Josh Moon is one of Tommy Tuberville’s media shills. Doubt it? Look at his coaches rankings.
1. Mark Richt
2. Urban Meyer
3. Steve Spurrier
4. Tommy Tuberville
5. Sylvester Croom
6.Nick Saban
7. Phil Fulmer
8. Bob Petrino
9. Houston Nutt
10. Les Miles
11. Bobby Johnson
12. Rich Brooks
Most of the ranking is close to accurate. Most.
I know I take a few shots at Tuberville, but he’d be in my top four or five. I’d rate Spurrier a bit lower because I think he is slipping, and I’d probably rate Saban a bit higher. But the rankings are Moon’s way of propping up Tuberville. Just read his catty remarks:
6. Nick Saban, Alabama: 8.8 total points (2.5, 2.8, 2.5): That’s right — sixth. Sorry, but the guy’s lost to Louisiana Tech and UAB, and he loses at least one game every year that he shouldn’t. He’s average at game-planning and he runs off half his staff every year. His knack for recruiting helped him overcome his flaws at LSU. We’ll see if he can do it again.
You mean the way Tuberville loses games he shouldn’t lose? For every gem Tuberville coaches (see Florida the last two years there are a host of disasters including blowout losses when heavily favored.) And Tuberville doesn’t have the excuse of rebuilding an abysmal program like Alabama.
And Saban runs off half his staff? Much like Tuberville did this season with his coordinators? How many coordinators has Tuberville burned through? And why should that be a strike against either coach?
Sometimes you need change to keep people working hard—to replace those who get burned out.
4. Tommy Tuberville, Auburn: 10 total points (4, 3, 3): I don’t think the guy gets the credit he should for what he’s done at Auburn. That program was a joke when he took over 10 years ago. It won the SEC title, should’ve won the national title and has consistently been ranked in the top 25.
Should have won a national championship?
Right.
We should just forget about USC that season.
And this guy is one of the “unbiased†members of the professional media.
Please. He is less reliable than a Rivals.com fan site. Moon is bucking to become the mainstream media’s new Phillip Marshall.
But he’ll need to do a better job, like invent a few new lies and smears. What he has written here against Saban is just getting old.
33 thoughts on “Moon: the new Phillip Marshall”
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Please. Once again. We Auburn fans all know that Bama can’t stand the thought of Auburn being just better. It’s not a knock. It’s just a fact!
This whole website is for the AUBcessed Bama fan and their constant battle with inferiority!
WDE
Right. That’s why we Alabama fans are cruising Auburn sites. Wait….you are an Auburn fan on an Alabama site. Hmmm, I think you are the one that is obsessed.
And didn’t I write that Alabama has been an abysmal program?
Josh Moon claims he is not an Auburn fan or a graduate. I have personally been to his house on a service call and seen the AU diploma on his wall.
I thought the media was supposed to be objective. If you have followed his columns since the arrival of Saban, you will notice an anti-Bama (especially toward Saban0 leaning. This is, however, a trend in the media: openly biased reporting, whether its sports or politics or whatever. It is appalling.
Moon is obviously a Barnie in disguise for the obvious reasons:
1) Tommy Tuberville never had a winning record in the SEC up until the year 2000 (From 1995-2000).
2) Out of 14 seasons as a head coach in the SEC, he’s only won 1 (ONE) SEC title and 0 (ZERO) national titles.
3) Nick Saban, on the other hand, turned a mediocre LSU program into a national powerhouse. In five years, he won 2 SEC titles and 1 National title.
4) Tuberville does in fact, own SIX* consecutive victories over Alabama; however, during the years of that six game winning streak, Alabama also posted losses against the likes of Northern Illinois, Hawaii, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Louisiana-Monroe, and a losing record against all four of their arch rivals. And why is that? The facts are simple: probation, injuries, and dozens of coaching changes.
