The preseason 2014 USA TODAY Coaches Poll dropped today, and it has your first bits of ammo for arguments about relatively meaningless — remember, we’re in the College Football Playoff era, so there’s no BCS formula for these rankings to be factored into, and the College Football Playoff selection committee is likely to only use these rankings as reference, given that they will issue their own — arguments about the 2014 season.
2014 USA Today Coaches Poll voters, grouped by conference
The ACC and SEC lead all conferences with seven Coaches Poll voters each, while the AAC has the highest percentage of its programs included.
Christian Petersen
But one thing that always interests me about the Coaches Poll is the makeup of its voters. It may not seem like much, but when points are tight — No. 5 Auburn sits just four points ahead of No. 6 Ohio State in this preseason poll — the difference between having six Big Ten programs submitting ballots and seven Big Ten programs submitting ballots is meaningful ... to this more or less meaningless poll.
In an effort to equip you with a bit of objectivity that may or may not sway subjective judgments, here are the voters in the 2014 Coaches Poll, the Amway Board of coaches, broken down by conference.
American
- Bill Blankenship, Tulsa
- Bob Diaco, Connecticut
- Justin Fuente, Memphis
- George O’Leary, Central Florida
- Matt Rhule, Temple
- Tommy Tuberville, Cincinnati
Representation: Six voters from 11 teams.
ACC
- Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech
- David Cutcliffe, Duke
- Larry Fedora, North Carolina
- Jimbo Fisher, Florida State
- Al Golden, Miami
- Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech
- Dabo Swinney, Clemson
Representation: Seven voters from 14 teams.
Big 12
- Art Briles, Baylor
- Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State
- Gary Patterson, TCU
- Bob Stoops, Oklahoma
- Charlie Strong, Texas
Representation: Five voters from 10 teams.
Big Ten
- Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
- Brady Hoke, Michigan
- Jerry Kill, Minnesota
- Urban Meyer, Ohio State
- Bo Pelini, Nebraska
- Kevin Wilson, Indiana
Representation: Six voters from 14 teams.
Conference USA
- David Bailiff, Rice
- Larry Coker, Texas-San Antonio
- Dan McCarney, North Texas
- Todd Monken, Southern Mississippi
- Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee
Representation: Five voters from 13 teams.
Independents
- Brian Kelly, Notre Dame
- Bronco Mendenhall, Brigham Young
- Ken Niumatalolo, Navy
Representation: Three voters from four teams, though, uh, independent.
MAC
- Dino Babers, Bowling Green
- Terry Bowden, Akron
- Matt Campbell, Toledo
- Rod Carey, Northern Illinois
- Jeff Quinn, Buffalo
- Frank Solich, Ohio
Representation: Six voters from 13 teams.
Mountain West
- Craig Bohl, Wyoming
- Troy Calhoun, Air Force
- Norm Chow, Hawai’i
- Tim DeRuyter, Fresno State
- Bobby Hauck, UNLV
- Rocky Long, San Diego State
Representation: Six voters from 12 teams.
Pac-12
- Mike Leach, Washington State
- Mike MacIntyre, Colorado
- Chris Petersen, Washington
- Mike Riley, Oregon State
- Rich Rodriguez, Arizona
- Steve Sarkisian, USC
Representation: Six voters from 12 teams.
SEC
- Bret Bielema, Arkansas
- Les Miles, LSU
- Gary Pinkel, Missouri
- Mark Richt, Georgia
- Nick Saban, Alabama
- Steve Spurrier, South Carolina
- Kevin Sumlin, Texas A&M
Representation: Seven voters from 14 teams.
Sun Belt
- Blake Anderson, Arkansas State
- Todd Berry, Louisiana-Monroe
- Larry Blakeney, Troy
- Dennis Franchione, Texas State
- Ron Turner, Florida International
Representation: Five voters from 11 teams.
The ACC and SEC lead all conferences with seven voters — though, weirdly, five of those seven ACC voters are from the Coastal Division. The American is the only conference with more than half of its teams represented. The Big Ten (four voters from the Big Ten East, and two from the West) has the least representation, proportionally, of the Power 5 conferences. And poor Conference USA: It has just five voters from its 13 teams.
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