Especially from a USC fan.

I’ll take the bait. Go on…?

The idea just kills me. Especially from a USC fan. Being next door to Texas and Florida, respectively, does not make for shallow recruiting grounds

gfunk- allow me to re-word it. OU and ‘Bama have tended to make excellent coaching hires at a disproportionately high rate.

eh. I guess if the emphasis is on “excellent”. Since 1947 (Bud Wilkinson arrives), OU has had 9 coaches. Three have winning percentages over .800. Three are at .500 or below. And the other three are in between.

Of the last 12 Bama coaches, 5 have winning percentages over .800. Only 2 are below .500 though.

Compare that to Tennessee and Texas for example who have none over .800 in that time, or LSU which has 1 (Miles, who might drop below). I think it’s just OU and Bama have had a number of great coaches who have stayed a long time, but when they actually have to hire coaches I don’t think they really hit at a disproportionate rate (maybe Bama does, but not OU).

Also, of course, this is all an exercise in cherry-picking. The other thing is I don’t really disagree with your premise that OU and Alabama have been more successful in football than you might think if you just consider what you’d think is the talent base.

‘Bama ain’t “stealing” players from MS. That state gets divided between LSU, Bama, and Auburn. The leftovers stay in state.

They’ve done pretty well in the coaching department

Yeah they have but they also don’t “always seem to hire the right guys”. OU and Bama have had misses and gone through down periods just like everyone else. They do have the cache to get back though. I keep expecting Tennessee and Nebraska to do it. We’ll see.

The guys listed by Mullet weren’t exactly raiding the south

Because they couldn’t. They sucked, and Tennesse was relevant. Also, they sucked.

don’t really remember Switzer

He doesn’t remember those days either

Legend

Alabama puts out a pretty good amount of players. So do NW Florida and Mississippi, both of which are in ‘Bama’s sweet spot.

Not as many players as a handful of states. They’ve been able to steal players from Fla, Miss, Ga, Tenn. Why? Because they’ve hired the right coaches. The guys listed by Mullet weren’t exactly raiding the south

Mike DuBose
Dennis Franchione
Mike Price
Mike Shula

Quite the gap between Stallings and Saban. Lesson to be learned? Never hire a coach with the first name “Mike”.

Gary Gibbs
Howard Schnellenberger
John Blake

OU coaches in my lifetime before Stoops (don’t really remember Switzer).

Fascinating. And not based on much of anything. Alabama puts out a pretty good amount of players. So do NW Florida and Mississippi, both of which are in ‘Bama’s sweet spot.

Don’t tweet drunk gentleman and cracker jack, don’t tweet drunk.

Isn’t CJ still on the wagon?

Haha, what? Bama defies logic?

Based on in-state talent, yes.

They just always seem to hire the right coaches. ‘Bama and OU come to mind

Mike DuBose
Dennis Franchione
Mike Price
Mike Shula

Quite the gap between Stallings and Saban. Lesson to be learned? Never hire a coach with the first name “Mike”.

Haha, what? Bama defies logic?

I’m not sure what you’re trying to say. I just know it takes way longer than 30 minutes to get from Tallahassee to Valdosta.