5) It’s not everyday one coach goes from zero to hero in a matter of absolutely no time at all. One day, the Barnies are protesting his firing, the next, worshiping him. It’s clearly evident this man cleverly filled Alabama’s void courtesy of the NCAA. He used our weakened state as a focal point to expand his paycheck. Simply put: he was a poor coach who found himself in the right place at the right time. His track record PRIOR to the downfall of Alabama’s program proves that fact to be true. Sir Shane said it best, “Isn’t it ironic the greatest period in Alabama Polytechnic Institute history strangely occurred during Alabama’s worst?”
Before long, he’ll be exposed for the mediocre and overrated coach that he was before he fed off of our down period which benefited both himself and API by easily flip-flopping the state.
Great post, NY!
For anyone to even consider ranking Tuberville in the top 5 is obviously biased.
He has boasted an untouchable record in recent years, but had Ed Orgeron been in the same position (leaving Ole Miss for Tech right at the time of which Alabama was undergoing a harsh 5 year period of probation), Ed Orgeron would in the same position as Tuberville is now.
His time is coming, rather sooner than later.
Any writer who rates CNS as the sixth best coach in the SEC clearly has no credibility to me.
true……Tommy Tuberville is not a great coach. I am sure in a smaller conference he would do ok. But he is much like Les Miles in that he walked into an ideal situation. If Miles had walked in after Jerry Dinardo he would not have been as sucessful. Also I dont expect the talent pool in Louisiana to keep coming thru on signing day for Miles. Louisiana has always had the same talent pool. But before LSU came to National acclaim it was sharing a lot of talent with the 6 dozen or so directional schools,Historically black Universities, Tulane, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi and a bunch of others. Since Saban left the state, every year a few more top picks are getting siphoned away. Within a couple of years it will back to “the good old days” for LSU recruiting.
If it werent for the probation and scholarship reductions, Tuberville would have been run out of town years ago. My God he (Tuberville) could not recruit his way out of a paper bag.
Also before I forget. I thought I was a terrible writer until I saw Josh Moon. I didnt know Auburn had “directed writing” courses too….
Keep it coming GUMPS. I love it!
Enjoy your BBQ today! I have my Elephant Snouts smoking right now.
Love,
Shame
So, he’s talking about the same Tubberville that lost to North Carolina (in football before butch davis took over) and South Florida (the same team that Mike Shula defeated in an embarrassing fashion)?
He’s also talking about the same Tuberville who finally found the key to success after 10 years of coaching in the SEC (though NOT because of Alabama’s departure from the national stage according to the barnzoes)?
He’s also talking about the same Tuberville who’s been humiliatingly blown out in a numerous amount of games?
So, he’s talking about the same Nick Saban, who, in one year, ended nearly a decade of losing for LSU?
He’s talking about the same Nick Saban who won an SEC title in his second season as an SEC coach?
He’s talking about the same Nick Saban who won a national title in his third season as an SEC coach?
He’s talking about the same Nick Saban who’s won 2 SEC titles and 1 national title in five seasons as an SEC head coach?
And Mark Richt is a great coach; however, he’s not worthy of being ranked the best, YET anyway.
And people claim Shane is a lousy writer! After writing this article, I hope The Polytechnic Institute of Alabama paid this guy at least what he’s worth.
this list is more preposterous than shanes is. he uses one mediocre season as his reasoning behind nick saban’s absurd ranking? my god, he, along with many other football analysts predicted alabama to win no more than 7 games this season. not only did saban lose to a lowly louisiana-monroe, he and his team also pounded away on the sec eastern division champions, tennessee, rallied up to defeat arkansas, took a national championship caliber georgia team into overtime, and played the national champions down to the last minute of the game, which our schizophrenic quarterback can be credited for that loss. keep in mind up until we lost to lsu, we were the front runners of the west. last season wasn’t a complete bust the way people proclaim it was. 7-6 was the expert’s predicted preseason record that we would finish with. are people forgetting that fact?
John Parker Wilson stood as a major factor in our decline last season. Mississippi State, Louisiana-Monroe, and LSU. We weren’t blown out at all last season (in fact, each of our losses were only by an average of 7 points or less).
