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College football analyst Josh Pate had a new way to rate coaches across college football: who’s the scariest? You don’t want to mess with these gentlemen.
Well, maybe they’re gentlemen off the field, but on it, they’re tenacious animals looking to win. So you better clear a path otherwise you’re getting run over.
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So without further ado, let’s dive into the scariest college football coaches we’ve seen, per Pate as mentioned on Up and Adams. We’ll start at No. 5!
5. Brent Venables, Oklahoma
Pate: “Anytime I go to Oklahoma, we have sit downs scheduled with him. It’s always scheduled for 10:45 and then at 10:52, he walks in pouring sweat because he’s been running stadium steps in between his office duties and his media duties. The guy can lift, guy can yell. He’s got the veins all over the neck and the forehead when he really gets worked up. I wouldn’t want to be in a dark alley with him.”
Venables is full of energy, as Pate described. The Oklahoma head coach feels like he could still play football right now. It seems like he’s training for it! He’s currently 32-20 at Oklahoma in four seasons, leading the Sooners to the College Football Playoff in 2025.
4. Mario Cristobal, Miami
Pate: “Mario’s the kind of guy who played in the early ’90s, but can still hang with many of his current players. I don’t know that I’d love to open this trunk, especially on a bad day. I don’t know that I’d love to see what’s in the trunk. I don’t know that I would love to know what he’s done to people. Yeah, he’s got that aura about it, and there’s no evidence of anything. There’s just indications that he could be capable. But that’s only if you jump offside on third down.”
Get out of the way, Cristobal has a no nonsense approach when it comes to coaching. It leads to a lot of success and evidenced at Oregon and now Miami. Cristobal returned to his alma mater and built a power in the ACC. After making last year’s national championship game, they’re a contender again this year. He’s 97-79 overall as a head coach, including 35-13 at Oregon and 35-19 at Miami.
3. Ed Orgeron, LSU
Pate: “In 2019, they beat Alabama. I was in the media room adjacent to the LSU locker room at halftime, so you could hear. Well, you could hear like really loud noises because that’s what it’s like when Ed talks anyway. And then being around him after the game when they beat Alabama, unbelievable! Like borderline animalistic aggression and just testosterone, everything that could spill out of a guy in that moment is spilling out of Ed Orgeron. Not afraid to challenge his players to a fight.”
We love some Coach O. Orgeron was at his peak at LSU, especially leading a 15-0 Tigers team to a national championship win, led by Heisman winner Joe Burrow. Orgeron is said to be one of the best recruiters in college football due to his tenacity, personality and resume as a head coach and assistant. Now, he’s back at LSU under Lane Kiffin as a special assistant.
2. Mike Leach, Mississippi State
Pate: “The late Mike Leach was the kind of guy that I feel like, from a psychological mind games perspective, sort of like a Hannibal Lecter thing. You know, you never really saw him commit any crimes in Silence of the Lambs. You just kind of saw him. Yeah, he just undresses you with his mind and with his eyes, and then he’s talking about this, and then all of a sudden it’s over there, and like you’re struggling to keep up, and you realize he just tied me in an intellectual pretzel, and he never even put hands on me.”
The late-great Mike Leach was one of college football’s brightest minds when he was around. That’s Pate’s argument in terms of scary, since he could bring you down with just his mind and not even his physical presence. Leach went 158-106 overall with Texas Tech, Washington State and Mississippi State before his passing.
1. Bear Bryant, Texas A&M & Alabama
Pate: “This is not a current era guy because you can’t get away today with what you used to be able to get away with. Everyone associates Bear Bryant with his time at Alabama, winning all the national championships. But before that, he was at A&M. But that’s also a guy completely willing to fist fight his players, put him through whatever, put himself through whatever, played against Tennessee when he was at Bama with a broken leg. So the Junction A&M era Bear Bryant, that’s a guy I wouldn’t want to come across either.”
The legendary Bryant was basically the godfather of college football. Before Nick Saban, Bryant ran the sport with the Crimson Tide. He went 232-46-9 at Alabama and 323-85-17 overall. Bryant won six national titles as a head coach.
