Is Iowa only the 7th-best job for Big Ten football coaches?

Athlon's magazine says the best football coaching job in the Big Ten is still Ohio State, scandals be darned.

Ken Thompson of the Lafayette Journal and Courier agrees in this column.

The rest of Athlon's ratings: 2. Penn State, 3. Michigan, 4. Nebraska, 5. Wisconsin, 6. Michigan State, 7. Iowa, 8. Illinois, 9. Purdue, 10. Minnesota, 11. Northwestern, 12. Indiana.

The first thing I thought of was this: Doesn't Iowa pay its head coach, Kirk Ferentz, extremely well? This may have changed in the last six weeks, but when last I looked, Ferentz and Arkansas' Bobby Petrino were the only coaches at public universities making $3 million or more who hadn't been to a BCS title game.

With the stability of ticket sales and a program that has been on solid ground for three decades (minus a couple of hiccups in that time), Iowa should be side by side with Michigan State at the least. The other five in front of Iowa? I can see the arguments for them. The first four are Old Money and when it comes to college football. Wisconsin has won three Rose Bowls in the last 17 years and played in another just six months ago. So that's clearly a place you can succeed.

Is Iowa clearly a better job than Illinois? I'd say yes, but we know Illinois is capable of going to Rose Bowls and having a tough program to beat for Illinois prep recruits when the right coach is in place. Illinois fans throw themselves behind a winner, but can be pretty lukewarm when the team steps in potholes.

I'd take Michigan over Penn State. I think the top five when it comes to potential are (not necessarily in this order) Ohio State, Michigan, Texas, Alabama and Florida, though you can make all sorts of arguments for USC, Notre Dame, LSU, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Penn State. And Auburn. And Oregon.

I'd put Minnesota ahead of Purdue. With its new stadium, and a new coach in Jerry Kill who I think will be a great fit who will eventually start leading the Gophers to bowl games on a consistent basis, I see potential there. Purdue has been a very good program all in all over the years, but I think Minnesota has a higher ceiling.

Now it's your turn. Where do you rank  Iowa as a destination for football coaches compared to its Big Ten brothers? How would you rank the top 5?