win at Alabama. They just keep shooting themselves in the dick with crappy coaching hires.

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This sentiment is exactly what makes Texas a tough place which is a different reason places like WSU are difficult. Even the non alums and just general college football fans expect the likes of Texas, USC and Bama to win at least 9 annually because they do have it really good on the intangibles especially USC and Texas of the 3 I just mentioned.

Mitch Henessey said:

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Texas isn't that difficult of a job, in my opinion. Theoretically, it should be as easy to win there as it is to win at Alabama. They just keep shooting themselves in the dick with crappy coaching hires.

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I agree except that Tom Herman had Texas finish the season ranked in the final AP poll 3 years in a row (2018 [4 loss season], 2019 [5 loss], and 2020 [3 loss]), and that was not enough to save his job - I'm not sure if I would call that "crappy".

All in the eye of the beholder and your definition of "difficult."

In my eyes Auburn, shouldn't be on this list considering they won a national title in 2010 and were in the title game in 2013. Their problems seem to be self-inflicted much like the longhorns and aggy. So that doesn't seem to fit my criteria.

Is it harder to coach a decent Top-25 ish football team at Auburn or Kansas? They would have been my #1 (Vandy, Indiana or Rutgers are all strong candidates too.)

Aberzombie1892 said:

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Mitch Henessey said:

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Texas isn't that difficult of a job, in my opinion. Theoretically, it should be as easy to win there as it is to win at Alabama. They just keep shooting themselves in the dick with crappy coaching hires.

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I agree except that Tom Herman had Texas finish the season ranked in the final AP poll 3 years in a row (2018 [4 loss season], 2019 [5 loss], and 2020 [3 loss]), and that was not enough to save his job - I'm not sure if I would call that "crappy".

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If you're bringing in Top 5 recruiting classes and you have the most athletic revenue of any school in the country and you're finishing on average 18th over that timespan, I wouldn't call that good. Add to it the fact that he was such a miserable SOB that he alienated his entire donor base and most of his players, and I'd call that a crappy coaching job.

Mitch Henessey said:

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Aberzombie1892 said:

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Mitch Henessey said:

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Texas isn't that difficult of a job, in my opinion. Theoretically, it should be as easy to win there as it is to win at Alabama. They just keep shooting themselves in the dick with crappy coaching hires.

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I agree except that Tom Herman had Texas finish the season ranked in the final AP poll 3 years in a row (2018 [4 loss season], 2019 [5 loss], and 2020 [3 loss]), and that was not enough to save his job - I'm not sure if I would call that "crappy".

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If you're bringing in Top 5 recruiting classes and you have the most athletic revenue of any school in the country and you're finishing on average 18th over that timespan, I wouldn't call that good. Add to it the fact that he was such a miserable SOB that he alienated his entire donor base and most of his players, and I'd call that a crappy coaching job.

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It's a difficult job because the expectations are unrealistic. Texas coaches have to undo a decade or more of the "We're Texas" mindset and start from scratch with selfless athletes.

You better do it fast because you're expected to win a championship by year three. If that wasn't hard enough, you have to now do it in the NIL era. In the SEC.

Impossible.

Not impossible. Just extremely difficult if you keep hiring boozehounds and notorious partiers to a school known for its party scene.

LSU deserves to be on that list and I would think pretty high. Who else has managed to enthusiastically run off two National Championship winning HCs in their recent history?

Johnny Bear said:

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LSU deserves to be on that list and I would think pretty high. Who else has managed to enthusiastically run off two National Championship winning HCs in their recent history?

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So they won 2 NCs in their recent history ... one with a guy who no one would now hire to run a car wash.

Robert Wilson said:

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Johnny Bear said:

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LSU deserves to be on that list and I would think pretty high. Who else has managed to enthusiastically run off two National Championship winning HCs in their recent history?

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So they won 2 NCs in their recent history ... one with a guy who no one would now hire to run a car wash.

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And they willfully ran both of them off shortly thereafter. The point is it at least fits my definition of a ridiculously hard job if a football Natty doesn't get you more with goodwill than that.

Johnny Bear said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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Johnny Bear said:

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LSU deserves to be on that list and I would think pretty high. Who else has managed to enthusiastically run off two National Championship winning HCs in their recent history?

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So they won 2 NCs in their recent history ... one with a guy who no one would now hire to run a car wash.

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And they willfully ran both of them off shortly thereafter. The point is it at least fits my definition of a ridiculously hard job if a football Natty doesn't get you more with goodwill than that.

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Miles and Org were let go because of off the field issues as much as drop in on field performance.

boykin_spaniel said:

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Being from Nashville watching Vandy athletics is sad. Derek Mason on his way out gave an honest exit interview saying I wasn't the guy but you'll never have a guy if you don't put some money into the program. The new AD hired Clark Lea who comes from the Nashville private school scene and is expected to be able to get money into the program. The school also makes it hard for students to attend games, which is ridiculous.

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How do they make it difficult for the students to attend games? Schedule them on Karl Marx birthday? Most of Vandy's students are way left politically, a lot of them are from up north with little ties to Vanderbilt and don't seem like sports fans.

A Vanderbilt homecoming game is a sight to see. It is hard to believe that they are highly regarded as an academic school after seeing their homecoming circus.

First off there's like a multi step process to get a ticket and enter the stadium. Students can't enter the stadium after kickoff. Late from a tailgate or cleaning one up? Sorry but you can't enter. Grad students must pay for tickets. I know this is normal elsewhere but when you have a 40k seat stadium that is largely empty and near 50% of your student population is grad students then block them out some seats. During the omicron surge the university blocked students from attending 3 basketball games but let the general public attend? Vandy then turned around and sold the student section seats to Tennessee and Kentucky fans.
A lot of Vandy students also come from areas that don't care or know about American football and the school does zero to raise interest in the team.

Squatch Hunter said:

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Johnny Bear said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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Johnny Bear said:

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LSU deserves to be on that list and I would think pretty high. Who else has managed to enthusiastically run off two National Championship winning HCs in their recent history?

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So they won 2 NCs in their recent history ... one with a guy who no one would now hire to run a car wash.

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And they willfully ran both of them off shortly thereafter. The point is it at least fits my definition of a ridiculously hard job if a football Natty doesn't get you more with goodwill than that.

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Miles and Org were let go because of off the field issues as much as drop in on field performance.

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And let me put it this way -- would you hire either one of them to run your program?

Yet they each won a title at LSU.

To me the list seems like a most difficult head coaching job list based on fan expectations first and then factoring in all the other challenges each school has.

Which explains Auburn at 1, Nebraska at 3 and a few others where the fans want top ten finishes or national championships.

cowboycwr said:

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To me the list seems like a most difficult head coaching job list based on fan expectations first and then factoring in all the other challenges each school has.

Which explains Auburn at 1, Nebraska at 3 and a few others where the fans want top ten finishes or national championships.

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Nebraska actually has it doubly bad. They had just been blessed I suppose in the 50s-00s. They have the expectation issue as you said, based on what Osborne and his predecessor, did there that probably rivals the expectations in Austin but also have a location more similar to WSU's or KSU's location.