National Collegiate Athletic Association |
The NCAA News - News and FeaturesOctober 6, 1997
New football coaches trying to work into the fast lane
BY RICHARD M. CAMPBELL
Only Cal Poly San Luis Obispo's Larry Welsh (4-0) has an undefeated record thus far among the 46 new-job coaches in Divisions I-A and I-AA. Twelve other coaches have winning records in their first seasons of leading Division I squads.
Among 13 first-year I-A coaches with previous head-coaching experience, Pittsburgh's Walt Harris (4-1), Kansas' Terry Allen (3-1) and Purdue's Joe Tiller (3-1) have winning records.
Along with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo's Welsh, new-job I-AA coaches without prior experience who have winning records are Bethune-Cookman's Alvin Wyatt (3-1), East Tennessee State's Paul Hamilton (3-1), Georgia Southern's Paul Johnson (3-1), Murray State's Denver Johnson (3-2), Southern Utah's C. Ray Gregory (4-1) and Southwest Texas State's Bob DeBeese (2-1).
La Salle and South Florida are both new Division I-AA football programs. Their respective coaches are included among new coaches. I-A first-year history In the 49 years since the NCAA began tracking Division I-A first-year coaches' success, 495 new coaches with no previous head-coaching experience have posted a 2,060-2,969-135 record for a .412 winning percentage.
Oklahoma's Barry Switzer in 1973 and Dick Crum of Miami (Ohio) in 1974 each had 10-0-1 records in their first outings as I-A head coaches. The only first-year coach to win a national poll championship was Michigan's Bennie Oosterbaan in 1948, with a 9-0 record. 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 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-timers in 1997 >The 11 first-time I-A coaches have posted a 17-25-0 (.405) record so far this season, while the 14 I-AA new-jobbers have a 31-25-0 (.554) mark. The first-time coaches, listed by college in alphabetical order, and their records through games of September 27: Division I-A (11) -- W-L-T Mike Dubose, Alabama -- 3-1-0 Tom O'Brien, Boston College -- 2-2-0 Tom Holmoe, California -- 2-1-0 Pat Hill, Fresno St. -- 1-3-0 Cam Cameron, Indiana -- 1-3-0 Ron Vanderlinden, Maryland -- 1-3-0 Tony Samuel, New Mexico St. -- 1-3-0 Bob Davie, Notre Dame -- 1-3-0 Mike Riley, Oregon St. -- 1-2-0 Tommy Bowden, Tulane -- 1-2-0 Dana Dimel, Wyoming -- 3-2-0 Division I-AA (14) -- W-L-T Alvin Wyatt, Bethune-Cookman -- 3-1-0 Larry Welsh, Cal Poly SLO -- 4-0-0 Jim Fenwick, Cal St. Northridge -- 2-2-0 Don Powers, Citadel -- 2-2-0 John McKenzie, Delaware St. -- 2-2-0 Paul Hamilton, East Tenn. St. -- 3-1-0 Paul Johnson, Ga. Southern -- 3-1-0 Mike Williams, Jacksonville St. -- 1-3-0 Denver Johnson, Murray St. -- 3-2-0 Jim Leavitt, South Fla.* -- 1-3-0 C. Ray Gregory, Southern Utah -- 4-1-0 Bob DeBeese, Southwest Tex. St. -- 2-1-0 Ted Cain, VMI -- 0-4-0 Bill Bleil, Western Caro. -- 1-2-0 *New program. The 13 first-year Division I-A coaches with previous experience stand 21-31-0 (.404). The eight I-AA coaches with previous experience are 4-24-0 (.143): Division I-A (13) -- W-L-T Joe Hollis, Arkansas St. -- 1-3-0 Dave Roberts, Baylor -- 1-2-0 Houston Nutt, Boise St. -- 1-4-0 Ron Turner, Illinois -- 0-4-0 Terry Allen, Kansas -- 3-1-0 Hal Mumme, Kentucky -- 2-2-0 Glen Mason, Minnesota -- 2-2-0 Walt Harris, Pittsburgh -- 3-1-0 Joe Tiller, Purdue -- 3-1-0 Dave Baldwin, San Jose St. -- 0-3-0 Mike Cavan, Southern Methodist -- 1-3-0 Woody Widenhofer, Vanderbilt -- 2-2-0 Gary Darnell, Western Mich. -- 2-3-0 Division I-AA (8) -- W-L-T Bill Schmitz, Austin Peay -- 0-4-0 Tom Walsh, Idaho St. -- 0-3-0 Bill Manlove, La Salle* -- 1-3-0 Mike Dunbar, Northern Iowa -- 2-2-0 Greg Johnson, Prairie View -- 0-3-0 Jan Quarless, Southern Ill. -- 1-3-0 Jim Marshall, Tenn.-Martin -- 0-4-0 Jack Siedlecki, Yale -- 0-2-0 *New program. Black I-A head coaches With one black head coach hired in Division I-A in 1997, there are now eight black head coaches in the division. New Mexico State's Tony Samuel is the new coach. He joins Louisville's Ron Cooper, North Texas' Matt Simon, Oklahoma's John Blake, Oklahoma State's Bob Simmons, Stanford's Tyrone Willingham, Temple's Ron Dickerson and Wake Forest's Jim Caldwell. Coaches' history Legendary head coach Eddie Robinson is into his 55th and final year at Division I-AA member Grambling. The venerable and popular Robinson has put himself in a special place in college football with 406 career victories through games of September 27. To catch Robinson, a new coach would have to win 10 games a year for 40 seasons and still would need a few extra victories along the way. Nebraska's Tom Osborne, the top active I-A coach in winning percentage, has 245 victories in 24 years. He would have to average 10.1 wins over the next 16 years to catch Robinson. The closest NCAA coach to Robinson is John Gagliardi of Division III's St. John's (Minnesota), who has posted 338 wins in his 49 years as a head coach. Only five NCAA coaches in history have won even 300 games, regardless of classification. They are Robinson (406), Gagliardi (338), Bear Bryant (323), Pop Warner (319) and Amos Alonzo Stagg (314). Penn State's Joe Paterno is the top active I-A coach in career victories with 292, while Eastern Kentucky's Roy Kidd is next behind Robinson among active I-AA coaches with 273 career victories.
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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.
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), Colorado's Rick Neuheisel (1995), 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.