Who made the best coaching move in college football?

A good coach can go a long way in this business. Last year, for example, Brady Hoke went all the way from San Diego to Michigan to turn the Wolverines back into winners.

Anyone who thinks Nick Saban wasn't worth the Brink's truck Alabama backed up for him probably has a stake in Shula's Steakhouse.

Those were a couple of hits.

And then, there are misses: Mike Price to Alabama sparks a five-alarm memory, followed by George O'Learyto Notre Dame, Howard Schnellenberger to Oklahoma, John Mackovic to Arizona, Tom Holmoe to California, Bill Callahan to Nebraska and Bobby Petrino to Arkansas (read: The Motorcycle Diaries).

Here's a ranking of some of this year's top coaching hires, reserving the right to flip-flop like a politician if these guys don't at least lead their schools to theGoDaddy.combowl.

Brilliant

Mike Leach to Washington State: Athletic Director Bill Moos gets credit for this Cougars coup. Leach is probably too eccentric for mainstream programs, but he should slot perfectly into Pullman, which is basically Lubbock with colder winters.

Leach is already 1-0 atPac-12Conference football media day, winning last week's news conference with quips about which league coach would make the best hunting partner.

He decided on Utah's Kyle Wittingham.

"He's sandwiched between a bunch of mountains," Leach said.

Urban Meyer to Ohio State: Concerns about health, family and pending NCAA sanctions evaporated when Jim Tressel's career implosion left this premium comeback path open for the ESPN analyst.

Meyer has claimed a lot of "dream jobs" in his time — Notre Dame, Florida — but at heart he is an Ohioan from Ashtabula.

Bottom line: Meyer won at Bowling Green, Utah and Florida … he's going to win big in Columbus.

Justin Wilcox to Washington: Wilcox is only a defensive coordinator, but boy did the Huskies need one after holding Baylor to 67 points in the Alamo Bowl. Wilcox has an Oregon pedigree with a minor at Boise State, but he was plucked away from Tennessee.

Washington Coach Steve Sarkisian said he hoped Wilcox's arrival would have the same defensive impact the hiring of DeWayne Walker had on UCLA in 2006. That was the year UCLA beat USC, 13-9, to knock the Trojans out of the national title game.

"I feel something very similar with us," Sarkisian said.

Good

Rich Rodriguez to Arizona: Forget what happened at Michigan. Coaches used to make pilgrimages to see RichRod when he was at West Virginia.

Rodriguez says he didn't know until midway through the interviewing process that Arizona had never been to the Rose Bowl — and he took the job anyway.

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