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5 (BTN Stats Guys say 6 but I can't find the sixth person) FBS Power-Five head coaches have had 9+ wins in their first seven years of coaching. They are as follows:
George Woodruff (Penn State - 1892-1898)
Tom Osborne (Nebraska - 1973-1979)
Barry Switzer (Oklahoma - 1973-1979)
Chris Petersen (Boise State - 2006-2012)
Bo Pelini (Nebraska - 2008-2014)
To disarm the stupid argument of all of your facebook friends, here are the comparisons of each of these head coaches in those 7 years that go deeper than wins.
George Woodruff coached in the 1890's before bowls and polls and conferences and etc., but he is credited with 3 national championships.
Tom Osborne
79% Winning Percentage
16-11 Against Ranked Teams
0 Top-5 Finishes
7 Top-10 Finishes
2 Conference Championships
5 Major Bowls (defined as Cotton, Fiesta, Sugar, Rose, Orange)
2 Major Bowl Wins
0 Undefeated Season
18 Losses
Barry Switzer
90% Winning Percentag
27-5 Against Ranked Teams
6 Top-5 Finishes
7 Top-10 Finishes
2 National Championships
7 Conference Championships
5 Major Bowls (for some reason they didn't play in bowl games his first two seasons, but these would have been major bowls as well)
4 Major Bowl Wins
2 Undefeated Seasons
7 Losses
Chris Petersen
91% Winning Percentage
7-5 Against Ranked Teams
2 Top-5 Finishes
4 Top-10 Finishes
5 Conference Championships
2 Major Bowls
2 Major Bowl Wins
2 Undefeated Seasons
8 Losses
Bo Pelini
71% Winning Percentage
9-17 Against Ranked Teams
0 Top-5 Finishes
0 Top-10 Finishes
0 Conference Championships
0 Major Bowls
0 Major Bowl Wins
0 Undefeated Seasons
27 Losses
Some more research:
I took the top 15 most winningest FBS programs, plus Florida, and Florida State, and looked at their coaches since 1960. I used 70% as the qualifying winning percentage since that is right around where Bo is, and that is what 9-4 represents percentage-wise. This way, you get the effect of who is good enough to win roughly 9 games a season (since that is the stat that people keep defending Pelini with), but you remove the restrictive barriers of the statistic.
I didn't include their head coaching jobs before or after their time at that school, unless their other stops are other schools in the top 20 of all-time wins, and I used 4 seasons as the minimum to be included in the pool, as 4 years is often considered the benchmark for how much time a coach needs to make it "his" team.
Basically, the goal is to get a rough idea of how many coaches at schools with comparable history/success/money as Nebraska have been able to achieve the same standard of play. This isn't scientific, but I think it will be useful.
Michigan - 4 coaches - 3 qualify
Notre Dame - 7 coaches - 4 qualify
Texas - 5 coaches - 3 qualify
Nebraska - 5 coaches - 4 qualify
Ohio State - 4 coaches - 4 qualify
Oklahoma - 4 coaches - 3 qualify
Alabama - 6 coaches - 5 qualify
Tennessee - 4 coaches - 3 qualify
USC - 6 coaches - 3 qualify
Georgia - 4 coaches - 3 qualify
LSU - 6 coaches - 3 qualify
Penn State - 1 coach - 1 qualify
Auburn - 6 coaches - 3 qualify
West Virginia - 8 coaches - 1 qualifies (this seems to be a significant outlier)
Florida - 6 coaches - 4 qualify
Florida State - 3 coaches - 2 qualify
By my count, there have been 79 coaches at big-time power five schools since 1960 that have coached at least 4 years at their school.
Of those 79, 49 have been able to win 70% or more of their games, or 62% of them. If you remove West Virginia as a seemingly outlier, it is 48 out of 71 coaches, or 68%.
So roughly 65% of coaches at major programs in modern history that have coached at their schools for at least 4 years have been able to win just as well as Bo, if not better.
Out of the 49 coaches that have won over 70% of their games at top 15 schools, guess how many of them never won at least one conference championship or gone to a major bowl (Rose/Orange/Fiesta/Sugar/Cotton)?
Bill Battle at Tennessee, went 59-22 in 7 seasons, was fired.
