Happy first day of March Madness everyone! It’s quite possibly the greatest sports day of the year, and with spring football practice going on, we’re officially in overlap season. It’s not quite the same type of overlap as what we get in November, but it’s close.
Everybody is of course focused on the brackets, as they should be, but Jim Harbaugh has still, some how some way captured some media attention for his practices being held in Florida.
1. Jim Harbaugh
The media love this guy so much that he’s essentially teflon. When he gives a press boring conference that’s vanilla at best, boring at worst, the national TV networks spin it into being “colorful” and “interesting.” Whenever Jim Harbaugh does something that could be construed as odd at best, downright creepy at worst, the acronym networks portray it as “quirky” and “unorthodox.”
Jim Harbaugh has to be #1 on this; has to be! Who else has now taken over an article of clothing and now usurped its identity.
2. Urban Meyer
Ohio State fans aren’t going to like the idea of Jim Harbaugh being rated ahead of Urban, but they’ll just have to get over it. Given what a juggernaut OSU is, they shouldn’t be so thin-skinned. Honestly, the gap between Harbaugh and Urban isn’t very wide anyway. It’s just a smidge.
3. Tom Izzo
Our first of just three hoops coaches on this list, there’s a huge gap in the brand name recognition of Izzo and the rest of the lot.ย This NCAA Tournament, MSU is the trendy pick to win it all. They have also become the new Duke- every national pundit and broadcaster slobbers all over them. Which makes Izzo the new Coach K. Say bye-bye to the days of Michigan State being niche. Right now they are as national mainstream as it gets.
The hiring of Lovie Smith provided a troika of positives for Illinois Fighting Illini football. It made them instantly relevant, pushed the athletic program forward from a diversity stand point and got Chicago interested again. Lovie is without a doubt the third biggest name among Big Ten football Head Coaches, and that’s huge because your head coach is the face of your program.
5. Mark Dantonio
There is a bit of a drop-off from the top four, but I was tempted to flip-flop #5 and #6. I gave Dantonio the edge because of all that he’s accomplished, and he’s not a punchline to anybody. The man who occupies the sixth spot is the butt of many a joke. Yes, we all ripped SI a new one (as we should) for referring to the Michigan State football coach as Mike D’Antoni, but yeah…we should still make fun of them for that.
6. Tom Crean
This GIF never gets old! Ever.ย ย Maybe we should all ease up on Crean; he’s accomplished a lot. Then of course, he does something to remind us all of what his personality is like, and we can’t help ourselves. Love him or hate him, he’s the second biggest name among B1G basketball coaches.
7. Pat Fitzgerald
No one is more emblematic of their program than this guy. Fitz is actually emblematic of the athletic programs themselves. Actually, he’s an icon of the University. In his own way, Fitzgerald is like a mini Woody or Bo- synonymous with the school.
8. Kirk Ferentz
He’s in this spot mostly because he’s now the dean of league coaches. No one has been at his post longer, and all the times he was rumored to be in the mix for NFL jobs his brand name awareness kept increasing. Yet somehow every year at Big Ten Media Day he’s dismissed from the podium early because not enough media want to ask him questions.
I’ve never understood that.
9. James Franklin
By this point we’ve run out of coaches that you almost every sports fan nationally can recognize by face, but…..
10. Matt Painterย
…the rule of thumb dictates that you must have at least ten slots in your power rankings.
Paul M. Banks runsย The Sports Bank.net, partnered withย FOX Sports Engage Network.ย andย News Now.ย Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEyeย publicationย and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous talk shows all across the country.ย Follow him onย Twitterย andย Instagram
