I was trading e-mails with a few buddies and we got into an interesting exchange about which current coach deserves top billing as the country's best program-builder. That will be this week's Top 10 list topic.
One big caveat: the coach has to be someone who has done it at more than one FBS program.
1. Howard Schnellenberger
At various points in this discussion, I could have been comfortable with another one of the top five taking the top spot here. Schnellenberger, though, wins out, because while some guys have elevated good programs and invigorated others, he actually took one that was about to be terminated (Miami) and transformed it not only into a national-title team, but a program that would go on to a staggering run of success, wining four national titles in the ensuing decade. By the time that happened he was long gone, but he laid the foundation. Better still, he would go on to lead a downtrodden Louisville program (six consecutive losing seasons and rumored to be heading for a drop down to 1-AA) and turned it into a team that ended up beating Alabama in a Fiesta Bowl, and literally laid the foundation for a new stadium at U of L. The guy did fizzle in one season at Oklahoma, but came back to build a program from scratch at FAU, leading them to a bowl win within 10 years of the school first getting a football team. He is the one guy out there who has done it all: start a program, save a program and win a national title.
Disagree with No. 1? Want to see the rest of Bruce's list, which includes several current SEC coaches such as Urban Meyer and Nick Saban? For that -- and bad news for Tennessee, but good news for Georgia, as well as to find out where in the world Bruce Feldman is this week -- you must be an ESPN Insider. 
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Bruce Feldman