Jim Donnan at Georgia, was fired after 5 seasons.
Bo Pelini.
3 out of 49.
George Woodruff (Penn State - 1892-1898)
Tom Osborne (Nebraska - 1973-1979)
Barry Switzer (Oklahoma - 1973-1979)
Chris Petersen (Boise State - 2006-2012)
Bo Pelini (Nebraska - 2008-2014)
To disarm the stupid argument of all of your facebook friends, here are the comparisons of each of these head coaches in those 7 years that go deeper than wins.
George Woodruff coached in the 1890's before bowls and polls and conferences and etc., but he is credited with 3 national championships.
Tom Osborne
79% Winning Percentage
16-11 Against Ranked Teams
0 Top-5 Finishes
7 Top-10 Finishes
2 Conference Championships
5 Major Bowls (defined as Cotton, Fiesta, Sugar, Rose, Orange)
2 Major Bowl Wins
0 Undefeated Season
18 Losses
Barry Switzer
90% Winning Percentag
27-5 Against Ranked Teams
6 Top-5 Finishes
7 Top-10 Finishes
2 National Championships
7 Conference Championships
5 Major Bowls (for some reason they didn't play in bowl games his first two seasons, but these would have been major bowls as well)
4 Major Bowl Wins
2 Undefeated Seasons
7 Losses
Chris Petersen
91% Winning Percentage
7-5 Against Ranked Teams
2 Top-5 Finishes
4 Top-10 Finishes
5 Conference Championships
2 Major Bowls
2 Major Bowl Wins
2 Undefeated Seasons
8 Losses
Bo Pelini
71% Winning Percentage
9-17 Against Ranked Teams
0 Top-5 Finishes
0 Top-10 Finishes
0 Conference Championships
0 Major Bowls
0 Major Bowl Wins
0 Undefeated Seasons
27 Losses
Some more research:
I took the top 15 most winningest FBS programs, plus Florida, and Florida State, and looked at their coaches since 1960. I used 70% as the qualifying winning percentage since that is right around where Bo is, and that is what 9-4 represents percentage-wise. This way, you get the effect of who is good enough to win roughly 9 games a season (since that is the stat that people keep defending Pelini with), but you remove the restrictive barriers of the statistic.
I didn't include their head coaching jobs before or after their time at that school, unless their other stops are other schools in the top 20 of all-time wins, and I used 4 seasons as the minimum to be included in the pool, as 4 years is often considered the benchmark for how much time a coach needs to make it "his" team.
Basically, the goal is to get a rough idea of how many coaches at schools with comparable history/success/money as Nebraska have been able to achieve the same standard of play. This isn't scientific, but I think it will be useful.
Michigan - 4 coaches - 3 qualify
Notre Dame - 7 coaches - 4 qualify
Texas - 5 coaches - 3 qualify
Nebraska - 5 coaches - 4 qualify
Ohio State - 4 coaches - 4 qualify
Oklahoma - 4 coaches - 3 qualify
Alabama - 6 coaches - 5 qualify
Tennessee - 4 coaches - 3 qualify
USC - 6 coaches - 3 qualify
Georgia - 4 coaches - 3 qualify
LSU - 6 coaches - 3 qualify
Penn State - 1 coach - 1 qualify
Auburn - 6 coaches - 3 qualify
West Virginia - 8 coaches - 1 qualifies (this seems to be a significant outlier)
Florida - 6 coaches - 4 qualify
Florida State - 3 coaches - 2 qualify
By my count, there have been 79 coaches at big-time power five schools since 1960 that have coached at least 4 years at their school.
Of those 79, 49 have been able to win 70% or more of their games, or 62% of them. If you remove West Virginia as a seemingly outlier, it is 48 out of 71 coaches, or 68%.
So roughly 65% of coaches at major programs in modern history that have coached at their schools for at least 4 years have been able to win just as well as Bo, if not better.
Out of the 49 coaches that have won over 70% of their games at top 15 schools, guess how many of them never won at least one conference championship or gone to a major bowl (Rose/Orange/Fiesta/Sugar/Cotton)?
Bill Battle at Tennessee, went 59-22 in 7 seasons, was fired.
Jim Donnan at Georgia, was fired after 5 seasons.
Bo Pelini.
3 out of 49.
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