Gators well-repped in ESPN.com's greatest all-time football/basketball coaching combos
Wednesday, April 1, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Football, Track and Field, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Ran across an item on ESPN.com today, as writers Chris Low and Adam Rittenberg ranked the greatest football-basketball coaching combinations in collegiate history.
The Gators -- and some Gators ties -- were well represented.
Tough to argue the No. 1 overall duo of the “Baron” and the “Bear,” as in Adolph Rupp and Paul “Bear” Bryant in their seven years together at Kentucky (1946-53). Everyone knows Rupp's impact on the hardwood during his time at UK, but fewer know that Bryant led the Wildcats to the Orange, Sugar and Cotton bowls in consecutive years, along the way halting Oklahoma's historic 31-game winning streak in 1950. 
At No. 2 is Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Steve Spurrier from 1987-89. Their time together was fleeting, but it was fun (even before the gun). While Coach K was building one of the nation's premier programs at Cameron Indoor, Spurrier (left) was doing amazing things on the football field. His “Airball” offense (that's what it was called in Durham) ignited the Blue Devils to their only Atlantic Coast Conference title in the last half-century.
Billy Donovan and Urban Meyer showed up at No. 3, though I'm not so sure they shouldn't be a notch higher, considering they teamed up for four combined national championships compared to none from the Duke duo ranked ahead of them. Here's what ESPN.com had to say:
Good luck finding a year they remember more fondly at Florida than 2006. Donovan guided the Gators to their first national championship in basketball, which turned out to be the first of two straight national titles. Meyer delivered later that fall with a football crown, the Gators' first in a decade. Donovan joined Bobby Knight this season as only the second coach in history to win 500 games before his 50th birthday. He's guided Florida to four Final Fours and seven Elite Eights in 19 seasons. Meyer had the football side of it at Florida covered with a pair of national championships in 2006 and 2008 before taking a year off and then landing at Ohio State. All he's done in Buckeye Land is go 38-3 in three seasons, including the first Collegiate Football Playoff national championship this past season. And only two FBS coaches -- Meyer and Nick Saban -- have won national championships with two different schools.
After Michigan State's Tom Izzo and Nick Saban (1995-99) at No. 4, then North Carolina's Dean Smith and Mack Brown (1988-97) at No. 5, Donovan and Spurrier both make repeat appearances at No. 6 for their time together at Florida from 1996-2001.
Donovan and Spurrier each make their second appearance on this list thanks to the six years they spent together in Gainesville. Although Florida had some success in both basketball and football, Donovan and Spurrier elevated the programs to elite status. In 2007, Donovan joined Adolph Rupp as the only SEC coaches to win back-to-back national championships. He has led Florida to four Final Fours, three championship game appearances, six SEC titles and 16 straight 20-seasons from 1998 to 2014. Spurrier won nine or more games in each of his 12 seasons and dominated the SEC with an 87-12 record. He had nine top-10 finishes at Florida and later added three more as South Carolina's coach. Both are by far the winningest coaches at their respective Florida programs.
The rest of the top 10:
No. 7: Fred Taylor/Woody Hayes (Ohio State, 1958-76).
No. 8: John Wooden/Tommy Prothro (UCLA, 1965-70)
No. 9: Denny Crum/Howard Schnellenberger (Louisville, 1985-94)
No. 10: Eddie Sutton/Frank Broyles (Arkansas, 1974-76).
For what it's worth, the story included a second 10 that included former UF basketball coach Norm Sloan, but alongside Lou Holtz for their days at North Carolina State (1972-75), where “Stormin' Norman” won the 1974 NCAA title.
