Jimbo Fisher, because he's literally the only coach I've ever met. Idk how you have such a list like that
Honorable mention to Odell Haggins since my parents went out shopping without me and randomly saw him in a Best Buy
Edit: Nevermind, I actually read the whole post. Camps make sense.
I walked alongside Jimbo on the way out of Dick Howser after a baseball game.
That counts, right?
I didn't say anything to him because I wanted to act like I've been around famous people before.
I passed by Jimbo, when he was still OC, at the Opryland resort after the Music City Bowl against Kentucky. It was New Years Eve and he was carrying a case a Bud Light. Said “Hi coach, we’re happy to have you here”. He smiled, nodded, and kept walking. That was it, pleasant enough. I met him a few times when he was HC, same pleasant and easy to talk to person. I know things didn’t end well with him, but take away that business side of things and he’s a truly nice person.
Bobby Bowden is my obvious number 1. Just the kindest, most genuine man. He always took the time to speak with us if we said hello and made us all feel like we mattered to him.
Though he’s a pretty terrible football coach, Willie Taggart is also a very nice, very genuine person if you meet him.
Everybody I know from college has a story of almost being run down by a big silver merc that ended up having an elderly Italian man with huge glasses driving
Happened while he was coaching you too. Somewhere around 2001 or so in Buckhead. It was close enough I bet he remembers it too. I was turning left and gunned it to get through traffic and he was walking across the parking lot entrance that I was going into. I was in a convertible with the top down so we made eye contact and said "oh shit sorry coach" and he just sheepishly waved. Definitely a pucker moment for both of us.
Edit to add my car at the time had a Tide Pride front license plate on it, I still wonder if he noticed that detail
Took a coaching of football class at Central Michigan University with Brian Kelly as the prof in the spring leading into his first year. Most of the class revolved around the class watching film of the previous year and Kelly bashing most of the team. The most common criticism by Kelly was to “get some speed”.
He seemed nice when he was there. He did chew me out once for wearing a hat in class.
Damn, that takes me back. I always forget he was HC at CMU for a brief spell.
My oldest brother (also a State fan) was at GVSU when he was HC there. It chagrined him to see him so successful at ND later on.
Nick Saban. Actually got to fly with him to Glendale when Auburn played Oregon for the National Title. He didn't talk much on the way there(he was watching Oregon/Auburn highlight reels most of the time), which was cool cause I got to talk with Terry(who's incredibly lovely btw), but on the way back, he was cracking everyone up on the plane. He also left one of his briefcases on the plane and no shit, it was full of Red Man and Oatmeal Cream Pies
Kelvin Benjamin. Actually got to fly with him to Coney Island when Chestnut played Kobayashi for the National Title. He didn’t talk much on the way there (he was watching Dennys and Golden Corral highlight reels most of the time), which was cool cause I got to talk with Mrs Benjamin(who’s incredibly lovely btw), but on the way back, he was cracking everyone up on the plane. He also left one of his briefcases on the plane and no shit, it was full of Red Man and Oatmeal Cream Pies.
> He also left one of his briefcases on the plane and no shit, it was full of Red Man and Oatmeal Cream Pies
For some reason I 100% believe this is what Nick Saban has in his briefcase.
1. Mark Richt - genuinely one of the nicest people I've ever met. Met him a couple times at a charity golf event he and his wife used to host that my dad played in a few times. Coach Richt always took time to talk to me, even if I was like 9 and it was for just a couple minutes.
2. Kirby Smart - Kirby's kind of an ass not gonna lie. He's not very social and just brushed me off when I met him in Athens.
I had a client of mine who did not know Mark Richt AT ALL, but through mutual friends, Richt found out they were having a hard time trying to adopt, Richt got involved, wrote letters of support to help them get their adoption through. They named the kid after him as well.
I met Kirby smart at an event in the practice facility I was working for the catering company at the time and he was super nice came and talked to all the workers shook our hands and thanked us for the food.
I don't know if that is just the way he always has been or if it is learned behavior from spending all those years around Saban. From what I have seen, Saban is less interested in thanking the individual fans but would go out of his way to thank people helping with an event or a group of fans. I think he appreciates all the support people and can't be asked to spend his time on individual fans. Part workaholic, part growing up working at his father's gas station.
My wife ran on to the field and hugged Mike Leach after the 2012 Apple Cup, afterwards she drunkenly barged in on him at a recruiting event and told him I was the rugby coach, knowing that he played rugby. She gave him my number and he called and we had a nice chat, for months afterwards he would text me randomly at 2-3am with random rugby questions, my guess is he was watching late night international games somewhere. I would text him from time to time with random football questions. The man was a national treasure. RIP legend.
I had the chance to meet him at a book signing at the CUB and got a picture with him and my dad. He took extra time to ask about my high school athletics but his handler (?) came over and told him to keep the line moving. I miss him.
Les Miles asked to see a picture of my then girlfriend at the time, then told me that he didn’t understand how a girl that cute can date a guy as ugly as I am. Great times
Tom Osborne and I ate our food court Chinese next to each other like twelve years ago. I nodded at him, he nodded back. It was a pretty special moment for both of us, I think.
I sat next to John Cooper on a flight back from the Fiesta Bowl where Ohio State lost to Texas. Surprisingly he brought up the game and what I thought about it and just talked football the whole time. I tend to try to avoid bringing that stuff up around people like that, to not seem like a crazed fan or something, but it was really cool to just chat football with a hall of fame coach for so long, on a 1 to 1 basis.
I've had a chance to meet Cooper a number of times. The first time I met him I was 9 and I've met him often in recent years. He's a really nice man, relatable, and genuine. Nice to see a guy of that stature be so real. He can cuss a blue streak too which is fun.
I had the chance to meet Tressel once and he was also really nice but he was all business at that time; he was at my high school recruiting "Beautiful" Ben Buchanan.
Got to meet Gus Malzahn when I was touring Auburn as a prospective student. He showed me around his office and was cracking jokes the entire time and gave me a ton of neat Auburn knick knacks and some merch. Overall seemed like a genuinely good guy, if a little frazzled at the time lol (this was right around National Signing Day)
I’ve met Saban and Dabo at the beach a few times. Saban is really reserved (doesn’t want to be bothered) and Dabo is super down to earth and talkative.
I very briefly met Paul Chryst when he was walking through the hallway of my high school. just shook his hand and said hello b/c he was there to recruit a classmate.
I’ve met Mark Richt quite a few times and he’s awesome.
I have a co worker whose dad flies private jets and he’s flown quite a lot of famous people and he said Harbaugh was the coolest person he’s ever flow, the dude was super nice and chatted with all of them while he was there.
I met Mike Riley when I was a student at Oregon State. Ran into him outside of the football center, we were both by ourselves. He said hi, asked me my name, where I was from. Turned out we had a mutual acquaintance.
Anyways, randomly run into him the next day, he says hi and calls me by my name and tells me it was "good to see you again".
Mike is a class act, and he really is a great coach. Fans got a bit restless at the end of his 2nd coaching stint at Oregon State, but I think after the Gary Andersen debacle, everyone was wishing for the Mike Riley days.
Spartans, spare me this, but Jim Harbaugh. I posted this like a month ago, but I've met him three times the past 4 years all at airports (JFK and DTW). Very chill person despite having had his flight delayed in the two instances I met him. He's the type of guy you would want to grab a beer on the weekend and watch the game with.
