with polls: Michigan's Brady Hoke ranked 4th-best Big Ten coach by Sporting News, trails rivals Urban Meyer, Mark Dantonio

"Kind of hard to believe, isn’t it, that Hoke was a sub-.500 coach pre-Michigan?" Greenberg wrote of Hoke. "But he slowly built Ball State into a prime MAC team, then turned San Diego State around more quickly. His first season in Ann Arbor was a mind-blower. It seems Hoke has improved throughout the first decade of his career — and that he’s exactly the right guy at the right time for the Wolverines."

Hoke went 11-2 in his debut season in Ann Arbor, and led the Wolverines to their first BCS win since 2000. He also toppled Ohio State, halting Michigan's seven-game losing streak against its chief rival.

But Buckeyes' interim coach Luke Fickell has since been replaced by Meyer, who swiftly cobbled together a superb 2012 recruiting class -- one that is ranked ahead of the Wolverines' heralded group.

His reputation as a coach also precedes him, after capturing two national titles at Florida. Sporting News cites that reputation for naming Meyer its top Big Ten coach, before he's even coached a Big Ten game.

"There’s no way to look at this man’s credentials and put him anywhere other than in the top spot," Greenberg wrote. "No matter that he’s never won a Big Ten game, nor that he ended poorly at Florida before sitting out 2011. About those creds: two national titles; a 7-1 bowl record; a 12-0, Fiesta Bowl-winning season at Utah; 17 victories in two years at Bowling Green. Ridiculous."

Dantonio also is ranked ahead of Hoke, after guiding Michigan State to consecutive 11-win seasons -- and, of course, four consecutive wins against the Wolverines.

"Dantonio’s 11-2 season in 2010 — during which he was confronted by a frightening health crisis — represents one of the great coaching performances of the 2000s," Greenberg wrote. "His 2011 Spartans, who likewise won 11 games, were even better.

"Brady Hoke’s Michigan program may have more upside, but Dantonio is the best coach in the state right now."

Rounding out the rankings behind Hoke are Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, Nebraska's Bo Pelini, Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald, Penn State's Bill O'Brien, Minnesota's Jerry Kill, Illinois' Tim Beckman, Purdue's Danny Hope and Indiana's Kevin Wilson.

Clearly, Meyer, Bielema, Dantonio and Hoke comprise the upper crust of Big Ten coaches right now. Who would you rank No. 1? And is Hoke too high, too low or just right?

Read the full Sporting News story by clicking here.