Most underrated coaches in college football

Most underrated coaches in college football

"5b- Curtis Johnson, Tulane
Head down I-10 from Baton Rouge to New Orleans and you will find another success story at Tulane under the Crescent City native Johnson. Green Wave football has a long history and tradition (many do not know that Tulane used to be in the SEC), but the program has had limited success during the last 30 years. Mack Brown got Tulane to a bowl, then took the North Carolina job. Tommy Bowden led the Green Wave to an undefeated season, then took the Clemson job (Rich Rodriguez actually coached the Green Wave in the 1998 Liberty Bowl after Bowden bolted). Then Hurricane Katrina set the entire athletics program at the school back several years. Enter Johnson from Sean Payton’s New Orleans Saints coaching staff in late 2011. He goes 2-10 in his first year (2012), then has Tulane in a bowl game by his second season. Johnson’s recruiting strategy is brilliant- Tulane recruits talent-rich New Orleans and the entire state of Louisiana extremely hard. This was no doubt learned during Johnson’s days as an assistant at Miami (Fla.) from 1996-2005, another private school located in a talent-rich metropolitan area that has a local-intense recruiting strategy. This coming season will be a season of newness for the Green Wave. They move to the American Athletics Conference and open a new on-campus stadium. There’s not a ton of attention paid to the job Johnson has done thus far on a national level, but as the work sample grows, expect that to change."