The NCAA News - News & Features

New coaches find winning tough during first seasons

BY RICHARD M. CAMPBELL
NCAA Statistics Coordinator

It seems that victories are difficult to come by for this year's group of new NCAA Division I head football coaches.

Only California's Steve Mariucci and Marshall's Bob Pruett (both 4-0) have undefeated records thus far among the 24 new-job coaches in Divisions I-A and I-AA. Only three other new coaches have winning records through games of September 28.

Louisiana Tech's Gary Crowton (3-2), Morgan State's Stump Mitchell (3-1) and Southern Utah's Rich Ellerson (3-2) are the others with winning slates in 1996. Mitchell is a former Citadel player and professional with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Seven Division I-A coaches are head coaches for the first time, while I-AA has nine coaches with no previous head-coaching experience. Five first-time I-A coaches and three first-time I-AA coaches have previous head-coaching experience.

Fairfield is a new Division I-AA program, and Alabama-Birmingham and Central Florida each moved from Division I-AA to I-A this year, so their respective coaches are included among new coaches.

Both Boise State and Georgia Southern have interim coaches. Boise State's Tom Mason is sitting in for Pokey Allen, who took a leave of absence, and Georgia Southern's Frank Ellwood, a former Marshall head coach, took over the Eagles after serving as senior associate athletics director.

I-A first-year history

In the 48 years since the NCAA began tracking Division I-A first-year coaches' success, 489 new coaches with no previous head-coaching experience have posted a 2,033-2,927-135 record for a .412 winning percentage.

Since 1948, only 14 coaches with no previous head-coaching experience have won 10 or more games in their first year as a Division I-A head coach. Eleven of those coaches also won bowl games in their initial seasons and two led teams to undefeated seasons.

Oklahoma's Barry Switzer in 1973 and Dick Crum of Miami (Ohio) in 1974 each had 10-0-1 record in their first outings as I-A head coaches. The only first-year coach to win a national championship was Michigan's Bennie Oosterbaan in 1948, with a 9-0 record.

Colorado's Rick Neuheisel in 1995, Bowling Green's Gary Blackney in 1991, Southern California's John Robinson in 1976 and Tennessee's Bill Battle in 1970 each led their teams to the most victories by a first-year coach, with identical 11-1 records.

The other first-year coaches with at least 10 victories were Houston's John Jenkins (1990), Ball State's Dwight Wallace (1978), Oklahoma's Chuck Fairbanks (1967), LSU's Mike Archer (1987), Southern Mississippi's Curley Hallman (1988), Oklahoma State's Pat Jones (1984), Tampa's Earle Bruce (1972) and Mississippi's Billy Kinard (1971). Only Switzer, Jenkins and Wallace did not pick up a bowl win.

The 1984 season was the most successful for first-year coaches, as that group of seven posted a 47-28-1 (.625 winning percentage) record. Oklahoma State's Jones (10-2) was the leader that year, followed by Florida's Galen Hall (8-0), who took over from Charley Pell after three games; LSU's Bill Arnsbarger (8-3-1); Air Force's Fisher DeBerry (8-4); Rutgers' Dick Anderson (7-3); Long Beach State's Mike Sheppard (4-7); and Wichita State's Ron Chismar (2-9).

First-time head coaches

In 1995, 10 first-time coaches with no previous head-coaching experience had a 57-56-2 record for a .504 winning percentage. This season's seven new Division I-A coaches have started 12-19-0 for a .387 winning percentage. The nine first-time coaches in Division I-AA have posted a 14-21-0 (.400) record so far.

The first-time coaches, listed by college in alphabetical order:

Division I-A (7) -- W-L-T

Tom Mason, Boise St.* -- 1-4-0

Steve Mariucci, California -- 4-0-0

Fred VonAppen, Hawaii -- 1-4-0

Gary Crowton, Louisiana Tech -- 3-2-0

Jeff Tisdel, Nevada -- 2-2-0

Joe Novack, Northern Ill. -- 1-4-0

John Blake, Oklahoma -- 0-3-0

Division I-AA -- W-L-T

Tom Masella, Boston U -- 0-4-0

Dick Biddle, Colgate -- 0-4-0

Todd Berry, Illinois St. -- 2-3-0

Bob Pruett, Marshall -- 4-0-0

Stump Mitchell, Morgan St. -- 3-1-0

Ed Zaloom, Siena -- 0-2-0

Rich Ellerson, Southern Utah -- 3-2-0

L. C. Cole, Tennessee St. -- 1-3-0

Mike Hennigan, Tennessee Tech -- 1-2-0

*Interim coach.

The first-year Division I-A coaches with previous experience stand 6-13-0 for a .316 winning percentage. Division I-AA coaches are 2-8-0 (.200):

Division I-A (5) -- W-L-T

Watson Brown, Ala.-Birmingham -- 2-2-0

Gene McDowell, Central Fla. -- 1-4-0

Jim Donnan, Georgia -- 1-2-0

Terry Shea, Rutgers -- 1-3-0

Bob Toledo, UCLA -- 1-2-0

Division I-AA (3) -- W-L-T

Kevin Kiesel, Fairfield -- 0-3-0

Frank Ellwood, Ga. Southern* -- 1-3-0

Dan Allen, Holy Cross -- 1-2-0

*Interim coach.

Black I-A head coaches

With one black head coach hired in Division I-A in 1996, there are now seven black head coaches in the division.

Oklahoma's John Blake is the new hire. He joins Louisville's Ron Cooper, North Texas' Matt Simon, Oklahoma State's Bob Simmons, Stanford's Tyrone Willingham, Temple's Ron Dickerson and Wake Forest's Jim Caldwell.

Coaches' history

Last season saw the achievement of several milestones in the coaching profession.

Grambling's legendary Eddie Robinson surpassed the 400-victory plateau to become the only collegiate coach to reach that level. He had 403 career wins through games of September 28. Robinson is in his 54th year as head coach at Grambling.

St. John's (Minnesota) coach John Gagliardi, who has toiled in relative obscurity at a Division III institution, passed Paul "Bear" Bryant (323) on the all-time victories list last year and currently has 329 career victories, putting him in second place behind Robinson. Gagliardi is in his 48th year as a head coach and 44th as head coach at St. John's (Minnesota).

Penn State's Joe Paterno has the most victories among active Division I-A coaches, with 283 through games of September 28.