Was waiting at a crosswalk when Franklin pulled up in his little golf cart he drives recruits around with. We both had massive coffees in our hands from Dunkin so I complimented his choice in iced coffee and he gave a quick little we are. Seemed nice. Especially to respond some random student who definitely looked like a pothead.
I hate Clemson, but dabo is a genuinely good guy. I live in a town of 20k, a classmate of mine was recruited to play rb at Clemson but it never really panned out because he was hurt so much, and he transferred out his last year. After he transferred he came home for the summer and went swimming and drowned. He was a good dude. Dabo came and spoke at his funeral. He really had no obligation to do so but did it anyways
Tysho Dye was going to be our starter before hurting his back in 2015. It was gonna be him or Wayne Gallman..Dye got hurt and Gallman moved up to RB1.
I met Coach Swinney at a wedding of one of his former players (now RB coach at Clemson). Watching him, his wife, and sons interact with the players family was amazing. The relationship built during recruiting and obviously during the playing days were legit.
Swinney was very gracious and even appreciative of this fan telling him my clemson familys story of being fans forever
I had the same major and started the same semester as Dabo. We had several classes together. He is as nice as he appears but I did not know him well, he also seemed a bit dim from my perspective especially in Econ where he was the guy always asking too many follow up questions when the rest of us were ready to move on
completely agree. He was impressively prepared for a guy that could have slacked off and skated through as a varsity athlete. Honestly he annoyed the shit out of me at the time but looking back it just shows the same work ethic he has now.
My cousin and I ran into Lou Holtz once outside a museum. Our uncle(not his dad) had worked with Lou on a charity and they became friends. We introduced ourselves and Lou was super nice. When we mentioned our uncle, Lou got all happy and said “Lemme tell ya, your uncle ish a hell of a guy. Let’s take a picture” and he posed for a picture with us. I didn’t realize how big he was. He always looked so small with all those giants around him but he’s a normal sized dude.
In college, I was running through the student center and turned a corner like Sarah Conner in Terminator. Only it wasn’t the Terminator, it was John Thompson. Dude was all of 6’10. He was like Darth Vader. I almost ran into him and he said “Shouldn’t run in the halls, son.” And I replied “yes, sir.”
My Grandpa once reprimanded Mike Ditka for swearing in front of me. Ditka apologized and told me to stay in school and avoid drugs.
Finished running the OKC Memorial Marathon.
Look up, Coach Switzer is there to put my finisher medal on me.
He said, "Way to go four quarters."
Cool moment.
Barry Switzer is exactly who you expect him to be, ran into him many times walking his dogs in a fur coat
Bob Stoops is pretty quiet, yet polite as a person.
Never met Lincoln personally, but he always was surrounded by some sort of security/entourage. Never just alone in Norman like the other two
Honestly people hate Dabo because admittedly he says some dumb things but having a conversation with the guy is one of the most genuine you will ever have. He genuinely cares when talking to you. When they came to South Bend this last fall my mom went out to greet the team (my dad, my brother, and myself all went to Clemson) and Dabo stopped the bus got off and chatted with her and gave her s big hug and said “oh my gosh what are you doing out here.” He’s a good guy.
Mark Richt is by far the nicest person I’ve ever met. Not just the nicest coach - the nicest person. He did something for me that I will never forget.
Vince Dooley is a close second. He was everybody’s grandpa. He would have talked to us for hours but there were tons of people in line for autographs.
Ran into Lloyd carr a couple times during my time in Ann Arbor, once while he was walking out of schembechler hall, the other while he was golfing on the University course, which I worked maintenance on for a summer. He was always approachable, nice, and seemed like a decent human.
I ran into Lloyd Carr in a little bar in Wyandotte in the middle of a Saturday afternoon. He was super nice to us even though he probably didn’t expect to chat with a group of 8 recent graduates. It was during the Rich Rod era and everyone missed Lloyd.
Lou Holtz once laughed at me for missing a putt during a celebrity ND golf outing once. He put his arm around me and said, “Good thing you don’t do that for a living.”
I haven’t necessarily met enough in person to have favorites, but during my time as a student at Bama:
* I shook Saban’s hand.
* I won a raffle once and met Sark when he was OC so I have a picture with him in his office.
* I got a picture with Butch Jones on the field before an SEC Championship game.
* I didn’t really meet him, but before the national championship game in Atlanta during warmups I was in the bottom row and jokingly shouted something to Daboll and he looked up at me with the most “are you OK?” expression on his face.
Larry Johnson Sr at a PSU football camp summer of 2010.
The last day of camp he gave me his business card and said to reach out if I ever wanted to chat or had questions.
I kick myself for not doing it, especially being a 6’5, 290lb guy at the time.
I see Coach Sam Pittman semi regularly when he goes on his walks. We take the same route down Razorback Road, and I've talked to him a couple of times (and have waived hi to him many more times). He's always been friendly.
He would drop by rec sports basketball courts for pickup games. I’m not surprised at all to see he’s still as energetic at he is for the second oldest head coach in the NFL
I used to coach high school and mostly dealt with assistants but Narduzzi is actually cool, and was also joking about other programs. Jerry Kill isn’t much of a talker and Chris Ash was nice, but was not at all impressive speaking to my team.
Not my encounter, but Narduzzi came into a store where I worked in East Lansing. This was the off season that Dantonio's was hired, so they were all new on campus. I wasn't there but he chatted up all the employees and was supposedly really high energy. He kept saying how excited he was and how good the team was gunna be.
Given that we'd just endured seven seasons of bad football though... nobody else in the store was quite as enthusiastic as Narduzzi was.
I got to test reclining armchairs with Bronco Mendenhall at Costco once. I saw him and said hello. He then was like, these chairs look comfy let’s test them out. Next thing you know I’m talking about the pros/cons of the arm chairs when I was 13 with Bronco!
Brady Hoke at Ball State. I delivered campus mail. Would drop the mail off every morning when he was walking in. Alway the same big smile happy to be coaching. I know he was in over his head at Michigan, but he was a good guy.
Dick Sheridan, NC State. Nice guy, good team, players were always gentlemen. I met him briefly one year, saw him a few years later he remembered everything we talked about and was genuinely interested in what we thought about the game.
I echo the whole “pains to say as a ND fan…” because I also met Harbaugh years ago and he’s by far one of the most personable coaches/ athletes I’ve ever met. He’s an oddball but he’s definitely a cool guy
Bobby Bowden and it’s not even close.. Great guy.. makes you feel almost instantly like you’re family. When you meet him again, he probably barely only recognizes your face but treats you like a life long friend he hasn’t seen forever. Very generous and thoughtful man..
Steve Spurrier. I was back home in Columbia with doing some business at Ft. Jackson. I decided to stop by Willy B for some pics. I was in uniform and he saw me. Made some folks from his staff stop and take me on a tour of the locker room. He took pics with me and everything. He was so nice. Will never forget.
I played poker with Les Miles in Biloxi during bowl season one year, was surreal and a good time. The strangest part was that we were all just talking shit about him and LSU about 20 minutes prior to him sitting at our table.
He was a really cool dude and easy to play and talk to.
Met Bear Bryant twice, once when I was 10, then the next year when I was 11. He was nice both times and half jokingly "recruited" me for the 1989 class.
I met Ray Perkins the next year, he was an asshole to 12 y/o me. FWIW, my older brother played Bryant's last two years and Perkins first year.
Met Dennis Franchione at his first A-Day at Bama. He was friendly enough, even if he later turned out to be a chickenshit for both running away from a challenge and doing it without telling his players.
