Ah why not, we've rated everything else this off season. Might as well rate the coaches, too.
1. Gary Patteron (7 seasons, 54-20).
Best Wins: Oklahoma in 2005, Louisville in 2001.
Patterson took over TCU after Dennis Franchione brought them out of the depths of mediocrity and then bolted for Alabama. In 7 seasons, he's guided the Horned Frogs to 10 or more wins four times, three of which were 11 wins and has gone 22-3 since joining the Mountain West in 2005.
2. Joe Glenn (18 seasons, 159-66; @ Wyoming, 4 seasons, 21-26).
Best Wins: UCLA in 2004.
I think Glenn is an underrated coach, who has the near impossible task of winning in Laramie. So while his win total doesn't look impressive, he's established a decent program in Hoth North. And even though he probably won't dominate the Mountain West, Wyoming will always be a tough opponent. All thanks to Glenn, because the Pokes were terrible before he took over.
3. Sonny Lubick (14 seasons, 105-65).
Biggest Wins: Arizona in 1994, Louisville in 2000.
While obviously Lubick is past his prime, you can't ignore what he's accomplished in Fort Collins. He took over a horrible CSU program and in one short year had them in the top-25 and winning 10 games. He's won 10 or more games 4 times since taking over in 1993 and has only had 3 losing seasons, 2 of which happened in the past three years.
4. Bronco Mendenhall (2 seasons, 17-8).
Biggest Win: TCU in 2006.
Though he hasn't been at BYU long, Bronco has already wrapped up an 11-win season, an undefeated conference season and gave the school its first top-25 finish since 2001. Oh and the Cougars dominated Oregon in the Las Vegas Bowl. Bronco's coaching ability will be put to the test this year as we'll see if he can really coach, or lucked out and rode a senior laden team to success.
5. Kyle Whittingham (2 seasons, 15-10).
Biggest Wins: TCU in 2006, Georgia Tech in 2005
Kyle, like Bronco, has a lot to prove. Unlike Bronco however, he still hasn't had an impressive season. Winning only 60% of your games won't cut it over the long haul and if the Utes continue toiling in mediocrity, Kyle won't be this high on the list for long...if he's on the list at all.
6. Rocky Long (9 years, 52-57).
Biggest Wins: Texas Tech in 2004, Utah in 2003.
Rocky Long seems stuck in the mud with the Lobos. He's decent enough to guide New Mexico to about 6 or 7 wins a season, but not good enough to take them to the next level. Which explains why, since 2001, the Lobos are averaging only 7 wins a season. Long has also failed to win a conference championship, or a bowl game. It doesn't take 9 seasons to build a program and if the Lobos haven't won a championship under Long yet, I doubt they will in the future.
7. Chuck Long (1 year, 3-9)
Biggest Win: None
Long is only here because Sanford sucks and Calhoun of Air Force hasn't coached a down. Maybe Long has a great turnaround and the Aztecs finish with 7 or 8 wins, but I don't think that's likely. It appears Long is in over his head and won't be able to bring SDSU up from their three decade long funk.
8. Mike Sanford (2 years, 4-19)
Biggest Win: None
Sanford took over UNLV talking about how they were going to win conference championships and have an exciting offense. Well after two years, neither has come true and UNLV is destined for another terrible season. My guess is that Sanford will be fired either after this season or next.
Troy Calhoun of Air Force is the only coach I won't rank, since he's not coached a game yet. Though I'm willing to bet he's better than Chuck Long and Mike Sanford, but we'll wait and see.
And that's the list, hopefully this time next year we're ranking Kyle at #2 and not #5.