Seeing as the BCS and the beginning of Awards Seasons play out at the same time, its only natural to fuse art and athletics by comparing the men in charge. Here are the 10 coaches whose teams will play in the BCS and the directors they are most comparable to:
Urban Meyer - Sam Mendes
You should know Urban Meyer as the current head coach of the national finalist Florida Gators. At age 42, Meyer was at the helm in 2006 when the Gators won it all, and last year coached a 9-3 squad that featured Heisman trophy winner Tim Tebow. Before coming to Florida, Meyer coached Utah and eventual first overall pick Alex Smith to a Fiesta Bowl win over Pitt.
Sam Mendes also has a title in his pocket - the 1999 Best Director Oscar for American Beauty. The award made him the third youngest director to ever win the award. Since then, Mendes has directed quality films like Road to Perdition and Jarhead. Like Meyer, Mendes should also be in contention for his second title this year as Revolutionary Road starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet is expected to garner a slew of nominations.
Bob Stoops - Oliver Stone
Stoops, of course, is the other coach headed to the National Championship after guiding his Oklahoma squad to a 12-1 record this season. Although Stoops has racked up six Big 12 titles (including three straight) and won a national title in 2000, he is often criticized for his team's recent epic failures in BCS games, including an embarrassing 20 point loss to West Virginia last year.
Like Stoops, Stone's resume is undoubtedly impressive - Best Director wins for Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July and a nom for JFK. However Stone's incredibly over-the-top directing style also yields its fair share of epic failures like Alexander, Any Given Sunday, and U-Turn.
Props to both for their achievements so far, but another bomb for Stone and another BCS dud for Stoops could very well make each into nothing more than a punchline.
Joe Paterno - Clint Eastwood
Joe Paterno is almost 82, has two national titles, and has led his 2008 Penn State team to a Rose Bowl.
Clint Eastwood is 78, has two statues (Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby), and in 2008 directed two movies (Changeling, Gran Torino) that will be hounded with Oscar buzz.
Both of these men embody the toughened, weathered work ethic forged in the Great Depression. Both of these men are legends. Both of these men still scare the crap out of me.
Pete Carroll - Steven Spielberg
Each of these men are legends in their craft. Pete Carroll has led his SoCal Trojans to two national titles, and to another title game. Steven Spielberg has won Best Director for Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. Both have also had some monumental failures - Spielberg bombed with AI (practice?), The Terminal, and the still painful Indiana Jones 4, while Carroll bombed in the NFL. However, both are legends still in their prime and both will continue to crank out masterpieces for at least another decade. Plus, after Matt Leinart quits the NFL and jumps to the world of film, both may be able to say they coached a Heisman winner.
Mack Brown - Martin Scorsese
Until a few years ago these men were tired, wounded, scarred souls who had dedicated their lives to their passions. However in 2005, a man named Vince Young arrived and led Brown's Texas squad to the promised land. After coming so close so many times, and getting edged out by Oklahoma, Brown finally had the championship to hang his hat on.
In 2006, ummm rationality showed up and finally - FINALLY rewarded Martin Scorsese with a Best Director Oscar for The Departed. Scorsese could have easily won for the five other films he had previously been nominated for, but each time was edged out by another director's masterpiece. Perhaps Brown wasn't quite as deserving as Scorsese was, but then again how many people ever have been?
Jim Tressel - Fred Zinnemann
I had to dig back a long time to find a director even relatively comparable to Ohio State coach Jim Tressel.
As you are likely aware, Tressel's Buckeyes won it all back in 2002 over Miami, but the past two years have been destroyed on the National Championship stage.
Fred Zinnemann won a statue for directing From Here to Eternity in 1953, but then had to suffer two consecutive losses in 1959 and 1960 for The Nun's Story and The Sundowners, respectively.
The good news for Tressel though is that Zinnemann was able to recover and win for A Man of All Seasons in 1966. The OSU faithful are hoping that prophecy eventually rings true.
Kyle Whittingham - Danny Boyle
Many of you are saying "who?" in regards to both of these gentlemen, and that's fine. Kyle Whittingham is the head coach of the undefeated Utah Utes who will run into Alabama in the Fiesta Bowl. Danny Boyle is the director of 2008's surprise film Slumdog Millionaire.
This is a fitting comparison as both men got a lot out of an unheralded cast this year. Boyle guided a group of unknowns to a Golden Globe nod, and Whittingham guided - well a group of unknowns to a BCS bowl. Both men are also relative unknowns, but all that is sure to change in the coming weeks.
Nick Saban - Mel Gibson
I'm going to try not to be prejudiced here. Gibson has a trophy for Braveheart, Saban has a ring with LSU. Both men are very talented, and are still producing great efforts: Saban got his team to the SEC title game, Gibson's Apocalypto is thus far one of the most underrated films of the decade.
However, both are highly controversial. Gibson was ostracized by many after making The Passion of the Christ - a film with, at best, questionable depictions of Jews, and then ostracized almost everyone else a few years later by barraging a police officer with anti-semitic remarks in a drunken stupor. Saban, on the other hand, jumped from a good situation at LSU for the Miami Dolphins and then turned around and lied his way out of Miami before ending up in Alabama. Gibson has largely disappeared from the public eye the past few years, many wish Saban would do the same.
Brian Kelly - Tony Gilroy
Both men have evolved from relative obscurity to all-that-and-a-bag-of-chips status almost over night. Kelly has transformed Cincinnati from doormat to Big East Champion, while Gilroy went from action flick director to Oscar nominee for Michael Clayton last year. Both men have their flaws, Gilroy's trademark shaky-cam fight sequences in the Bourne series are often unwatchable, just as most of the Big East is unwatchable.
However, both men have seen their careers skyrocket the past couple years. Kelly has been named as a possible replacement for nearly every head coach vacancy around the nation, while Gilroy has parlayed his success into more prominent projects like Duplicity and State of Play which will feature Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck and Jason Bateman. Both of these names will be around for a long time to come.
Frank Beamer - M. Night Shyamalan
In 1999 both men busted on the scene. Beamer's Mike Vick led Hokies charged all the way to the national title game before losing to Florida State. Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense suspensed viewers enough to earn him a nod, before ultimately losing out to Mendes in the director category.
Since then, both have teased often and appeased little. Beamer ball now resembles a one trick pony bent on waiting for a special teams turnover, while a Shyamalan film is only a bizzare circumstance that unfolds in an unlikely twist. Has there been a more disappointing team than Va Tech or a more disappointing director than Shyamalan in the past 10 years?
Football coaches being compared to film directors, WHAT A TWIST!!!
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