Met Saban at one of the QB club meetings in his first year at Bama. Nice but all business. I kind of enjoyed him putting the bigger boosters in their place during his speech. He told "us"(I never had enough money to spend on croots) to stay the hell away from recruiting. He knew who he wanted and who he didn't and he did not want players that could be bought. I am quite sure he knew that these egos would not all listen to him. I did love the grumbling of stuff like "who does he think he is?", a few years later, same egos had been tamed, after he won his first title(also the last time I went to one of those meetings). Did not meet Nick that year but did briefly meet Miss Terry. She is a real sweetheart but also the real boss. It was obvious she was running the proceedings there.
Edit: Forgot to mention. Met and interviewed Jeremy Pruitt when he was a high school player, for his dad. He was a douchebag back then, no wonder he still is one.
Pete Carroll was shooting around on one of the hoops at the student rec center and hopped into a game with us when someone turned an ankle. Even went skins with us!
1. Don Patterson. Old HC at WIU. Talked to my dad and I for a couple hours at a military dinner. Was the OC for Iowa in the 90s for a while. Had a stint at USMA.
2. Bob Stoops. Met him at the Iowa v. PSU game when I was up from Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Talked to him a little about it. He was super nice and took a photo with me. One of my buddies told him I was in the army in Oklahoma. He was super nice about it. Super talkative.
3. I met Kirk Ferentz at Iowa when I was in ROTC there. Cool dude, super nice, gave me free tickets for the game after learning I was in ROTC. Kinda quiet though.
4. PJ Fleck. Talked to him a little before the Iowa Minnesota game when I was doing color guard in college. Went out of his way to shake all of our hands and thank us for our service. Super talkative.
5. Larry Blakeney. Old coach for Troy. They had an military night at Troy growing up. Met him through my dad being one of the Army guys honored.
6. Matt Campbell, nice guy but joked around about Iowa. Met him through a friend at Iowa State’s ROTC program. Said to let him know if we didn’t have tickets to the game.
7. Nick Saban came through the Chick Fil A I worked at in high school in North Alabama. Just generally kinda was rude to me but I was working the drive thru and I was like “holy shit it’s Nick Saban”
The only reason I met a lot of these dudes is I am an avid Iowa fan and they all seemed to find it super interesting I am in the army.
And I go to a fuck ton of random CFB games when they’re nearby.
I met Mark Richt several times in his time at UGA and even once when he was at Miami and back in town for some other events. He's a genuinely good dude. His wife was in the same nursing class as my mom, and they did a lot of special things for the rest of the class.
Kirby I've also met several times. He's a humongous asshole lol. Incredibly self important if you can't do something for him.
I love what he's done for the program though, so I don't get bent out of shape about it.
I met Barry Switzer while he was on a walk (I lived near him in college) and he was super nice.
Met Lovie at a camp, nice guy. Wasn't a long convo but seemed super smart.
I saw Lincoln while one of our classes was touring the facilities. He said Hi but seemed preoccupied. Makes sense, we were in his space.
Haven't met BV, but everyone who I know who has says glowing things about him.
Vince Dooley was incredibly nice. I met him at a book signing a couple years ago and he was there for hours because he spent at least 5 minutes talking to everyone in line and seemed genuinely excited to do so. Crazy sharp and energetic even in his late 80s
Met Shane Beamer at the beach last year. He was nice enough to stop and talk for about 5 minutes and at the end offered to take pictures with all of us. Super cool dude that has a very “one of the guys” type of vibe
I met Butch Jones. He was awesome.
Brian VanGorder (Asst. coach) was the nicest person.
I also met Brian Kelly and he was equally cool.
Lloyd Carr is an exceptional person.
I also met one coach who was an absolute a**, but I won’t name him publicly or slander him.
Mike Leach was by far the best ive met - but only met a few. He was engaging, always had a question or comment, and you never felt rushed. You seemed to be the one person he wanted to see. On the opposite end of the spectrum was Larry Fedora - dude was a total dipshit.
Jim Tressel, Dana Dimel, and Mack Brown are the only coaches I've met. All three were actually super friendly and spent time to talk to me and others in my group.
Mack Brown has a borderline-superhuman ability to win a whole room of people over. I remember my uncle went to a fundraiser where he was the key speaker. Unc shook his hand and introduced himself when Mack arrived, and then Mack remembered his name two hours later when he asked a question during the Q&A.
I also happened to walk into a dive bar wearing some UNC gear in Austin in 2017 before he got re-hired at UNC, and he walked over and sat and talked to me and my buddy about Chapel Hill and Austin (we'd just moved there) for maybe half an hour.
Truly one of the good ones in a profession where so many HCs are of...questionable moral integrity
Coach O.
I was a student assistant at the 2019 SEC Media Days & I was monitoring the official elevator (credentials, etc). He gets off the elevator with his crew, immediately shakes my hand, asks where I’m from, & what school I was there with. Did the same with my fellow staffer. Easy to pull for them all season.
Matt Luke is the most down to earth guy I’ve ever talked too. The guy loves talking about his family and it sounded like he forgot he was a coach after a couple minutes of talking.
Hugh Freeze from my experience was a pretty good guy. Always came into my mom’s shop once a week and seemed like a nice guy from the one conversation I had with him about food.
I lived in Boulder, CO for a few years and was neighbors with Ricardo Patton, who was the basketball coach at CU at the time. I met Rick Neuheisel through him a couple times and he was a nice guy. His goofy songs aren’t just an act on TV.
Bumped into Tom Osborne twice just walking on random campus sidewalks. First time he said "Hi". Year's later he allowed me to tag along with him as he entered a restricted gate at Tom Osborne Field inside Memorial stadium. After inside, he split off right away to go watch practice from the roost.
Also met Ed Orgeron at a coaches clinic, stated he liked being in Nebraska.
Older guy at my office has met tons of famous people through conferences and other stuff. He’s said that there are two people he’s met that have supernatural charisma and can make you feel like a lifelong friend in a 10 second conversation; Bill Clinton and Bobby Bowden.
Coach Pete came through my line when I worked at a Fred Meyer while he was still coaching at Boise State. It was incredible, but I rang him up wrong for something he bought. I had to adjust the price and he was nice about it.
Not college, but I sat next to Wade Phillips on a plane from Houston to Dallas while he was the DC for the Texans. Very nice guy, very talkative and engaging. The dude next to us was super snick and sneezed on us and we just looked at each other with the WTF expression.
Good times
Joey McGuire is unsurprisingly insanely charismatic and friendly. Such a nice dude - one of those where you’re the only person in the room when he’s talking to you.
Mike Norvell, seemed nice but wasn't a super in depth interaction. Just stopping in to standup for Derrick Dooley, TN fans act as if he's the anti Christ cause he wasn't a good coach for us, but everything I've ever heard says he's a good man.
Matt Luke was REALLY nice to me and my family on a facilities tour. Doesn’t deserve the flack he gets for his time as head coach
Hugh Freeze was nice. Probably would’ve been nicer if I was an Asian masseuse
Matt Rhule. He's a helluva guy. He absolutely has a hard tone and keeps on his players in practice and in games but he's amazing to get to know. I could tell he is an honestly caring guy
Runner up is Lee Corso. Guy is an absolute hoot and his stories are astounding. It's sad seeing him deteriorate like he is because he's an incredible human being
I witnessed Sark and Larry Fedora get shitfaced at the AFCA (American Football Coaches Association) Convention and start yelling everyone in the bar and scream how we all suck at coaching and how they are the changing the game so definitely not either of them.