LSU: Instead of taking the sack like a champion, Parker attempted to get rid of the ball, which resulted in a fumble recovered around the five yard line (Alabama territory). That set up the tying touchdown with less than 3 minutes to go in the game.
Mississippi State: On a scoring drive, Parker throws, what could’ve been, a preventable interception, which was returned for a 90 yard touchdown. After that play, he throws yet another interception, which resulted in yet another easy touchdown. After that, he played ultra-safe/conservative.
Louisiana-Monroe: Three costly interceptions resulted in either returned touchdowns or simply five yard touchdowns.
So, I wouldn’t exactly say Saban was the reason the wheels fell off of our bus last season. Thank God Parker is a senior this year. It’s hard to bear one more season with him, let alone two or three more. I’ll leave it at that.
First off this guy is gingerly retarded and has a chip on his shoulder about Alabama football. Anyone who has followed Bama football knows this. No one has to sit here and “defend” CNS or his ability as a coach. He’s won 2 SEC titles and a MNC. And to the Josh Moon’s of the world that say “LSU made Saban”. Where are the line of other coaches that “LSU made” preceding him? No offense to our LSU posters. It’s not intended to be a pot shot at LSU but just making the case that it’s not like CNS was the ugly nerdy kid that the hot girl felt sorry for and started hanging out with him until he became popular. Nick Saban could recruit and coach long before he got to LSU and LSU isn’t the only school with the potential to bring in big time talent to team up with good coaching and good recruiting.
With regards to ears. Moon can crow all he wants to but the results speak for themselves. Ears has been at Auburn what ten years and was at Ole Myth what three or four years? He’s won ONE, count’em folks ONE SEC title and hasn’t sniffed a MNC game. You can only hang your hat on 2004 for ONE YEAR. What happen the other years?
I was watching on youtube the other day the ESPN recruiting day show and the entire panel was basically saying what Bama fans have been saying since we’ve been on sanctions and what rival fans refuse to acknowledge. And that’s Bama has been handcuffed with no depth and that has been the MAJOR reason why we faded to the bottom of the league.
It makes Bama haters feel better to say their program is just better than Bama as to the reason we’ve fell into mediocrity. It feels better to say their program has put in the hard work, made the right hires and that’s why they have passed Bama, rather than saying the lack of depth and quality of players (due from the sanctions) has been the driving factor.
But who cares. Because their “theory” is about to be put to the test. We’re about to see how different things play out on the field when the depth is there and the quality of players is on the same level as the rest of the SEC.
Personally, I could care less about this ranking or Josh Moo… but I did find this quite amusing:
3. Steve Spurrier, South Carolina: 10.5 total points (4.5, 3, 3): Watching Spurrier exploit opposing defenses is like watching an artist paint. The guy’s an absolute master at it. His biggest problem is that the this USC program can only go so far. I took away points for him staying there even after realizing that
I guess he hasn’t watched Carolina play the last couple of years, Nix is the only reason they won 6 games last year.
MOOn probably won’t have a job with the press much longer as his writing is more suited for a biased blog of some sort.
I would rank him at the very bottom of his profession — The VERY BOTTOM. MOOn could not hold Cecil Hurts jock strap. That would be like comparing a Noble Prize winner (Cecil Hurt) to a kid in a HS journalism class (Josh MOOn). It is sad to see this kind of print in society but for some reason The Montgomery Aggrovator allows comic relief.
In all honesty I can not see how his stories are allowed to be put into print. Let the comic relief continue.
Why put Mr Moons bias article on this blog. Keep putting Shane’s non-bias opinions on this site. Shane calls it straight down the middle. To him coach saban is just another coach.
I love it!
Love,Shame
Cap-
You said that Moon’s ranking is MOSTLY accurate…that you would rank Spurrier a little lower and Saban a little higher. Then what is the problem? Because this guy, Moon, ranked his coaches slightly different than yours…now he is a Tubby homer?
Bottom line is that Saban and Tubby have both lost games they shouldn’t have and both have done it consistently. And it doesn’t matter what kind of shape the Bammer program is in….they should NEVER EVER EVER lose to a school like ULM.
