Fresno State Athletics
The Sporting News Recognized Hill
4/22/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 22, 2008
FRESNO, Calif. - What many college football fans in the Valley have known for sometime, Fresno State has a gem in head coach Pat Hill.
The Sporting News recently put together a ranking of all of the 52 non-BCS head coaches, and to no one's surprise Hill was very high on the list. Hill ranked third of the 52 head coaches, behind SMU and former Hawaii head coach June Jones and TCU's Gary Patterson, who coincidently are two of Hill's closest friend in the coaching fraternity.
"It's nice that our program was recognized," said Hill of learning of the honor. "But this is always going to be about the players and what our players have done and the way they have represented Bulldog football shows the national media has great respect for our program."
Included in the top five of the Sporting News' list were BYU's Bronco Mendelhall at No. 4 and Boise State's Chris Petersen, No. 5.
Other notable coaches on the list include San Jose States' Dick Tomey (No. 8), UTEP's Mike Price (No. 14) and Nevada's Chris Ault (No. 20).
While playing one of the most demanding schedules of any non-BCS program, Hill has built a nationally respected program with a reputation for playing "anyone, anytime, anywhere", evident by the aggressive non-conference schedule. Because of that, Dogs own more wins over BCS conference opponents this decade than any other non-BCS conference team.
He has taken the Bulldogs to eight bowl games in the last nine seasons, winning four of the last five with impressive victories over Georgia Tech, Virginia and UCLA.
In fact, Hill has taken Fresno State to as many or more bowl games than any other WAC schools ever has. Boise State, Hawaii and San Jose State have each been to eight bowl games in their programs' history. Fresno State made its 21st bowl appearance last season when it defeated ACC foe Georgia Tech 40-28 in the Roady's Humanitarian Bowl.
Hill's 85 victories rank fourth in WAC history, trailing only LaVell Edwards of BYU, Fisher DeBerry of Air Force and Frank Kush of Arizona State.
"Pat consistently has made Fresno State one of the top non-BCS schools in the nation," said Tom Dienart of The Sporting News, who wrote the article and produced the ranking. "And that's not an easy thing to do. The big-time wins he has pulled off over BCS schools are his hallmark and mean as much as winning leagues titles, which he also has done.
"He's the quintessential hard-nosed, tough coach who gets the most out of those around him. And, bottom line: That's what coaching is all about."
The Sporting News' Ranking of Non-BSC Head Coaches
1. June Jones, SMU
2. Gary Patterson, TCU
3. Pat Hill, Fresno State
4. Bronco Mendenhall, BYU
5. Chris Petersen, Boise State
6. Todd Graham, Tulsa
7. Larry Blakeney, Troy
8. Dick Tomey, San Jose State
9. George O'Leary, Central Florida
10. Kyle Whittingham, Utah
11. Gregg Brandon, Bowling Green
12. Skip Holtz, East Carolina
13. Howard Schnellenberger, Florida Atlantic
14. Mike Price, UTEP
15. Rocky Long, New Mexico
16. Larry Fedora, Southern Mississippi
17. Frank Solich, Ohio
18. Troy Calhoun, Air Force
19. Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee
20. Chris Ault, Nevada
21. Butch Jones, Central Michigan
22. Bill Cubit, Western Michigan
23. Kevin Sumlin, Houston
24. Tom Amstutz, Toledo
25. Bob Toledo, Tulane
26. Brady Hoke, Ball State
27. Al Golden, Temple
28. Tommy West, Memphis
29. Joe Glenn, Wyoming
30. Hal Mumme, New Mexico State
31. J.D. Brookhart, Akron
32. Ken Niumatalolo, Navy
33. Shane Montgomery, Miami (Ohio)
34. Jeff Genyk, Eastern Michigan
35. Doug Martin, Kent State
36. Steve Fairchild, Colorado State
37. Mario Cristobal, Florida International
38. Mark Snyder, Marshall
39. Jerry Kill, Northern Illinois
40. Derek Dooley, Louisiana Tech
41. Steve Roberts, Arkansas State
42. Rickey Bustle, Louisiana-Lafayette
43. Mike Sanford, UNLV
44. Todd Dodge, North Texas
45. Neil Callaway, UAB
46. Turner Gill, Buffalo
47. Brent Guy, Utah State
48. David Bailiff, Rice
49. Robb Akey, Idaho
50. Greg McMackin, Hawaii
51. Stan Brock, Army
52. Chuck Long, San Diego State
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