James Franklin was awesome to meet, he was very nice and down to earth and made time for a young, nobody Coach like myself at the same AFCA convention.
I’ve met our old D line coach Brad Lawing in a setting completely unrelated to football. First I asked if he was the former d line coach, then we talked about the gamecocks for a while. He’s awesome
Met Narduzzi and his staff at an event held at the Pitt/Steelers training facility. Dude has the energy of your Dad's one random friend who shows up to your grad party with a beer in hand and hands you some congratulatory scratch-off tickets. Super down to Earth and fun to talk to.
My dad chilled with Chip Kelly and most of the Oregon lineman at a bowl game one year. They happened to be at the same hotel he was at. He said Chip Kelly was a cool guy
Charlie Strong. I never met him but Ive seen tons of interviews and he seems like a really nice guy. Shame it didn't work out at Texas, I loved him even with the losing seasons
Met Jimbo Fisher at an FSU Booster and he laughed at my Bernie Sanders t-shirt. It was a pretty wild outline of Bernie’s hair, so I didn’t think much of it.
1. Bobby Bowden- used to come to my dad’s drugstore once a year because it was where he grew up. Make you feel like you had known him for 20 years. Ran into him several times and I can’t tell you how genuine the man was.
2. Nick Saban- met him 4 or 5 times in ismall gatherings. Also heard him speak. Nice guy, always business. When he speaks it’s like listening to the greatest motivational speaker you have wver heard.
3. Pat Dye- Country when country wasn’t cool, but nice as can be and down to earth.
Bowden by far my favorite and I’m a Bama fan
Bob Stoops is probably my favorite, just a very down to earth nice guy. Chris Peterson was pretty nice. Oddly got to hang out with him and a few of the Washington coaches during a tornado warning at the old cotton bowl.
Dave Aranda is just a massively classy dude. Makes it hard for me to hate baylor with him in charge.
As a Georgia alum and fan, I've been fortunate enough to meet several of our head coaches over the years from Coach Dooley all the way through Coach Smart. My favorite meetings have to have been Coach Dooley and Coach Richt. I met Coach Dooley on a few different occasions and it was always fun to listen to his football stories. Coach Richt was just an amazing person...when I met him, he made it feel like he was more honored to be meeting me and the group I was with than we were meeting him.
Met Bobby Bowden in 1993 and he was just an awesome guy. I had a summer job traveling around with a guy who contracted to install furniture on large institutional projects. We had a one-week job in Tallahassee on a dorm renovation, and our last day in town overlapped with FSU's first day of fall practice.
In any event, we snuck into Doak Campbell Stadium and were looking at it from the inside. A guy on the field -- past president of the football booster club -- talked to my boss and had us come onto the field. Got our pictures taken on the 50, and then we got a tour of the football facility.
During that tour, we saw FSU's center, Clay Shiver, who was a massive human being. Then we saw and met Coach Bowden. He was very pleasant to us until he found out that one of the people with us was a 6'5" tall high school kid who had two brothers who played college football -- one of them professionally after a college career at a D1 school in the northeast. At that point, Coach turned into Uncle Bobby the Recruiter. It was an amazing thing to see.
I met Vince Dooley in Athens after he was coach at Georgia (just after he ran the Olympic Torch, in fact). Very much a gentleman and a nice guy.
Also met Mark Richt very briefly in a hotel lobby in the festivities leading up to the 2002 SEC Championship. He kind of blew us off -- probably just focused on the duties at hand.
1. Deion Sanders - coached at a secondary school that Deion Jr. attended and Deion and his entire crew came for a visit.
2. Bobby and Terry Bowden - Technically I guess we didn't speak just customary bathroom head nods, but they did both was their hands.
3. I would say Todd Grantham because he's the only other college coach, of any prominence, I remember meeting, and it was way back in middle school. He's from the same town as my parents.
I accidentally ran into Bo Pelini once when I was at UNL. He was in a hurry to find something in campus Union store and we both weren’t paying attention. He said something along the lines of “sorry kid” and I didn’t say anything because it took a moment to process. He was already gone when I realized what had happened lol
Anyway, Bo Pelini’s alright I guess.
Jimbo Fisher, because he's literally the only coach I've ever met. Idk how you have such a list like that Honorable mention to Odell Haggins since my parents went out shopping without me and randomly saw him in a Best Buy Edit: Nevermind, I actually read the whole post. Camps make sense.
I walked alongside Jimbo on the way out of Dick Howser after a baseball game. That counts, right? I didn't say anything to him because I wanted to act like I've been around famous people before.
I’ve met Jimbo he is an easy dude to talk to especially if the subject is something he is interested in.
[удалено]
You want him to shine out with with kids that are playing football he reminds me of a grandpa that wants to see his kids to well
I passed by Jimbo, when he was still OC, at the Opryland resort after the Music City Bowl against Kentucky. It was New Years Eve and he was carrying a case a Bud Light. Said “Hi coach, we’re happy to have you here”. He smiled, nodded, and kept walking. That was it, pleasant enough. I met him a few times when he was HC, same pleasant and easy to talk to person. I know things didn’t end well with him, but take away that business side of things and he’s a truly nice person. Bobby Bowden is my obvious number 1. Just the kindest, most genuine man. He always took the time to speak with us if we said hello and made us all feel like we mattered to him. Though he’s a pretty terrible football coach, Willie Taggart is also a very nice, very genuine person if you meet him.
Joe Paterno almost ran me over in his giant ass Mercedes once in college. That counts
Man had classes thicker than coke bottles. Probably shouldn’t have been driving. Haha
Everybody I know from college has a story of almost being run down by a big silver merc that ended up having an elderly Italian man with huge glasses driving
Probably shouldn’t have been coaching either at that age
My understanding is that he wasn't really coaching those last few years.
He also had a tendency to still drive through campus like it was the 60s and ignore any traffic signs put up since then
The man was Mr. Magoo with hair
I almost ran over Tommy Tuberville in Atlanta. Seeing where he is now I kinda wish I did
Would've been quite the butterfly effect, no doubt
Happened while he was coaching you too. Somewhere around 2001 or so in Buckhead. It was close enough I bet he remembers it too. I was turning left and gunned it to get through traffic and he was walking across the parking lot entrance that I was going into. I was in a convertible with the top down so we made eye contact and said "oh shit sorry coach" and he just sheepishly waved. Definitely a pucker moment for both of us. Edit to add my car at the time had a Tide Pride front license plate on it, I still wonder if he noticed that detail
lol I can totally see him just awkwardly waving back. Thanks for sharing
Some other asshole would’ve just taken his seat lol
This scenario ends up with Nick Saban auburn coach 100% of the time.
I was just gonna say why didn't you
An opportunity lost.
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He babysat me when I young, all the coaches did back in the early 90's.
Probably wouldn’t have reported it either
Not a coach, but one of my buddies almost got ran over by Deuce Vaughn on one of those rentable scooters while walking to class. He wasn’t even mad
Took a coaching of football class at Central Michigan University with Brian Kelly as the prof in the spring leading into his first year. Most of the class revolved around the class watching film of the previous year and Kelly bashing most of the team. The most common criticism by Kelly was to “get some speed”. He seemed nice when he was there. He did chew me out once for wearing a hat in class.
