4TtC? - The Success Stories
Every coach who, after failing to reach .500 in any of their first three seasons, managed to break that threshold during or after year four their tenure at that school:
1. Lee Owens - Akron - Hired 1995
2-9, 4-7, 2-9, 4-7, 7-4, 6-5, 4-7, 4-8, 7-5
2. Brady Hoke - Ball State - Hired 2003
4-8, 2-9, 4-7, 5-7, 7-6, 12-2
3. Timothy Murphy - Cincinnati - Hired 1989
1-9-1, 1-10, 4-7, 3-8, 8-3
4. Kim Helton - Houston - Hired 1993
1-9-1, 1-10, 2-9, 7-5, 3-8, 3-8, 7-4
5. Dan McCarney - Iowa State - Hired 1995
3-8, 2-9, 1-10, 3-8, 4-7, 9-3, 7-5, 7-7, 2-10, 7-5, 7-5, 4-8
6. Dean Pees - Kent State - Hired 1998
0-11, 2-9, 1-10, 6-5, 3-9, 5-7
7. Bill Curry - Kentucky - Hired 1990
4-7, 3-8, 4-7, 6-6, 1-10, 4-7, 4-7
8. Rich Brooks - Kentucky - Hired 2003
4-8, 2-9, 3-8, 8-5, 8-5, 7-6
9. Rickey Bustle - ULL - Hired 2002
3-9, 4-8, 4-7, 6-5, 6-6, 3-9, 6-6
10. Charlie Weatherbie - ULM - Hired 2003
1-11, 5-6, 5-6, 4-8, 6-6, 4-8
11. Mark Duffner - Maryland - Hired 1992
3-8, 2-9, 4-7, 6-5, 5-6
12. Sylvester Croom - Mississippi State - Hired 2004
3-8, 3-8, 3-9, 8-5, 4-8
13. Larry Smith - Missouri - Hired 1994
3-8-1, 3-8, 5-6, 7-5, 8-4, 4-7, 3-8
14. Chris Tormey - Nevada - Hired 2000
2-10, 3-8, 5-7, 6-6
15. Rocky Long - New Mexico - Hired 1998
3-9, 4-7, 5-7, 6-5, 7-7, 8-5, 7-5, 6-5, 6-7, 9-4, 4-8
16. Darrell Dickey - North Texas - Hired 1998
3-8, 2-9, 3-8, 5-7, 8-5, 9-4, 7-5, 2-9, 3-9
17. Joe Novak - Northern Illinois - Hired 1996
1-10, 0-11, 2-9, 5-6, 6-5, 6-5, 8-4, 10-2, 9-3, 7-5, 7-6, 2-10
18. Gary Barnett - Northwestern - Hired 1992
3-8, 2-9, 4-6-1, 10-2, 9-3, 5-7, 3-9
19. Jim Colletto - Purdue - Hired 1991
4-7, 4-7, 1-10, 5-4-2, 4-6-1, 3-8
20. Greg Schiano - Rutgers - Hired 2001
2-9, 1-11, 5-7, 4-7, 7-5, 11-2, 8-5, 8-5
21. Dave Baldwin - San Jose State - Hired 1997
4-7, 4-8, 3-7, 7-5
22. Phil Bennett - SMU - Hired 2002
3-9, 0-12, 3-8, 5-6, 6-6, 1-11
23. Bobby Johnson - Vanderbilt - Hired 2002
2-10, 2-10, 2-9, 5-6, 4-8, 5-7, 7-6
24. Jim Caldwell - Wake Forest - Hired 1993
2-9, 3-8, 1-10, 3-8, 5-6, 3-8, 7-5, 2-9
25. Barry Alvarez - Wisconsin - Hired 1990
1-10, 5-6, 5-6, 10-1-1, 8-3-1, 4-5-2, 8-5, 8-5, 11-1, 10-2, 9-4, 5-7, 8-6, 7-6, 9-3, 10-3
I’ll never understand things like Rocky Long getting ditched at New Mexico, or Darrell Dickey getting ditched at North Texas.
The thing is, you are what you are. New Mexico is what New Mexico is. North Texas is what North Texas is. There’s no winning tradition. There’s no real excitement about the conferences they play in. There’s no real support among the alumni.
Therefore, if you can get a guy into a place like UNM or UNT who can compete and win some, that ought to be good enough. Otherwise, you simply end up rolling the dice time and time again, occassionally having a winning season, but rarely throwing together back-to-back winning seasons.
Look at your list. What is it? A conglomeration of the mediocre and below average. The lone exception is Wisconsin. But even then, how many Big Ten titles are there? National titles? I mean, this is a Big Ten school. Everyone else just keeps rolling the dice.
The thing is, for better or worse, schools like ours need to find a guy who can succeed and who will stay. In short, we need a Rocky Long or another Darrell Dickey. A guy who will stick with the program.
The problem is, you get a couple or more good seasons in a row and all of the sudden the dickheads of the alumni think they are the new Oklahoma or Texas. It just ain’t true.
Look, our athletic director rolled the dice big time with this high school coach we have. And, in year three, we’re still getting our butts beat by the top dog of the conference (Troy) and having to struggle into the fourth quarter to put away the conference cellar dwellar (Western Kentucky). It’s a joke. A poorly crafted joke, but a joke nonetheless.
This thing in Denton will continue to play out in an ugly fashion. We’ll continually be told that there are signs of improvement that “we just can’t see” or they “wish we could see.” But, the bottom line is, football is a game played on a grass field with a score being kept.
This isn’t 21st Century Kidsport, with no score being kept and everyone getting a trophy at the end of the season. The is FBS college football, the highest level of college play. You are either winning or losing. And, for the fifth season in a row, we are losing. And, it still sucks.