I agree that both coaches have had turnover with their staffs, but do you think the reasons why are comparable? Have you ever heard a coach say that they would NOT work for Tubby again (remember Jimbo Fisher, Will Muschamp, etc)?
Also, I have to agree with Moon that Saban is a great recruiter, but I personally think he is an average sideline coach. I felt last year he made numerous questionable decisions during games…some worked and some did not. Do you disagree?
Man, I’m going to have to be honest..I have enjoyed reading your posts on this site, but your homer side is starting to be a little too much to handle. Should I expect this to continue or will you get back on track with the REAL NEWS????
Moon is a Finebaum wannabe without the talent. He hates Saban, and takes every chance to take a swipe at him. So, the rankings aren’t so much the problem, but Moon’s logic.
His logic for ranking Saban lower could easily be used to rank Tuberville lower too.
As for Saban’s game management. I can’t recall any instance where I said, That made no sense. Where, I will honestly say I said that throughout Dubose and Shula’s coaching time—and more than once during Stalling’s tenure. 😉
I’d rank Spurrier toward the top in game management/sideline coaching/strategy portion. I’d rank Richt probably at the top overall. I loved his celebration penalty in the Florida game. It was necessary to say something loudly to UF.
The ULM loss wasn’t a problem for Saban, but a problem for the entire UA program. Saban was warning the ULM loss was coming for weeks. He kept saying the players weren’t focused, and weren’t trying. I’d say the ULM loss was hangover from the malaise of the last decade.
When you get lazy players who were made lazier by inept coaching, and support staff—when someone makes them work, they’ll rebel.
Now, if a ULM problem happens this year, I’ll be much much much more critical of Saban. Right now, I’ll say Saban mismanaged the transition. He should’ve kicked troublemakers off the team at the start.
Sure that is Saban’s mistake, but UM lost to Appalachian. The game of college football is much more dangerous now than a decade ago. There is little margin of error, and bad attitudes need to be fixed. It is something Saban has to fix…immediately. We’ll see this season….
Cap-
So, if Moon just posted his rankings without giving any reasoning you would have been fine with that?
Honestly, I’m not sure where I would rank Spurrier. He did an unbelievable job at UF, but IMO has been a disappointment at USC…so how do you average the two?
I would rank Saban near the top based off of his ability to recruit and thus turn around a program. AS far as his coaching though, I am still not sold. Besides his NC year, he had at least 3 losses each year he was at LSU. Granted, the 1st couple of years was a rebuilding PROCESS, but he had 3 or more losses the years before and after the NC. IMO Saban hasn’t maintained at 1 place long enough to really get a handle on his sideline coaching. At MSU I think he averaged 5 losses per year before his last year when he won 10 games and bolted to LSU. This is just my opinion so feel free to think I am crazy.
I agree that college football is much more dangerous than a decade ago…does that mean that Tubby gets leniency for some questionable losses:)
Cap-
Just read my last post and noticed that somehow I deleted some of it….
Basically, just said that based on all factors I would rank Saban just above Tubby. Think both coaches are pretty even based on records, but I give Saban credit for the NC, even though I think that Tubby’s 2004 season was more impressive.
If Moon wrote like you do—with legitimate reasoning, I wouldn’t have a problem. But Moon is just writing stuff to stir up Alabama fans. (I know I play into his hand by even writing about it, but sometimes it is fun to play his game with him.)
Everything you said about Saban is accurate. And a good reason to question his sideline skills, or game planning.
Spurrier has slipped. He’s a genius, but he’s complacent. I’d probably rank the coaches something like this atm (I’ll think about it more before I write my post, but here is a tentative list):
1. Richt (he’s building a monster, and doing it the right way)
2. Saban (that’s a combination of relief—Alabama has someone in control—and the fact he won a title at a place that hadn’t won a title since the 1950’s)
3. Urban Meyer (really annoys me that I have to rank him so high, but he works very hard and won a title. I hope Tuberville beats him again soon!)