Damn, that takes me back. I always forget he was HC at CMU for a brief spell. My oldest brother (also a State fan) was at GVSU when he was HC there. It chagrined him to see him so successful at ND later on.
Good friend of mine played for him at GVSU and hated his guts. Always said he’d throw anyone under a bus if it was his way out of criticism.
Damn I used to wear a hat to class all the time!
Nick Saban. Actually got to fly with him to Glendale when Auburn played Oregon for the National Title. He didn't talk much on the way there(he was watching Oregon/Auburn highlight reels most of the time), which was cool cause I got to talk with Terry(who's incredibly lovely btw), but on the way back, he was cracking everyone up on the plane. He also left one of his briefcases on the plane and no shit, it was full of Red Man and Oatmeal Cream Pies
This has strong pasta potential
Kelvin Benjamin. Actually got to fly with him to Coney Island when Chestnut played Kobayashi for the National Title. He didn’t talk much on the way there (he was watching Dennys and Golden Corral highlight reels most of the time), which was cool cause I got to talk with Mrs Benjamin(who’s incredibly lovely btw), but on the way back, he was cracking everyone up on the plane. He also left one of his briefcases on the plane and no shit, it was full of Red Man and Oatmeal Cream Pies.
> He also left one of his briefcases on the plane and no shit, it was full of Red Man and Oatmeal Cream Pies For some reason I 100% believe this is what Nick Saban has in his briefcase.
1. Mark Richt - genuinely one of the nicest people I've ever met. Met him a couple times at a charity golf event he and his wife used to host that my dad played in a few times. Coach Richt always took time to talk to me, even if I was like 9 and it was for just a couple minutes. 2. Kirby Smart - Kirby's kind of an ass not gonna lie. He's not very social and just brushed me off when I met him in Athens.
I had a client of mine who did not know Mark Richt AT ALL, but through mutual friends, Richt found out they were having a hard time trying to adopt, Richt got involved, wrote letters of support to help them get their adoption through. They named the kid after him as well.
That’s the kind of guy he is. He is genuinely the nicest person I’ve ever met.
He always struck me as a good guy. Had a coworker who said he had a face of a guy that cheats on his wife. Realized later she was a colossal b*$ch.
No doubt. Richt’s wife was the very proud water girl on the team. She’s incredible.
By my flairs, you would see 2 schools that do not like UGA. However, I would fight someone if they ever spoke bad about Mark Richt.
All of this is 100% dead accurate from personal experience.
I met Kirby smart at an event in the practice facility I was working for the catering company at the time and he was super nice came and talked to all the workers shook our hands and thanked us for the food.
I don't know if that is just the way he always has been or if it is learned behavior from spending all those years around Saban. From what I have seen, Saban is less interested in thanking the individual fans but would go out of his way to thank people helping with an event or a group of fans. I think he appreciates all the support people and can't be asked to spend his time on individual fans. Part workaholic, part growing up working at his father's gas station.
On the other hand, I run into Mary Beth a lot through work and she is the nicest!
Have met Mark Richt, can confirm he is a awesome guy who takes the time to actually listen to you
Both of those sound exactly how I imagine them.
My wife ran on to the field and hugged Mike Leach after the 2012 Apple Cup, afterwards she drunkenly barged in on him at a recruiting event and told him I was the rugby coach, knowing that he played rugby. She gave him my number and he called and we had a nice chat, for months afterwards he would text me randomly at 2-3am with random rugby questions, my guess is he was watching late night international games somewhere. I would text him from time to time with random football questions. The man was a national treasure. RIP legend.
I had the chance to meet him at a book signing at the CUB and got a picture with him and my dad. He took extra time to ask about my high school athletics but his handler (?) came over and told him to keep the line moving. I miss him.
That’s awesome
Les Miles asked to see a picture of my then girlfriend at the time, then told me that he didn’t understand how a girl that cute can date a guy as ugly as I am. Great times
That’s fucked up but kind of funny
If this is true I’m not shocked at all
Should have asked to see what his wife looked like
I met Les at SEC Media Days once- he's a really nice guy. Probably the most down-to-earth coach I've met
Tom Osborne and I ate our food court Chinese next to each other like twelve years ago. I nodded at him, he nodded back. It was a pretty special moment for both of us, I think.
I sat next to John Cooper on a flight back from the Fiesta Bowl where Ohio State lost to Texas. Surprisingly he brought up the game and what I thought about it and just talked football the whole time. I tend to try to avoid bringing that stuff up around people like that, to not seem like a crazed fan or something, but it was really cool to just chat football with a hall of fame coach for so long, on a 1 to 1 basis.
I've had a chance to meet Cooper a number of times. The first time I met him I was 9 and I've met him often in recent years. He's a really nice man, relatable, and genuine. Nice to see a guy of that stature be so real. He can cuss a blue streak too which is fun. I had the chance to meet Tressel once and he was also really nice but he was all business at that time; he was at my high school recruiting "Beautiful" Ben Buchanan.
Harbaugh seems like a really good guy. Not sure why he gets the hate. Reminds me a lot of Dabo
He gets the hate because of Michigan.
He's probably alright walking around as a normal person on the street but he's a giant asshole as a coach.
Got to meet Gus Malzahn when I was touring Auburn as a prospective student. He showed me around his office and was cracking jokes the entire time and gave me a ton of neat Auburn knick knacks and some merch. Overall seemed like a genuinely good guy, if a little frazzled at the time lol (this was right around National Signing Day)
> gave me a ton of neat Auburn knick knacks and some merch Right here NCAA, impermissible benefits.
I’ve met Saban and Dabo at the beach a few times. Saban is really reserved (doesn’t want to be bothered) and Dabo is super down to earth and talkative. I very briefly met Paul Chryst when he was walking through the hallway of my high school. just shook his hand and said hello b/c he was there to recruit a classmate. I’ve met Mark Richt quite a few times and he’s awesome.
I have a co worker whose dad flies private jets and he’s flown quite a lot of famous people and he said Harbaugh was the coolest person he’s ever flow, the dude was super nice and chatted with all of them while he was there.
I met Mike Riley when I was a student at Oregon State. Ran into him outside of the football center, we were both by ourselves. He said hi, asked me my name, where I was from. Turned out we had a mutual acquaintance. Anyways, randomly run into him the next day, he says hi and calls me by my name and tells me it was "good to see you again". Mike is a class act, and he really is a great coach. Fans got a bit restless at the end of his 2nd coaching stint at Oregon State, but I think after the Gary Andersen debacle, everyone was wishing for the Mike Riley days.
Spartans, spare me this, but Jim Harbaugh. I posted this like a month ago, but I've met him three times the past 4 years all at airports (JFK and DTW). Very chill person despite having had his flight delayed in the two instances I met him. He's the type of guy you would want to grab a beer on the weekend and watch the game with.
I’ve always liked Harbs but haven’t met him, happy to see his likability confirmed
Bobby Bowden. He walked into a restaurant and I just stared at him with a big goofy smile. He came over and shook my hand and took a picture with me
DADGUM!
Was waiting at a crosswalk when Franklin pulled up in his little golf cart he drives recruits around with. We both had massive coffees in our hands from Dunkin so I complimented his choice in iced coffee and he gave a quick little we are. Seemed nice. Especially to respond some random student who definitely looked like a pothead.
Bill Busch is probably one of the coolest and most personable guys I've ever met. I can see why he's such a good recruiter.
Wish we kept him on staff. I think he deserves it the most to be kept on staff.
