Comments on: Time To Add Saban’s Face To The SEC’s Mt. Rushmore

By: John at MrSEC

John at MrSEC — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 05:37:07 +0000

@10Vol85

Frank Thomas did meet most of the criteria, but his national championship came in 1934 — before our 1935 date and before the AP poll even began in 1936. That’s why he wasn’t included on our list of seven candidates. There were many, many good coaches who folks could make an argument for and Thomas was thisclose to being #8 on our list. But in the end, we didn’t want to go too far back into another era of football. Bob Neyland coached before 1935, but his national championship came in 1951… a full 17 years after Thomas’ title. That’s why he was in and Thomas was out.

Of course, we stated early on in this post that everyone would have their own criteria and their own lists. This is ours.

Thanks for reading the site,
John

By: 10Vol85

10Vol85 — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 01:25:06 +0000

One last? point: Perhaps, Wade and Thomas could share one spot (half a face to each). The collective back-to-back run of Wade and Thomas was on par with the Bryant era: 5 NCs, 81% (v. 82% for Bryant) wins in 23? (v. 25) years.

By: 10Vol85

10Vol85 — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 01:20:30 +0000

I’m a fan of history but unfortunately most fans aren’t (as you can see by your number of responses). I appreciate your respect for Neyland. He is underappreciated even at Tennessee (but then most people just count total wins). Neylands record matches or exceeds Bryant’s in everything except longetivity and density of championships. As you pointed out, he could’ve coached many more games but for his service to our country. As to the density of championships, he was coaching against the likes of McGugin, Wade, Thomas, Bryant, and Vaught. Still, in addition to having not been beaten by Bryant, he had winning records against every one of those great coaches.

By: 10Vol85

10Vol85 — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 01:13:14 +0000

@I4Bama
I would go all the way back. I consider the SIAA as SEC v.1 and the Southern as SEC v.2. The core SEC teams dominated those conferences. The better teams SECeded from the SIAA to form the Southern and then SECeded again from the Southern to form the SEC. McGugin and Wade (if you remove the year limit) and Thomas are the other 3 that deserve mention IMO.

By: 10Vol85

10Vol85 — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 00:52:33 +0000

@gumborue
You’ll have to hope Oklahoma St. isn’t sucked into the SEC by then, lest his OSU record brings his conference percentage down

By: 10Vol85

10Vol85 — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 00:51:10 +0000

Unless I misundersand your criteria, Frank Thomas should also make the first cut.

By: I4Bama

I4Bama — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 16:09:21 +0000

I know I am violating the rules, so roll your eyes if you will, and I know it is difficult to include a coach on an SEC Mount Rushmore who never coached in the SEC, but the SEC would very likely not exist as is without Wallace Wade. He at least deserves a nod.

By: gumborue

gumborue — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 15:52:13 +0000

add les miles to the list in two years when he meets the 10 year requirement.

.800 win pct. (better than bryant or saban)

By: TheN8tureBoy

TheN8tureBoy — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 15:18:33 +0000

Great list. Wow. Pure gold. A++