4a. Spurrier (he’s a genius…but)
4b. Tuberville (good record, gotten a little complacent, but has a chance at at divisional title this year)
6. Petrino
7. Les Miles (he’s a moron, but he does find a way to win. Let’s see if he slips this season.)
8. Croom (he did more with less)
9. Nutt
10. Fulmer (he’s good, but fading fast
11. Brooks
12. Johnson
Let me get this straight. You open the column by stating, “Josh Moon is one of Tommy Tuberville’s media shills. Doubt it? Look at his coaches rankings.” In those rankings, Moon ranks Tuberville as 4th. In the very next sentence of your column, you state, ” I know I take a few shots at Tuberville, but he’d be in my top four or five.” So you justify your characterization of Moon as a Tuberville shill due to his ranking of Tuberville as 4th, then immediately follow your pathetic attempt at an insult by agreeing with his ranking of Tuberville? That makes a lot of sense.
Letterman’s comment about seeing Moon’s diploma on a “service call” is the funniest thing I have ever read. So letterman admits that he was snooping through Moon’s house when he was called out to plunge Moon’s $hit out of the toilet? Newsflash letterman: the noxious odor of Moon’s recycled dreamland bbq that you were excavating from the Moon family crapper must have blurred your vision. Moon graduated from AUM, not Auburn. I guess you must have accidentally rubbed a little “work product” on the part of his diploma that said Montgomery. (and spare me your pathetic anticipated comeback of claiming that AUM and Auburn are the same. If that’s the case, then so are bammer, UAB and UAH). Oh well, the posts on this site are always entertaining.
Julio, I said Moon’s logic is the problem. Read the comments about the coaches—that’s where his bias is located. Plus, he ranked Saban lower than anyone without an axe to grind would.
The rankings are within a few places of where I’d put most of the coaches. I might drop Tuberville once I look closely at his rankings; I might move him up. I’m conflicted on Tuberville because his production isn’t that great overall, but then he can do some great jobs beating a team like Florida.
He’s very inconsistent.
Cap-
I agree with most of your rankings, BUT I would have to rank Spurrier lower (today) and Miles higher. I know, I know Miles is an idiot, but IMO we should be ranking based off of winning, etc and not BRAINS:)
My Bammer buddies always get mad at me when we have this discussion, but they have yet to give me reason to make me change my mind…..IMO Miles and Saban are very comparable. Both coaches had very similar stats at their jobs prior to LSU (MSU and OSU) and both programs are very similar. Both coaches took advantage of their successes and moved onto LSU, yet neither coach really took their previous programs to new heights. Miles had success against Stoops (beat him twice), but that was about it and Saban had 1 good season at MSU. Granted, Saban took over an LSU program that was in bad shape and turned it around, but Miles has IMO done better than Saban did at LSU. I base this off of Saban’s record his last 3 years at LSU and Miles 1st 3 seasons at LSU. IMO this is a fair comparison since both coaches won NC’s during those time frames so both obviously had plenty of talent. I do understand that Miles had the luxury of maintaining and not building, so my opinion may change, but as of today…I think you have to rank them pretty close to one another.
Also, think both coaches are similar in the fact that they are both great recruiters, but not as great on the sidelines. And we can’t forget that both have been known to be trainwrecks with the media:)
MY top 5 (today)
Richt
Meyer
Miles
Saban
Tubby
After that it really doesn’t matter:)
Ranked Miles ahead of Saban because he is the coach of the defending NC. IMO Saban could go up or down depending on success or lack there of at Bammer. Tubby either needs an SECC or Miles/Saban’s situations to implode before I rank him any higher.
What the hell does his “logic” matter if both he and you are ranking Tuberville the exact same? These guys ain’t curing cancer, they’re coaching football. There’s only about 10 or 12 factors of “logic” you can seriously consider when ranking the coaches, and that’s being generous. If you and Moon are ranking Tubs the exact same, then it’s impossible for there to be any great difference in your “logic”. It’s nonsensical, and the ultimate in hypocrisy, for you to call Moon a Tuberville shill for ranking him 4th, and then turning around and admitting that you would rank Tubs the exact same. You’d look a lot better if you’d just admit that your statement was foolish instead of drowning in this stupid argument about “logic”. If you’re crying because Moon hates Saban, that’s fine. That doesn’t haven’t anything to do with him being a Tuberville shill. My god, 95% of the sports media in this country hates that arrogant little bastard. Are you saying that all of them are Tuberville shills as well?