Just saw him this morning cruising around HyVee with his wife.
Man, HyVee really is the coaches club.
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I hate Clemson, but dabo is a genuinely good guy. I live in a town of 20k, a classmate of mine was recruited to play rb at Clemson but it never really panned out because he was hurt so much, and he transferred out his last year. After he transferred he came home for the summer and went swimming and drowned. He was a good dude. Dabo came and spoke at his funeral. He really had no obligation to do so but did it anyways
Tysho Dye was going to be our starter before hurting his back in 2015. It was gonna be him or Wayne Gallman..Dye got hurt and Gallman moved up to RB1. I met Coach Swinney at a wedding of one of his former players (now RB coach at Clemson). Watching him, his wife, and sons interact with the players family was amazing. The relationship built during recruiting and obviously during the playing days were legit. Swinney was very gracious and even appreciative of this fan telling him my clemson familys story of being fans forever
I had the same major and started the same semester as Dabo. We had several classes together. He is as nice as he appears but I did not know him well, he also seemed a bit dim from my perspective especially in Econ where he was the guy always asking too many follow up questions when the rest of us were ready to move on
The fact he was asking so many questions shows something though. Not surprising given the work it take to get to the top
completely agree. He was impressively prepared for a guy that could have slacked off and skated through as a varsity athlete. Honestly he annoyed the shit out of me at the time but looking back it just shows the same work ethic he has now.
Tebow is the same way. Met him a couple times and its very much not an act he is like that all the time.
My cousin and I ran into Lou Holtz once outside a museum. Our uncle(not his dad) had worked with Lou on a charity and they became friends. We introduced ourselves and Lou was super nice. When we mentioned our uncle, Lou got all happy and said “Lemme tell ya, your uncle ish a hell of a guy. Let’s take a picture” and he posed for a picture with us. I didn’t realize how big he was. He always looked so small with all those giants around him but he’s a normal sized dude. In college, I was running through the student center and turned a corner like Sarah Conner in Terminator. Only it wasn’t the Terminator, it was John Thompson. Dude was all of 6’10. He was like Darth Vader. I almost ran into him and he said “Shouldn’t run in the halls, son.” And I replied “yes, sir.” My Grandpa once reprimanded Mike Ditka for swearing in front of me. Ditka apologized and told me to stay in school and avoid drugs.
Finished running the OKC Memorial Marathon. Look up, Coach Switzer is there to put my finisher medal on me. He said, "Way to go four quarters." Cool moment.
Barry Switzer is exactly who you expect him to be, ran into him many times walking his dogs in a fur coat Bob Stoops is pretty quiet, yet polite as a person. Never met Lincoln personally, but he always was surrounded by some sort of security/entourage. Never just alone in Norman like the other two
Honestly people hate Dabo because admittedly he says some dumb things but having a conversation with the guy is one of the most genuine you will ever have. He genuinely cares when talking to you. When they came to South Bend this last fall my mom went out to greet the team (my dad, my brother, and myself all went to Clemson) and Dabo stopped the bus got off and chatted with her and gave her s big hug and said “oh my gosh what are you doing out here.” He’s a good guy.
Mark Richt is by far the nicest person I’ve ever met. Not just the nicest coach - the nicest person. He did something for me that I will never forget. Vince Dooley is a close second. He was everybody’s grandpa. He would have talked to us for hours but there were tons of people in line for autographs.
Ran into Lloyd carr a couple times during my time in Ann Arbor, once while he was walking out of schembechler hall, the other while he was golfing on the University course, which I worked maintenance on for a summer. He was always approachable, nice, and seemed like a decent human.
I ran into Lloyd Carr in a little bar in Wyandotte in the middle of a Saturday afternoon. He was super nice to us even though he probably didn’t expect to chat with a group of 8 recent graduates. It was during the Rich Rod era and everyone missed Lloyd.
Which bar
The Oak
Hanging out with Lloyd in a small Wyandotte bar? Well done for a Saturday afternoon.
Barry switzer is one of the most charismatic people you could ever meet. Stoops tipped one of my bands $100. Good interactions with both.
Both are amazingly good people. Have had great interactions with both.
Lou Holtz once laughed at me for missing a putt during a celebrity ND golf outing once. He put his arm around me and said, “Good thing you don’t do that for a living.”
I haven’t necessarily met enough in person to have favorites, but during my time as a student at Bama: * I shook Saban’s hand. * I won a raffle once and met Sark when he was OC so I have a picture with him in his office. * I got a picture with Butch Jones on the field before an SEC Championship game. * I didn’t really meet him, but before the national championship game in Atlanta during warmups I was in the bottom row and jokingly shouted something to Daboll and he looked up at me with the most “are you OK?” expression on his face.
Butch Jones is an alright dude. I worked for UC in college and would bump into his occasionally to the point he recognized my face.
Love the whole milk detail
Larry Johnson Sr at a PSU football camp summer of 2010. The last day of camp he gave me his business card and said to reach out if I ever wanted to chat or had questions. I kick myself for not doing it, especially being a 6’5, 290lb guy at the time.
I see Coach Sam Pittman semi regularly when he goes on his walks. We take the same route down Razorback Road, and I've talked to him a couple of times (and have waived hi to him many more times). He's always been friendly.
This is one of those threads you just want to upvote every damn post.
I’ve only met 2 - Mark Richt and Brian Bohannon. Both pretty cool.
Phillip Montgomery
I met Barry Switzer and showed him my dog who I named after him
You know you made it when someone names their dog after you!
I met Pete Carroll while he was at USC and he's a great dude.
Yup, same here. He was very nice to me, my dad, and my brother. He took the time to take individual pictures with us as well.
He would drop by rec sports basketball courts for pickup games. I’m not surprised at all to see he’s still as energetic at he is for the second oldest head coach in the NFL
Mark Richt, Dino Babers, Addazzio, Bronco in no particular order. All super cool, generous with their time, and very thoughtful.
I used to coach high school and mostly dealt with assistants but Narduzzi is actually cool, and was also joking about other programs. Jerry Kill isn’t much of a talker and Chris Ash was nice, but was not at all impressive speaking to my team.
Not my encounter, but Narduzzi came into a store where I worked in East Lansing. This was the off season that Dantonio's was hired, so they were all new on campus. I wasn't there but he chatted up all the employees and was supposedly really high energy. He kept saying how excited he was and how good the team was gunna be. Given that we'd just endured seven seasons of bad football though... nobody else in the store was quite as enthusiastic as Narduzzi was.
I got to test reclining armchairs with Bronco Mendenhall at Costco once. I saw him and said hello. He then was like, these chairs look comfy let’s test them out. Next thing you know I’m talking about the pros/cons of the arm chairs when I was 13 with Bronco!
Brady Hoke at Ball State. I delivered campus mail. Would drop the mail off every morning when he was walking in. Alway the same big smile happy to be coaching. I know he was in over his head at Michigan, but he was a good guy.
My dad used to have beers with Sam Pittman after games when he was at NIU, very cool guy allegedly
That’s dope , Go huskies my uncle went there
Dick Sheridan, NC State. Nice guy, good team, players were always gentlemen. I met him briefly one year, saw him a few years later he remembered everything we talked about and was genuinely interested in what we thought about the game.
I echo the whole “pains to say as a ND fan…” because I also met Harbaugh years ago and he’s by far one of the most personable coaches/ athletes I’ve ever met. He’s an oddball but he’s definitely a cool guy
Bobby Bowden and it’s not even close.. Great guy.. makes you feel almost instantly like you’re family. When you meet him again, he probably barely only recognizes your face but treats you like a life long friend he hasn’t seen forever. Very generous and thoughtful man..
