Coaches versus Top 25 competition

[Grape Julius]

As I was scouring the internet, looking for something to help me feel better about the (rumored, alleged) assistant coaching hires, I found this and thought it was interesting. Really sorry if it's been posted already--I'm sure it probably has at some point, but thought a refresh might not be a bad idea anyway, (given our current circumstances).

 

Some notable names, along with their records against the Top 25:

 

Mark Dantonio: 12-25

 

Bill Snyder: 23-43

 

Bret Bielema: 10-20

 

Jerry Kill: 1-10

 

Gary Pinkel: 15-37

 

Kirk Ferentz: 19-34

 

Gary Anderson: 2-8

 

Gary Patterson: 14-14

 

Dan Mullen: 2-21

 

Kyle Whittingham: 9-13

 

Paul Johnson: 7-20

 

Bo Pelini: 9-14

 

Mike Riley: 13-39

 

 

What I take away from that list is that Bo and Mike both performed about the same as other respected coaching names on that list, as did other candidates mentioned on our collective wish list, and that's not such a bad thing. Stats are funny--they can say everything while at the same time indicating nothing, based on the sample size you use. If we changed the list to only include results against the Top 10, the numbers would look even worse for some pretty big names.

 

Saban was 22-23 against the Top 25 at Michigan State and LSU. Spurrier is 18-23 at South Carolina. Les Miles has a good record against the Top 25 now, but at Oklahoma State, he was only 3-12. Meanwhile, Brian Kelly actually had a better record at his previous stops--8-4 at Central Michigan and Cincinnati--than his current 7-7 record at a school with considerably more resources.

 

In fact, the only names that really jumped out on the list for strong, consistent success against the Top 25 at a single program were David Shaw at 14-4 (wow), and Bob Stoops at 50-25. And after last night, more than a few Sooner fans would be more than happy to help Stoops pack his bags for Lincoln, Gainesville, Iowa City, or just about any other one-way travel destination not named Norman, Oklahoma. Honest question: would we have wanted Stoops, based on his past success (like Tressel)? Or was finding the right fit for THIS program ultimately more important?

 

I'm still in "wait and see" mode on the assistants. I will be pretty disappointed if we don't end up with Eddie O (especially when he's publicly expressed interest) or Kevin Steele. But I like Riley and am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on putting together his own staff, because the truth of the matter is, we can't accurately predict how successful he's going to be here based on his past record, and the same can be said for the rest of his coaching staff.

 

 

[BigRedBuster]

My brother who is a big LSU fan at some point will comment on how bad of hire this is. I'll have to ask him what mile's record was at OSU before LSU hired him.

[presidentjlh]

Good point

[Scratchtown]

Bo wasn't 8-14 but whatev

[Husker66]

like you say, these stats don show everything, particularly the severity of losses or how we lost. ...take away the blowout embarrassment losses, that means we arent far away and Bo is still here....lose like K state does, for instance, to top rated teams, and Bo is here, we are top 10 perinnial and have a chance

[TrueHuskerFan]

These comparisons are ok as long as you keep in mind how hard it is to win at Oregon State. IMO comparing Bo's record to Riley's is not an apples to apples comparison.

[Scratchtown]

Bo was 9-17

[Guy Chamberlin]

Bo only won 4 games against teams ranked in the top 25 at the END of the season. The highest was eventual #11 Michigan state in 2011.

[jsneb83]

Bo was 9-17

This article was written before this season, so it's not including Michigan St, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-college-footballs-coaches-have-fared-against-top-25-teams-1408489524