Moon is intellectually dishonest. He cites negatives about Saban that apply to Tuberville (loses games he shouldn’t, has burned through lots of assistants), and then exaggerates Tuberville’s success.
Moon’s sole purpose in his columns is to piss off Alabama fans by writing half-truths, distortions, and praise to Tuberville. He uses patently inaccurate statements in his rankings. That shows his bias.
Once again for the record: You call Moon a Tuberville “shill” solely on the basis of ranking him at #4, but you admit that you also rank Tuberville at #4. Once again, you’re trying to say that Moon is shilling for Tubs when he tacks a hack at Saban. You are paranoid to the point of requiring medication if you think a member of the media is an Auburn operative solely on the basis of taking hacks at Saban. (and you have the gall to say that Auburn fans are obsessed with Bama.) That would make every sportswriter south of Orlando and the entire ESPN staff Tuberville “shills”. Gee, sure wish those Tubby “shills” would have showed up in 2004. Keep on trying to justify it, genious.
Isn’t this a Bama site??? Why so many articles about Auburn???
This isn’t an article about Auburn. It is an article about media bias.
Julio, you are the example of everything wrong with society. You can’t comprehend my point. Let me say it simply.
He ranked Saban lower than he should’ve been ranked using logic that also applies to Tuberville. Somehow, Moon ranks Tuberville higher—despite also having the same defects he said Saban possesses. Plus, Moon gets off on irritating Alabama fans. 1+1=2.
Moon is biased. It is obvious to anyone willing to read his stuff. Including this ranking.
Get it now?
Probably not. But, you are a poster child of everything wrong with college football fans.
No, I get the point you’re trying to make, Cap. It’s just that your point is wrong. I agree with you that Moon, like 95% of the media in the country dislikes Saban. If you say that amounts to bias, so be it. (By the way, I agree that Moon is pathetic in his research. He says that Richt thrives in hostile environments and never screws up? Guess he didn’t catch that game in Knoxville last year, and that little clock mgmt error at the 01 Auburn game). You want to ignore the fact that the headline of your column is that Moon is a Tuberville operative rather than a Saban hack. The two aren’t related. As to stating that Moon says the same things about Tubs that are applicable to Saban, therefore 1+1=2, that could also be said about nearly every coach listed in the top 10. Is Moon a Richt and Spurrier “shill”, also?
You comment about me being a “poster child of everything wrong with college football” is priceless. Wow, You’ve declared me the face of all problems in college football simply because I pointed out an obvious inconsistency in your column. Getting a little thin skinned, ain’t ya?
The premise of my column is that Moon wants to be the next Phillip Marshall—suck up to Tuberville by praising him and bad mouthing Saban. He does that in most of his columns.
The Richt and Spurrier stuff doesn’t fit a pattern. I think you have to repeatedly do something to earn the label of shill—and the rankings of the other coaches were immaterial to Moon’s motives—piss off Alabama fans.
Like I said, he’s a Finebaum wannabe without the talent.
Moon wants to be the next PM by sucking up to Tubs and bad mouthing Saban – I guess I missed that column where Marshall bad mouthed Saban.
By the way, Moon was nothing but a lowly, unknown beat writer for Alabama State at this time last year. He wrote one column saying that Saban was an arrogant jerk, and now all the Bama fans have promoted him to a household name by incessantly crying about him on websites and the Finebaum show. You can call him a Finebaum wannabe all you want, but the fact is you’re talking about him more on this website than any other member of the media in this state, including Finebaum. Keep it up, folks. Maybe ya’ll will get him promoted to sports editor of the Birmingham News before long.
Like I said before…sometimes it is fun to play his game.
Actually, Finebaum gets talked about the most. Then since it is the off season, I’ve been having fun with Marshall and Moon.