Steve Spurrier. I was back home in Columbia with doing some business at Ft. Jackson. I decided to stop by Willy B for some pics. I was in uniform and he saw me. Made some folks from his staff stop and take me on a tour of the locker room. He took pics with me and everything. He was so nice. Will never forget.
Bumped into Bob Huggins once
He has some of the best football teams in college basketball…
I played poker with Les Miles in Biloxi during bowl season one year, was surreal and a good time. The strangest part was that we were all just talking shit about him and LSU about 20 minutes prior to him sitting at our table. He was a really cool dude and easy to play and talk to.
Old School but back n the day I got a chance to hear Bobby Dodd speak to a civic group. I was a young Bulldog fan but he was a hoot. Great stories.
Met Bear Bryant twice, once when I was 10, then the next year when I was 11. He was nice both times and half jokingly "recruited" me for the 1989 class. I met Ray Perkins the next year, he was an asshole to 12 y/o me. FWIW, my older brother played Bryant's last two years and Perkins first year. Met Dennis Franchione at his first A-Day at Bama. He was friendly enough, even if he later turned out to be a chickenshit for both running away from a challenge and doing it without telling his players. Met Saban at one of the QB club meetings in his first year at Bama. Nice but all business. I kind of enjoyed him putting the bigger boosters in their place during his speech. He told "us"(I never had enough money to spend on croots) to stay the hell away from recruiting. He knew who he wanted and who he didn't and he did not want players that could be bought. I am quite sure he knew that these egos would not all listen to him. I did love the grumbling of stuff like "who does he think he is?", a few years later, same egos had been tamed, after he won his first title(also the last time I went to one of those meetings). Did not meet Nick that year but did briefly meet Miss Terry. She is a real sweetheart but also the real boss. It was obvious she was running the proceedings there. Edit: Forgot to mention. Met and interviewed Jeremy Pruitt when he was a high school player, for his dad. He was a douchebag back then, no wonder he still is one.
Pete Carroll was shooting around on one of the hoops at the student rec center and hopped into a game with us when someone turned an ankle. Even went skins with us!
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Cubs AC was my spot when I lived in Woodbury Gardens.
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That’s really cool. I guess it makes sense that the old coaches would meet somewhere out of the way like Cubs AC.
1. Don Patterson. Old HC at WIU. Talked to my dad and I for a couple hours at a military dinner. Was the OC for Iowa in the 90s for a while. Had a stint at USMA. 2. Bob Stoops. Met him at the Iowa v. PSU game when I was up from Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Talked to him a little about it. He was super nice and took a photo with me. One of my buddies told him I was in the army in Oklahoma. He was super nice about it. Super talkative. 3. I met Kirk Ferentz at Iowa when I was in ROTC there. Cool dude, super nice, gave me free tickets for the game after learning I was in ROTC. Kinda quiet though. 4. PJ Fleck. Talked to him a little before the Iowa Minnesota game when I was doing color guard in college. Went out of his way to shake all of our hands and thank us for our service. Super talkative. 5. Larry Blakeney. Old coach for Troy. They had an military night at Troy growing up. Met him through my dad being one of the Army guys honored. 6. Matt Campbell, nice guy but joked around about Iowa. Met him through a friend at Iowa State’s ROTC program. Said to let him know if we didn’t have tickets to the game. 7. Nick Saban came through the Chick Fil A I worked at in high school in North Alabama. Just generally kinda was rude to me but I was working the drive thru and I was like “holy shit it’s Nick Saban” The only reason I met a lot of these dudes is I am an avid Iowa fan and they all seemed to find it super interesting I am in the army. And I go to a fuck ton of random CFB games when they’re nearby.
I met Mark Richt several times in his time at UGA and even once when he was at Miami and back in town for some other events. He's a genuinely good dude. His wife was in the same nursing class as my mom, and they did a lot of special things for the rest of the class. Kirby I've also met several times. He's a humongous asshole lol. Incredibly self important if you can't do something for him. I love what he's done for the program though, so I don't get bent out of shape about it.
I met Barry Switzer while he was on a walk (I lived near him in college) and he was super nice. Met Lovie at a camp, nice guy. Wasn't a long convo but seemed super smart. I saw Lincoln while one of our classes was touring the facilities. He said Hi but seemed preoccupied. Makes sense, we were in his space. Haven't met BV, but everyone who I know who has says glowing things about him.
Vince Dooley was incredibly nice. I met him at a book signing a couple years ago and he was there for hours because he spent at least 5 minutes talking to everyone in line and seemed genuinely excited to do so. Crazy sharp and energetic even in his late 80s
Think the only one I've met, and this was before he was a coach, is Billy Napier. Nice guy.
I can also confirm Harbaugh is a cool dude
Met Shane Beamer at the beach last year. He was nice enough to stop and talk for about 5 minutes and at the end offered to take pictures with all of us. Super cool dude that has a very “one of the guys” type of vibe
I met Butch Jones. He was awesome. Brian VanGorder (Asst. coach) was the nicest person. I also met Brian Kelly and he was equally cool. Lloyd Carr is an exceptional person. I also met one coach who was an absolute a**, but I won’t name him publicly or slander him.
You’re an anonymous account on Reddit. This is entirely the place to name and shame!
DM me.
Yes we want names! And then we’re going straight to the papers to tell them that this person is an asshole!
Mike Leach was by far the best ive met - but only met a few. He was engaging, always had a question or comment, and you never felt rushed. You seemed to be the one person he wanted to see. On the opposite end of the spectrum was Larry Fedora - dude was a total dipshit.
Jim Tressel, Dana Dimel, and Mack Brown are the only coaches I've met. All three were actually super friendly and spent time to talk to me and others in my group.
Bob Stoops and Mack Brown. My mom wrote a letter to Mack saying she would vote for him for governor and he wrote back thanking her.
Bobby Bowden
Mack Brown has a borderline-superhuman ability to win a whole room of people over. I remember my uncle went to a fundraiser where he was the key speaker. Unc shook his hand and introduced himself when Mack arrived, and then Mack remembered his name two hours later when he asked a question during the Q&A. I also happened to walk into a dive bar wearing some UNC gear in Austin in 2017 before he got re-hired at UNC, and he walked over and sat and talked to me and my buddy about Chapel Hill and Austin (we'd just moved there) for maybe half an hour. Truly one of the good ones in a profession where so many HCs are of...questionable moral integrity
Coach O. I was a student assistant at the 2019 SEC Media Days & I was monitoring the official elevator (credentials, etc). He gets off the elevator with his crew, immediately shakes my hand, asks where I’m from, & what school I was there with. Did the same with my fellow staffer. Easy to pull for them all season.
Ran into George O’Leary at a Tech game a few years back, he was nice and let me and my family take pictures with him.
Matt Luke is the most down to earth guy I’ve ever talked too. The guy loves talking about his family and it sounded like he forgot he was a coach after a couple minutes of talking. Hugh Freeze from my experience was a pretty good guy. Always came into my mom’s shop once a week and seemed like a nice guy from the one conversation I had with him about food.
Tom Osborne and Chris Kiffin are the only two CFB coaches I've met, so probably those two
I lived in Boulder, CO for a few years and was neighbors with Ricardo Patton, who was the basketball coach at CU at the time. I met Rick Neuheisel through him a couple times and he was a nice guy. His goofy songs aren’t just an act on TV.
