Guest Blog: Gators First

Our good friends at Gators First have been kind enough to provide us with an interesting article as we gear up for a huge weekend.

This topic has been controversial and hotly contested as of late.

Just my two cents: Meyer is better at everything than Saban. Everything!
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The Meyer v. Saban Debate

A couple weeks ago, one of my Arkansas-fan friends asked me if I thought Urban Meyer or Nick Saban was the better coach. There are some similairites. Saban is a part of the 'Belichick coaching tree', while Meyer is turning into Bill Belichick. Meyer's "year-two" magic was well publicized at Utah, and then when UF won a National Title in 2006. Saban, of course, has Alabama the undisputed #1 team in the country, and in position for a National Title in year two. There are more, but that's not the point. The point is, who's better? My answer, of course was Meyer.

Consider Nick Saban's coaching record outside of powerhouse schools LSU and Alabama. Up until year 5 at Michigan State, they were really a .500 team. They also lost 3 consecutive bowl games to start his tenure (the only 3 they made). In fact, Nick Saban never won a bowl game while at Michigan State- when they beat Florida after the 1999 season, they were led by an interim coach. He lucked into an SEC title in 2001, as the best teams were most certainly Florida and Tennessee, but a 3-loss (all in-conference!) LSU was the West's representative in Atlanta, and benefitted from what is now considered the beginning of the end of Phil Fulmer.Urban Meyer has won everywhere. He went 17-6 at Bowling Green! BOWLING GREEN! He started Utah on a roll that hasn't stopped. And I thoroughly blame the players and their lack of maturity for last season. Even last year, which was probably his worst year (it certainly was, record-wise, though his year end rankings were roughly the same in 05) he coached a Heisman winner! He has a phenomenal record in bowl games, rivalry games, and games played with extra preparation (usually after a bye).

I’m not trying to put down Nick Saban. I think these guys are easily 1 and 1a, whichever way you rank them. The only other name anyone ever throws out there is Pete Carroll, and I’m on the record for my opinion of Pete Carroll. I chose Urban for probably two reasons: 1) He’s our coach and 2) I can make the argument for Meyer over Saban, but can’t formulate the Saban over Meyer argument. We should see where these guys are in another five years, but I think it’s safe to assume for now that these are the two best coaches in the NCAA.Anyways, what do you think? I've tried to look at this objectively, and the only arguments I've come up with for Saban over Meyer I can attribute to his being a head coach for longer. I also don't think this will be decisively answered Saturday- I think it will be but one more data point from which to form a conclusion.