Rating WSU football coaches from the Pac-8/10/12/2 eras

[PeteTheChop]

How would score 'em from 0 (lowest possible) to 10 (best possible)?

Jim Sweeney (1968-1975)

Jackie Sherrill (1976)

Warren Powers (1977)

Jim Walden (1978-1986)

Dennis Erickson (1987-1988)

Mike Price (1989-2002)

Bill Doba (2003-2007)

Paul Wulff (2008-2011)

Mike Leach (2012-2019)

Nick Rolovich (2020-2021*)

Jake Dickert (2021*-2024)

 

[roses04]

None deserve a 10 ranking so I'll rank them in order.

1. Mike Price, we suffered a lot of years under Price, and he didn't win a lot of Apple Cups, however he took us to two Rose Bowls.
2. Mike Leach, brought us out of the abyss left by Turd, as Biggs affectionately calls him. Got us a lot of national PR, put us on the map.
3. Bill Doba, kept it rolling for a few more years, suffered a lot of bad luck in his personal life and on the field in the last 2.
4. Jim Walden, brought some stability to the program after 3 coaching changes in 3 years.
5. Dennis Erickson, brought some success in a short time period, he'd be higher if he stuck around, but that's not Dennis.
6. Jake Dickert, left with a winning record, not many coaches accomplished that.
7. Jim Sweeney, due to his length of time at WSU, only had 1 winning season.
8-10. Powers, Sherrill, Rolovich, none had a positive impact in their short time.
35th- Turd

 

[M-I-Coug]

1. Dickert
2. Leach
3. Price
4. Doba
5. Walden

 

[Observer11]

None deserve a 10 ranking so I'll rank them in order.

1. Mike Price, we suffered a lot of years under Price, and he didn't win a lot of Apple Cups, however he took us to two Rose Bowls.
2. Mike Leach, brought us out of the abyss left by Turd, as Biggs affectionately calls him. Got us a lot of national PR, put us on the map.
3. Bill Doba, kept it rolling for a few more years, suffered a lot of bad luck in his personal life and on the field in the last 2.
4. Jim Walden, brought some stability to the program after 3 coaching changes in 3 years.
5. Dennis Erickson, brought some success in a short time period, he'd be higher if he stuck around, but that's not Dennis.
6. Jake Dickert, left with a winning record, not many coaches accomplished that.
7. Jim Sweeney, due to his length of time at WSU, only had 1 winning season.
8-10. Powers, Sherrill, Rolovich, none had a positive impact in their short time.
35th- Turd

Pretty fair list- would probably move Denny up to #3 or #4 simply because what he was doing offensively at the time was years ahead of everyone else in the country.

 

[Observer11]

1. Dickert
2. Leach
3. Price
4. Doba
5. Walden

Do you do drugs, Danny?

 

[M-I-Coug]

Do you do drugs, Danny?

Suburus'
Motorcycles
Teslas'
Cybertrucks'
Hummers'
Toyotas'

To each his own.

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

1. Dickert
2. Leach
3. Price
4. Doba
5. Walden

Now you're just trollin' us. 😆 🤣 😂

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

Pretty fair list- would probably move Denny up to #3 or #4 simply because what he was doing offensively at the time was years ahead of everyone else in the country.

Yes. Agree.

Easy to forget that Dennis took his team into Big-10 territory twice and SEC territory once and destroyed our opponent each time in 1988.

Unfortunately, it was also "Dennis, we hardly knew you!" for Wazzu fans.

Edit: We also beat #1 UCLA that season and it was the only time we have ever beaten a #1 ranked football team.

 

[Stretch 74]

Do you do drugs, Danny?

Where did it go? Right in the lumberyard!

 

[Stretch 74]

Pretty fair list- would probably move Denny up to #3 or #4 simply because what he was doing offensively at the time was years ahead of everyone else in the country.

I would move Walden ahead of Doba due to trajectory. Walden brought some stability to the program from the mess of the Rent-A-Coach days and got us to first bowl game in forever, and Doba took the strong program and took it to the precipice of Nosepicker Turdinski. Tempting to move Erickson ahead of Doba also.

 

[Loyal Coug1]

Subarus'
Yamaha Motorcycles

Chevy Trucks
End of list

To each his own.

Fixed your post........

