The Coaches Poll Exposed
The ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ poll is the biggest farce in College Football today. The voters have a vested interest in the outcome, they are by and large uneducated on their subject and in some cases don’t take their voting responsibility seriously.
Clearly, the results of the Coaches’ Poll are a factor in determining bowl games, recruiting and the level of a success of a particular season. The coaches voting on this themselves is by definition a conflict of interest. For example, there was much speculation about Jim Tressell’s ballot at the end of the 2006 season with regards to Michigan and Florida, ultimately a factor in determining Ohio State’s opponent. This is an issue that should have never come up. Jim Tressel, Urban Meyer, Lloyd Carr, it makes no difference; their only contribution to where they end up in bowl season should be on the field. Big 10 coaches had a strong motivator to vote for Michigan as number 2, this would have guaranteed a huge payout for their conference with both teams in the title game from the Big 10. The SEC coaches had a similar motivation to cast a 2nd place vote for Florida. In the closing weeks of the 2006 regular season, it was clear that the Coaches’ poll was the only way that Florida would pass Michigan for the number 2 BCS spot, so many coaches voted accordingly to avoid a Michigan-Ohio State rematch. So amidst all of this, my question is, was anyone actually voting for who they thought was the 2nd best team in the country?
Let’s put aside the motivations behind the voting and the obvious conflict of interest covered above, give the coaches the benefit of the doubt and assume that the majority of them are voting with the intent of ranking the top 25 football teams in the country each week. The coaches and their staff pour over game films and study their opponents until late hours of the night. They are, without a doubt, experts on the relative strengths, weaknesses and overall caliber of their opponents. But the question is, what do they know about the other 106 teams in division IA football? What does Pete Carroll know about Central Florida? What does Charlie Weiss know about Texas Tech? Etc, etc, etc. In all likelihood, nothing more than a box score in the Sunday paper. Admittedly, many of the coaches have members of their staff fill out their ballots for them. In my opinion, this only reduces the validity of the poll further. Is it the Coaches’ staffer poll? No. Plus, members of the Coaches’ staff have the same biases, priorities and conflicts of interests the coaches do. Certainly nothing about their job, other than the assignment to vote in the Coaches’ place, dictates that they would need to know anything about teams outside of their schedule either.
Finally, one voting curiosity pops up every season. Every year, Steve Spurrier casts a number 25 vote for Duke. Of course, Duke failed to win a game last year and many prognosticators predict they will have a similar year in 2007. Apologies for singling out Duke, but even the most ardent Duke fan would have to agree that they are probably not better than all 94 of the remaining teams in Division IA football. The story is that Steve Spurrier casts a number 25 vote for Duke every year as a “thanks” for hiring him years ago. While one has to admire Mr. Spurrier for his loyalty, come on! Send a card, send a candy gram, who cares, but don’t cast a ridiculous vote in a poll that is ultimately used to rate the merits of all 119 Division 1A football teams. Sure its only one vote, but it shows how serious Steve Spurrier thinks the coaches poll voting is. What’s more shocking than that the fact he does it, is that he admits it and he is still allowed to vote. How many other coaches are out there voting for sentimental reasons? The administrators of the poll have shown they don’t care by looking the other way, in essence, condoning the practice. Admittedly, it would be difficult to challenge someone on their ballot. Clearly a vote for an 0 and 12 team is going to far, but where to draw the line on what is the coaches opinion and what is a spurious (sorry Steve, couldn’t resist the pun) vote would be tricky. But hey, that’s not my problem, the fact is votes like these devalue the poll.
In summary, it seems pretty clear that the Coaches’ poll is a poor method of ranking the best college football teams in the country, yet it continues to play an important role in the BCS and in the perceptions of the fans. I am in no way intending to vilify the coaches; they are filling out their ballots as just about anyone in their situation would. Neither am I advocating for eliminating the Coaches’ poll, it is certainly an interesting look at how a sample of the division 1A coaches feel about the relative abilities of the teams. But it should be treated as nothing more than that, instead of an authoritative measure of the talents and abilities of division 1A football teams and it certainly should not be a factor in determining the future (and fortunes) of division 1A football teams.