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March Madness is here, and all of the college football fans who are waiting on spring will be turning on the TVs with the hope of their favorite program making a run to the championship. Luckily for many programs, they have a great head coach in both sports.
While there are many coaching duos worth mentioning, I believe that these are the top five entering the tournament.
The Vanderbilt Commodores have a ton of talent, as they have been able to make do with what they have, but this is more talent than they have had in the past for both teams. It starts with adding a generational coaching addition in a guy like Clark Lea for the football staff, as he was able to put together the best season Vanderbilt has had in a long time.
Byington is following in his footsteps, as this five-seeded program has been one of the more dangerous teams in the SEC. They have defeated many of the best teams in the conference, including No. 1-seeded Florida Gators (fresh off a national championship). The Commodores barely made the list over the Gators, but this duo is easily one of the more slept-on duos, in my opinion.
The Houston Cougars football team had a very impressive season last year, as they showed that they can grow within their system. This is a team that hasn't had a lot of promise, but finally pieces things together in a way that everyone hoped they could. This was a great run by Willie Fritz and his team.
As for Kelvin Sampson and his basketball squad, they are one of the teams that many will pick to win the tournament, as they are one of the more sound teams on the defensive side when it comes to these games in March. They made a huge run last year, but ultimately fell short. Both teams are on the rise, despite the basketball team being good for many of the recent seasons.
The Michigan Wolverines football team has a new coach in town after an incident that left the Wolverines with no choice but to fire former head football coach Sherrone Moore.
Whittingham has proven that he can win with fewer resources, as he turned Utah into a very solid program, and will now be a name to know moving forward, as he has the chance to bring Michigan back to what many know it can be.
As for the basketball side of things, there aren't many better teams than the Wolverines thanks to a great season by Dusty May and his staff. They have a ton of talent, but the coaching has been the difference in this team's run. He has been phenomenal, and they absolutely deserved to make a podium spot.
It was extremely hard for me not to put the Duke Blue Devils at No. 1 thanks to their great season of college basketball, and their football team winning the conference championship. Both have proven that they can show up when it comes to big games, but despite winning the conference title, Diaz and his squad still missed the playoffs, unlike the other team ahead of them on this list.
Duke is the fan favorite to win this tournament, while their football program has the chance to do great again, but this time with a new quarterback in charge.
The Crimson Tide is back in the mix, as they remain one of the better teams in both sports. In basketball, the Crimson Tide has one of the better guards, as in football, the highlight player for the Crimson Tide remains Ryan Coleman-Williams. Both coaches have a proven track record as they win games and do it at the highest level.
Oats is set to try and make a run in March, while DeBoer is getting his guys ready for a huge season in the fall. Oats and his squad are one of the few teams that can break out at any moment, while DeBoer and his squad will always be a top-10 favorite to win the National Championship.
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