 

[cr8zyncalif]

Obviously the rankings depend upon a lot of things. I was fully a Coug for all of these. My take (spoiler alert; Wulff was not the worst!):

- Price. Not the best head coach on this list, and probably not the second best. But how can we argue about 2 Rose Bowls? I do think he got the most out of his staff of any of our former HC's, and that is important.
- Leach. If he were just a touch less stubborn he would be the best head coach on this list. He was certainly the best offensive mind.
- Erickson. Best head coach on the list. Didn't do much for WSU due to short tenure; he looked out for Dennis first and his staff second. Everybody else was way behind. His loyalty to his staff killed him with the Seahawks. If he were a bit less greedy and a bit less prone to jump for the next brass ring he would have done better overall, but he had a heck of a career.
- Sweeney. Good Head coach, good man. Had he not made a couple of bad decisions he probably would have stayed 30 years, grafting his entire Fresno career onto what he started in Pullman. You can't understate the rebuilding job he did; the best rebuild of this coaching list.
- Walden. Good Head coach, good man. Did not control his temper or his mouth. Made too many political enemies to stay in Pullman, or anywhere else for that matter.
- Doba. Outstanding DC...probably the best DC WSU has seen. He never got a chance to show what he could do as HC. Too many of his staff were lazy and did not do their jobs. Maybe he could have saved the situation with more time for oversight; but we'll never know.
- The next 3 are hard. Sherrill and Powers inherited Sweeney's best recruiting classes. Neither did much after they left. Dickert inherited some good kids from Leach. Remains to be seen if he will do anything at Wake; my guess is that he will do about what Sherrill and Powers did after they left.
- So...two left. Who is worse, Rolo or Wulff? Each had a lot of negatives. I'm biased. I'm going to say that Wulff was NOT our worst recent coach...I'm tapping Rolovich for the bottom spot. Argue with me if you wish.

 

[Loyal Coug1]

Obviously the rankings depend upon a lot of things. I was fully a Coug for all of these. My take (spoiler alert; Wulff was not the worst!):

- Price. Not the best head coach on this list, and probably not the second best. But how can we argue about 2 Rose Bowls? I do think he got the most out of his staff of any of our former HC's, and that is important.
- Leach. If he were just a touch less stubborn he would be the best head coach on this list. He was certainly the best offensive mind.
- Erickson. Best head coach on the list. Didn't do much for WSU due to short tenure; he looked out for Dennis first and his staff second. Everybody else was way behind. His loyalty to his staff killed him with the Seahawks. If he were a bit less greedy and a bit less prone to jump for the next brass ring he would have done better overall, but he had a heck of a career.
- Sweeney. Good Head coach, good man. Had he not made a couple of bad decisions he probably would have stayed 30 years, grafting his entire Fresno career onto what he started in Pullman. You can't understate the rebuilding job he did; the best rebuild of this coaching list.
- Walden. Good Head coach, good man. Did not control his temper or his mouth. Made too many political enemies to stay in Pullman, or anywhere else for that matter.
- Doba. Outstanding DC...probably the best DC WSU has seen. He never got a chance to show what he could do as HC. Too many of his staff were lazy and did not do their jobs. Maybe he could have saved the situation with more time for oversight; but we'll never know.
- The next 3 are hard. Sherrill and Powers inherited Sweeney's best recruiting classes. Neither did much after they left. Dickert inherited some good kids from Leach. Remains to be seen if he will do anything at Wake; my guess is that he will do about what Sherrill and Powers did after they left.
- So...two left. Who is worse, Rolo or Wulff? Each had a lot of negatives. I'm biased. I'm going to say that Wulff was NOT our worst recent coach...I'm tapping Rolovich for the bottom spot. Argue with me if you wish.

Sherrill went 50-9 at Pitt after leaving WSU, and before going to Texas A&M where he went 52-28 (not good enough for A&M). Just sayin'.......

 

[BSpike76]

Sherrill went 50-9 at Pitt after leaving WSU, and before going to Texas A&M where he went 52-28 (not good enough for A&M). Just sayin'.......

The 1980 team had 7 1st round picks. 11-1, 3 years in a row. Had 1 sort of fluky loss each of those years, or would have had 3 nattys.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

Sherrill went 50-9 at Pitt after leaving WSU, and before going to Texas A&M where he went 52-28 (not good enough for A&M). Just sayin'.......

Loyal, points to you. I forgot about Sherrill's time at Pitt. I was in OK/TX while he was at A&M, and that record was against competition where you could easily have expected better.

 

[Observer11]

I took the ratings as their time at WSU only.

Sherrill was decidedly m'eh in Pullman.

 

[Cougini5591]

None deserve a 10 ranking so I'll rank them in order.

1. Mike Price, we suffered a lot of years under Price, and he didn't win a lot of Apple Cups, however he took us to two Rose Bowls.
2. Mike Leach, brought us out of the abyss left by Turd, as Biggs affectionately calls him. Got us a lot of national PR, put us on the map.
3. Bill Doba, kept it rolling for a few more years, suffered a lot of bad luck in his personal life and on the field in the last 2.
4. Jim Walden, brought some stability to the program after 3 coaching changes in 3 years.
5. Dennis Erickson, brought some success in a short time period, he'd be higher if he stuck around, but that's not Dennis.
6. Jake Dickert, left with a winning record, not many coaches accomplished that.
7. Jim Sweeney, due to his length of time at WSU, only had 1 winning season.
8-10. Powers, Sherrill, Rolovich, none had a positive impact in their short time.
35th- Turd

Tough to argue much. I would say Walden and Doba could flip, but Doba had the heart and mind... ability. He just got nuked by his wife's health. Half bag of shitty assistants.

