I like Goliaths with the knockback feat and mountain rage. Lion+Wolf totem barbarian 2/Crusader 18
Pounce, improved trip without needing the prerequisites, rage for large size which increases your reach.
Let's build on that some:
1)Goliath Crusader 1 (Power Att., Improved Bullrush, Knockback), use a Guisarme or a Glaive
2+3) Totemist2 (and Shape Soulmeld: Therapeutic Mantle at 3)
This allows your Martial Spirit stance to heal +4 per hit, or +5 if your DM aknowledges Martial Spirit as a first level effect)
You should bind the Landshark boots soulmeld to your totem chakra, this will allow you do make four claw attacks as a standard action with a DC20 jump check. As a Goliath you can make high jumps as long jumps, i.e. won't need a running start. So each round you can either hit people with reach and knock them back, or hit people four times without reach and heal yourself for 20 points of damage.Buy back your LA
4) Fighter1(Combat Reflexes)
5+6) Lion+Wolf Totem Barb 2(Pounce + Improved Trip), Stand Still (6)
7) Fighter +1(Shock Trooper)
we have to wiggle this like this because you don't have 6BAB at 6.)
8) Crusader +1(take Thicket of Blades)
9) Crusader +.. (Bonus Essentia or Extra Rage)
etc.
Naturally Goliath becomes obsolete if ultra-cheesy templates such as Half-Minotaur are available.
By level 8 you have the ability to completely control the battlefield within your reach. It would be nice if Extra Rage were available without competing with other, valuable feats. Take Bonus Essentia if you find you are using the healing from your claw-jumps a lot, because with every additional point invested you increase the healing per attack by 2, to a max of +8 (or 9) (10 or 11 total) per attack from Martial Spirit. However, your essentia progression is... stunted, I guess. You may also feel that the two levels of Totemist may be wasted after a while. Well, it's a valid concern, but of course you can do more with them than just bind the Landshark boots. you could bind the Lamia belt and gain two claw attacks that you could use in conjunction with a full-attack (because they don't use your hands), or as non-reach weapons in case someone still gets close to you. Or you could bind the Dread Carapace to gain a Frightful Presence upon a charge, unfortunately the effect only lasts for one round, BUT it doesn't have a non-stacking clause, so your party mage can follow up with a fear effect to get everyone frightened - or worse - for the full duration of THAT effect.
It would be nice to be able to gain additional swift actions, so that you could switch stances on the fly, and also move essentia around better, but.... well, you can't have everything. (barring, perhaps, by using an adapted Ur-Priest/RKV setup). Something like the above, then adding Ur-Priest2/RKV7; OR try for the Mo9, with some Warblade, because with Dual Stance you can use basically all your swift actions for shifting essentia.
Also, if you believe the campaign will stop before reaching level 20, or you think that 9th level maneuvers won't be much of a focus for you, then you can dip more. It would be nice to be able to get Mage Slayer in the build, perhaps, so you need more bonus feats...
If you dare venture into other territory, using a bit more Totemist makes totally viable (that, um... is a bit of an understatement) melee characters, who have mad skill boosts in certain areas, huge, but not ridiculous, damage, and who gain reasonable, if not great, tanking potential just with the addition of the odd level of Crusader, due to the combination of self-healing per attack, and many attacks.