It takes a lot of hard work to coach football at the college level. But what happens when the thousands of hours put in by coaches is thought to be what makes them successful rather than pure luck?
Whether it’s being handed a team full of talent, serving in a conference that just doesn’t have talent surrounding it, or getting a few lucky victories to keep a job in tact—it’s not always coaching skill that leads to a win.
I’ve put together a list of my top 10 coaches who have lucked into winning records during the BCS era.
Keep in mind that their entire coaching record doesn’t have to be above .500, but during at least one season at the school they made a name for themselves.
Coker was outstanding in his six seasons at Miami, going 60—15 in his time. Add in a BCS National Championship and three Big East Championships, he has an impressive resume.
However, his earliest seasons at “The U” were his best and a 7-6 record in 2006 was the last straw as he was axed.
Why did he perform so well in the beginning? Likely because of his predecessor Butch Davis, who brought names like Jeremy Shockey, Clinton Portis, and Ed Reed to Coral Cables.
We’ll see how successful Coker does in his second head coaching job, now in charge of the newly formed football program at Texas-San Antonio.
Dan Hawkins
When Colorado needed a new head coach, Hawkins was a great choice. He had an incredible record in five seasons at Boise State, going 53-11. But life in the Big 12 hasn’t been as smooth as the days in the Western Athletic Conference.
Hawkins replaced Gary Barnett who, let’s face it, knew how to find controversy. But to his credit, Barnett did well with the Buffaloes with a Big 12 championship and four Big 12 North titles.
What set Hawkins up for failure in Boulder is Boise State head coach Chris Petersen, formerly the Broncos’ offensive coordinator under Coach Hawk. Petersen was the brain child in Boise and didn’t get the credit he deserved until he finally became the head coach.
Hawkins still has a winning record at 66-44 in FBS play, but these numbers are skewed.
Dennis Franchione
By Texas A&M standards, Dennis Franchione was extremely mediocre in College Station, going 32-28 overall.
Franchione coached for five seasons and had zero bowl victories with a football program that was in solid shape after RC Slocum spent 14 seasons in charge of the Aggies.
Before that, he spent two seasons at Alabama, taking over a program that was still riding high from Gene Stalling’s hayday with the Crimson Tide.
Prior to coming to Tuscaloosa, Franchione was an up-and-coming name at TCU, who was then playing in the WAC.
The Horned Frogs’ days in the WAC with Franchione didn’t see the competition TCU does today in the Mountain West. When facing tough competition with his own team, Dennis couldn’t cut it.
Frank Solich
Last week I talked about how wanting Solich out of Lincoln was crazy, and I stick to that. However, I understand that he was successful with a team that was handed to him by Tom Osborne.
Solich is currently with the University of Ohio since 2005, going 32-31 in those five seasons. I’m sorry, I realize that the Bobcats have won two MAC East titles, but that’s not too impressive with a guy who once coached a team in a BCS National Championship game.
On top of that, Ohio’s 2010 recruiting class ranked 119 of 120 by Rivals.com. Ridiculous.
Solich needs a season with the Bobcats where Ohio performs better than 9-5.
Charlie Weis
Whether they were recruits from Tyrone Willingham’s tenure in South Bend or Bob Davie’s, Weis’s first two seasons at Notre Dame were his best thanks to the large pool of talent he had.
With the exception of Jimmy Clausen, there were very few Weis recruited players who stood out during the five seasons he spent leading the Fighting Irish.
He finished his career there 35-27.
Gene Chizik
When Chizik at the University of Texas, he was one of the hottest assistant coaching names in college football, much like Will Muschamp is now.
Chizik landed a job at Iowa State and had no success whatsoever, going 5-19 during his two seasons at Ames.
So when he was hired to replace Tommy Tuberville at Auburn, it was quite the head-scratcher as to why a coach with such a poor record would land a big time gig crying War Eagle.
Chizik had success in his first season last year, leading the Tigers to an 8-5 record with an Outback Bowl victory. Still, it’s hard to give Chizik much credit as he inherited a talented team and brought in top-notch assistants like Guz Malzahn and Trooper Taylor to help Auburn start a return to the glory days.
Les Miles
Miles may have a BCS National Championship to his name, but it’s not something he earned on his own. Give credit to Nick Saban on that one.
In Miles’s first three seasons at LSU he was a combined 34-6 with the Tigers, using mainly recruits from Saban’s time before leaving to coach the Miami Dolphins.
Since that national championship season, Miles and the Bayou Bengals have failed to reach 10 wins on the year, thus proving Les is having a much more difficult time competing in the SEC West with his own recruited players.
Houston Nutt
Most people know that I am a big fan of Houston Nutt, but it’s hard getting around the argument that he has been handed a solid Ole Miss Rebels squad.
Ed Orgeron might be a horrific head coach, but what he is successful at is recruiting. Coach O brought in names like Dexter McCluster, Shay Hodge, and Jevan Snead to Oxford. Nutt has thrived off of this players.
2010 will be a telling season for Nutt at Ole Miss. Can he continue to build success or is he just the new noise the Rebels players needed?
Chip Kelly
A coach has arguably never had to do less for success than Oregon’s Kelly did in 2009.
Taking over a squad that went 10-3 the previous season during former head coach Mike Bellotti’s last season of 14 season run (a tenure that saw the Ducks finish below .500 once), Kelly was handed gold on a platinum platter.
Oregon won the Pac-10 in 2009, going 10-3 overall and 8-1 in conference. But not only has Kelly handed a great team, he was lucky enough to have his first season as a college head coach during a year when overall competition in the Pac-10 was extremely low.
Don’t expect the Ducks to repeat the same success in 2010.
Ron Prince
Although his overall record as a head coach was only 17-20, Prince’s first season leading the Kansas State Wildcats was a strong one.
Prince went 7-6 on the season in 2006 with a second place finish in the Big 12 North.
But despite the hot start, things got ugly in a hurry and his next two (and final) years in Manhattan saw back-to-back 5-7 finishes, which prompted his termination and brought back legendary head coach Bill Snyder to the Little Apple.
Beyond the obvious fact that Prince inherited a program that made the single biggest turnaround in college football history under Snyder’s direction, Prince somehow found a way to luck out and go 2-0 against the Texas Longhorns.
That’s not to say the Wildcats didn’t deserve to top Texas, but they sure weren’t the better team.
Without those two wins, Prince arguably wouldn’t have been around for his final season in 2008.
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