I always ask myself what WSU would have done with Doba staying and never Wulffing it. Would've been better times for sure.

 

[95coug]

Do you do drugs, Danny?

Every day

 

[Loyal Coug1]

Do you do drugs, Danny?

Every day

Damn you - I coughed out my bong hit reading this....... :|

 

[CougSinceBirth]

Obviously the rankings depend upon a lot of things. I was fully a Coug for all of these. My take (spoiler alert; Wulff was not the worst!):

- Price. Not the best head coach on this list, and probably not the second best. But how can we argue about 2 Rose Bowls? I do think he got the most out of his staff of any of our former HC's, and that is important.
- Leach. If he were just a touch less stubborn he would be the best head coach on this list. He was certainly the best offensive mind.
- Erickson. Best head coach on the list. Didn't do much for WSU due to short tenure; he looked out for Dennis first and his staff second. Everybody else was way behind. His loyalty to his staff killed him with the Seahawks. If he were a bit less greedy and a bit less prone to jump for the next brass ring he would have done better overall, but he had a heck of a career.
- Sweeney. Good Head coach, good man. Had he not made a couple of bad decisions he probably would have stayed 30 years, grafting his entire Fresno career onto what he started in Pullman. You can't understate the rebuilding job he did; the best rebuild of this coaching list.
- Walden. Good Head coach, good man. Did not control his temper or his mouth. Made too many political enemies to stay in Pullman, or anywhere else for that matter.
- Doba. Outstanding DC...probably the best DC WSU has seen. He never got a chance to show what he could do as HC. Too many of his staff were lazy and did not do their jobs. Maybe he could have saved the situation with more time for oversight; but we'll never know.
- The next 3 are hard. Sherrill and Powers inherited Sweeney's best recruiting classes. Neither did much after they left. Dickert inherited some good kids from Leach. Remains to be seen if he will do anything at Wake; my guess is that he will do about what Sherrill and Powers did after they left.
- So...two left. Who is worse, Rolo or Wulff? Each had a lot of negatives. I'm biased. I'm going to say that Wulff was NOT our worst recent coach...I'm tapping Rolovich for the bottom spot. Argue with me if you wish.

This is also my list, except Doba is above Walden.

Sorry Jimbo, your "HOOLLLLDDDDDINNNGGGGG" shtick doesn't resonate with me. Neither does your stupid quote about being a "Cougar".

Rolo was a sh*t hire. I felt it from day one.

 

[M-I-Coug]

Obviously the rankings depend upon a lot of things. I was fully a Coug for all of these. My take (spoiler alert; Wulff was not the worst!):

- Price. Not the best head coach on this list, and probably not the second best. But how can we argue about 2 Rose Bowls? I do think he got the most out of his staff of any of our former HC's, and that is important.
- Leach. If he were just a touch less stubborn he would be the best head coach on this list. He was certainly the best offensive mind.
- Erickson. Best head coach on the list. Didn't do much for WSU due to short tenure; he looked out for Dennis first and his staff second. Everybody else was way behind. His loyalty to his staff killed him with the Seahawks. If he were a bit less greedy and a bit less prone to jump for the next brass ring he would have done better overall, but he had a heck of a career.
- Sweeney. Good Head coach, good man. Had he not made a couple of bad decisions he probably would have stayed 30 years, grafting his entire Fresno career onto what he started in Pullman. You can't understate the rebuilding job he did; the best rebuild of this coaching list.
- Walden. Good Head coach, good man. Did not control his temper or his mouth. Made too many political enemies to stay in Pullman, or anywhere else for that matter.
- Doba. Outstanding DC...probably the best DC WSU has seen. He never got a chance to show what he could do as HC. Too many of his staff were lazy and did not do their jobs. Maybe he could have saved the situation with more time for oversight; but we'll never know.
- The next 3 are hard. Sherrill and Powers inherited Sweeney's best recruiting classes. Neither did much after they left. Dickert inherited some good kids from Leach. Remains to be seen if he will do anything at Wake; my guess is that he will do about what Sherrill and Powers did after they left.
- So...two left. Who is worse, Rolo or Wulff? Each had a lot of negatives. I'm biased. I'm going to say that Wulff was NOT our worst recent coach...I'm tapping Rolovich for the bottom spot. Argue with me if you wish.

What's interesting about the Rolo hire....he succeeded Mike Leach. I get that they may have be sold the bill of goods on the "Run and Shoot", but to hire someone, not profound in success, by any stretch of the imagination, and to succeed Leach.....what we're they thinking?

 

[95coug]

Damn you - I coughed out my bong hit reading this....... :|

Cannonball!