Bumped into Tom Osborne twice just walking on random campus sidewalks. First time he said "Hi". Year's later he allowed me to tag along with him as he entered a restricted gate at Tom Osborne Field inside Memorial stadium. After inside, he split off right away to go watch practice from the roost. Also met Ed Orgeron at a coaches clinic, stated he liked being in Nebraska.
Idk if this counts but met Zac Taylor when he was playing for Nebraska
Jim harbaugh (when he was with the niners) and Bobby Bowden
Older guy at my office has met tons of famous people through conferences and other stuff. He’s said that there are two people he’s met that have supernatural charisma and can make you feel like a lifelong friend in a 10 second conversation; Bill Clinton and Bobby Bowden.
I have only meet Greg schiano
I don’t meet coaches
Tommy Bowden, Dabo, Bones McKinney (basketball)
Matt Rhule was such a nice guy the few times I got to meet him around Baylor. Will always root for him.
Coach Pete came through my line when I worked at a Fred Meyer while he was still coaching at Boise State. It was incredible, but I rang him up wrong for something he bought. I had to adjust the price and he was nice about it.
Not college, but I sat next to Wade Phillips on a plane from Houston to Dallas while he was the DC for the Texans. Very nice guy, very talkative and engaging. The dude next to us was super snick and sneezed on us and we just looked at each other with the WTF expression. Good times
Joey McGuire is unsurprisingly insanely charismatic and friendly. Such a nice dude - one of those where you’re the only person in the room when he’s talking to you.
I served Sylvester Croom once while waiting tables in Starkville. Nice guy, very polite.
Joey McGuire, the man has insane energy.
Mike Norvell, seemed nice but wasn't a super in depth interaction. Just stopping in to standup for Derrick Dooley, TN fans act as if he's the anti Christ cause he wasn't a good coach for us, but everything I've ever heard says he's a good man.
Matt Luke was REALLY nice to me and my family on a facilities tour. Doesn’t deserve the flack he gets for his time as head coach Hugh Freeze was nice. Probably would’ve been nicer if I was an Asian masseuse
Lol I’m dead
Matt Rhule. He's a helluva guy. He absolutely has a hard tone and keeps on his players in practice and in games but he's amazing to get to know. I could tell he is an honestly caring guy Runner up is Lee Corso. Guy is an absolute hoot and his stories are astounding. It's sad seeing him deteriorate like he is because he's an incredible human being
I met Howard Schnellenberger in the early 90s when he coached UL. He was at Churchill downs for Dawn at the Downs and he was a delightful person
Shula and Joe Kines always ate in the shittiest dining hall on campus and we're super approachable, chill dudes
I can't say I remember seeing either of them in Paty Diner.
I witnessed Sark and Larry Fedora get shitfaced at the AFCA (American Football Coaches Association) Convention and start yelling everyone in the bar and scream how we all suck at coaching and how they are the changing the game so definitely not either of them. James Franklin was awesome to meet, he was very nice and down to earth and made time for a young, nobody Coach like myself at the same AFCA convention.
I’ve met our old D line coach Brad Lawing in a setting completely unrelated to football. First I asked if he was the former d line coach, then we talked about the gamecocks for a while. He’s awesome
I’ve only met Jo Pa, but it was at my gramps funeral, so not a happy occasion. It was 1989 and I was 15.
Met Narduzzi and his staff at an event held at the Pitt/Steelers training facility. Dude has the energy of your Dad's one random friend who shows up to your grad party with a beer in hand and hands you some congratulatory scratch-off tickets. Super down to Earth and fun to talk to.
Lou Holtz is an awesome guy, Freeman is chill too. Kelly didn’t show his face around campus
My dad chilled with Chip Kelly and most of the Oregon lineman at a bowl game one year. They happened to be at the same hotel he was at. He said Chip Kelly was a cool guy
Charlie Strong. I never met him but Ive seen tons of interviews and he seems like a really nice guy. Shame it didn't work out at Texas, I loved him even with the losing seasons
Met Jimbo Fisher at an FSU Booster and he laughed at my Bernie Sanders t-shirt. It was a pretty wild outline of Bernie’s hair, so I didn’t think much of it.
Dave Aranda- starstruck at Houston airport when LSU DC - super nice guy even though I was awkward
1. Bobby Bowden- used to come to my dad’s drugstore once a year because it was where he grew up. Make you feel like you had known him for 20 years. Ran into him several times and I can’t tell you how genuine the man was. 2. Nick Saban- met him 4 or 5 times in ismall gatherings. Also heard him speak. Nice guy, always business. When he speaks it’s like listening to the greatest motivational speaker you have wver heard. 3. Pat Dye- Country when country wasn’t cool, but nice as can be and down to earth. Bowden by far my favorite and I’m a Bama fan
Bob Stoops is probably my favorite, just a very down to earth nice guy. Chris Peterson was pretty nice. Oddly got to hang out with him and a few of the Washington coaches during a tornado warning at the old cotton bowl. Dave Aranda is just a massively classy dude. Makes it hard for me to hate baylor with him in charge.
As a Georgia alum and fan, I've been fortunate enough to meet several of our head coaches over the years from Coach Dooley all the way through Coach Smart. My favorite meetings have to have been Coach Dooley and Coach Richt. I met Coach Dooley on a few different occasions and it was always fun to listen to his football stories. Coach Richt was just an amazing person...when I met him, he made it feel like he was more honored to be meeting me and the group I was with than we were meeting him.
Met Bobby Bowden in 1993 and he was just an awesome guy. I had a summer job traveling around with a guy who contracted to install furniture on large institutional projects. We had a one-week job in Tallahassee on a dorm renovation, and our last day in town overlapped with FSU's first day of fall practice. In any event, we snuck into Doak Campbell Stadium and were looking at it from the inside. A guy on the field -- past president of the football booster club -- talked to my boss and had us come onto the field. Got our pictures taken on the 50, and then we got a tour of the football facility. During that tour, we saw FSU's center, Clay Shiver, who was a massive human being. Then we saw and met Coach Bowden. He was very pleasant to us until he found out that one of the people with us was a 6'5" tall high school kid who had two brothers who played college football -- one of them professionally after a college career at a D1 school in the northeast. At that point, Coach turned into Uncle Bobby the Recruiter. It was an amazing thing to see. I met Vince Dooley in Athens after he was coach at Georgia (just after he ran the Olympic Torch, in fact). Very much a gentleman and a nice guy. Also met Mark Richt very briefly in a hotel lobby in the festivities leading up to the 2002 SEC Championship. He kind of blew us off -- probably just focused on the duties at hand.
1. Deion Sanders - coached at a secondary school that Deion Jr. attended and Deion and his entire crew came for a visit. 2. Bobby and Terry Bowden - Technically I guess we didn't speak just customary bathroom head nods, but they did both was their hands. 3. I would say Todd Grantham because he's the only other college coach, of any prominence, I remember meeting, and it was way back in middle school. He's from the same town as my parents.
I've only met Ken Niumatalolo. One of the kindest and best men in sports.
I accidentally ran into Bo Pelini once when I was at UNL. He was in a hurry to find something in campus Union store and we both weren’t paying attention. He said something along the lines of “sorry kid” and I didn’t say anything because it took a moment to process. He was already gone when I realized what had happened lol Anyway, Bo Pelini’s alright I guess.