Something to believe in: The best 1st seasons by college football coaches
There are 29 new coaches this season, with both premier (Oklahoma and USC) and … uh … non-premier (Akron and New Mexico State) programs having new guys in charge.
A handful of the 29 are taking over solid situations; a handful of others are taking over what look to be hopeless situations. Regardless, everybody – administrators, coaches, players, fans – has reasons to be optimistic about the program’s new start.
Who knows – first-year coaches have won national titles and a lot have had top-10 finishes. Here’s a look at the top jobs done by first-year coaches in the past 50 seasons. (And don’t be scared by the 50-year thing: These are well-known programs.)
12. Ryan Day, Ohio State
Season: 2019
Preseason ranking: 5th
Record: 13-1
Final ranking: 3rd
The buzz: Day was promoted from offensive coordinator after Urban Meyer resigned following the 2018 season; Day had spent three games that season as the interim coach when the school suspended Meyer. In 2019, the Buckeyes scored at least 42 points in each of their first five games and in nine total. They beat back-to-back top-13 teams to end the regular season, including dropping 56 points on Michigan in Ann Arbor, then beat No. 8 Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game to earn the No. 2 seed in the College Football Playoff. But Ohio State was upset by Clemson in a CFP semifinal in the Fiesta Bowl.
11. Bobby Collins, SMU
Season: 1982
Preseason ranking: 6th
Record: 11-0-1
Final ranking: 2nd
The buzz: SMU was riding high when Collins – who had been coach at Southern Miss – took over after Ron Meyer left for the New England Patriots. Myer left on the heels of a 10-win season and Collins inherited one of the best rosters in the nation. Of course, SMU boosters had played a crucial role (well, “paid a crucial role” would be more appropriate) in putting together that roster, and the school later was hit by severe NCAA sanctions, including the death penalty, for malfeasance that started under Meyer and continued under Collins. Regardless, the 1982 Mustangs used their big-time “Pony Express” option attack featuring Eric Dickerson and Craig James to open 10-0. They tied No. 9 Arkansas in the regular-season finale and dropped out of the national title hunt. SMU rebounded to beat No. 6 Pitt in the Cotton Bowl and finished second behind 11-1 Penn State.
10. Chris Petersen, Boise State
Season: 2006
Preseason ranking: Unranked
Record: 13-0
Final ranking: 5th
The buzz: Boise State ended the season by upsetting Oklahoma in overtime in the Fiesta Bowl in one of the most memorable bowl games (heck, one of the most memorable games, period) in history. Petersen was promoted from offensive coordinator after Dan Hawkins left for Colorado following a 9-5 season in 2005. Boise State scored at least 40 points nine times in ’06, including the epic 43-42 upset of Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. That game featured a late-game hook-and-ladder by Boise State to force overtime. The Broncos won it on a two-point conversion on a “Statue of Liberty” play; the two-point conversion came after Boise State scored on an option pass off an end-around. Boise State finished as the only unbeaten team in the nation.
9. Urban Meyer, Ohio State
Season: 2012
Preseason ranking: 18th
Record: 12-0
Final ranking: 3rd
The buzz: Ohio State was ineligible for a bowl because of NCAA sanctions committed during the regime of Meyer predecessor Jim Tressel. Meyer had won two national titles in six seasons at Florida before stepping down for health reasons following the 2010 season. After working as an ESPN analyst in 2011, he took the Ohio State job. Ohio State was 6-7 in 2011 under interim coach Luke Fickell following Tressel’s resignation in the wake of an NCAA probe. Ohio State’s offensive players took quickly to Meyer’s spread offense to help the Buckeyes finish unbeaten. The Buckeyes scored at least 50 points four times and finished off the season by beating Michigan.
8. Fred Akers, Texas
Season: 1977
Preseason ranking: Unranked
Record: 11-1
Final ranking: 4th
The buzz: Texas was unbeaten and No. 1 going into the bowls, but committed six turnovers to lose to Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl. Akers was a longtime assistant at Texas before leaving to become coach at Wyoming in 1975 and ’76; he returned to replace Darrell Royal, who retired after a 5-5-1 mark in 1976. Texas outscored its foes 184-15 in the first three games and kept cruising until the Cotton Bowl, when the Irish hammered the Longhorns 38-10 and ascended to No. 1 in the final polls. Texas fell from first to fourth; Arkansas, who lost to Texas in Fayetteville, was third in Lou Holtz’s first season with the Hogs (Arkansas was sixth heading into the postseason).
7. Earle Bruce, Ohio State
Season: 1979
Preseason ranking: Unranked
Record: 11-1
Final ranking: 4th
The buzz: Ohio State was No. 1 at the end of the regular season but lost 17-16 to USC in the Rose Bowl. Bruce had spent six seasons as coach at Iowa State when he was hired to replace Woody Hayes, who was fired after he punched Clemson’s Charlie Bauman during the 1978 Gator Bowl. The Buckeyes steamrolled to an 11-0 regular-season record and a No. 1 ranking. In the Rose Bowl, Trojans TB Charles White scored the game-winning touchdown in the final minute. Ohio State allowed more than 17 points just once that season and held seven opponents to single digits.
6. Terry Bowden, Auburn
Season: 1993
Preseason ranking: Unranked
Record: 11-0
Final ranking: 4th
The buzz: The Tigers were the nation’s lone unbeaten team but ineligible for the postseason (including the SEC title game) because of NCAA sanctions committed during the regime of Bowden predecessor Pat Dye. Dye resigned at the end of the ’92 season in the fallout of the NCAA investigation, and Auburn hired Bowden, then the coach at Division I-AA Samford in Birmingham, Ala. (That he was Bobby Bowden’s son probably played a role, too.) Bowden revved up the Tigers’ ground-bound offense: Auburn scored at least 30 points eight times in Bowden’s first season after doing that just seven times in the previous three seasons combined. His dad’s one-loss FSU team won the national title, the elder Bowden’s first national crown.
5. Barry Switzer, Oklahoma
Season: 1973
Preseason ranking: 12th
Record: 10-0-1
Final ranking: 3rd
The buzz: The Sooners were ineligible for a bowl because of NCAA sanctions committed during the regime of Switzer predecessor Chuck Fairbanks. Fairbanks was hired by the New England Patriots after the 1972 season, and Switzer – who was OU’s offensive coordinator – was promoted. OU finished 11-1 in Fairbanks’ final season; the Sooners then went 29-0-1 in Switzer’s first 30 games as coach. The only blemish was a 7-7 tie at USC in the second game of the 1973 season. After that one, the Sooners won their remaining nine games that season by an average of 27 points per contest. It was the first of eight consecutive Big Eight titles under Switzer.
4. John Robinson, USC
Season: 1976
Preseason ranking: 8th
Record: 11-1
Final ranking: 2nd
The buzz: Robinson had been USC’s offensive coordinator under John McKay, then left to become running backs coach of the Oakland Raiders for the 1975 season. When McKay left USC to coach the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Robinson was brought back to replace him. USC opened the 1976 season with a 46-25 home loss to Missouri, the only time all season the Trojans allowed more than 24 points and one of just two times they allowed more than 14. USC then rolled to 11 wins in a row, including an upset of No. 2 Michigan in the Rose Bowl. The Trojans beat then-No. 2 UCLA and then-No. 13 Notre Dame in their final two regular-season games; they allowed 33 total points in their final three games.
3. Gus Malzahn, Auburn
Season: 2013
Preseason ranking: Unranked
Record: 12-2
Final ranking: 2nd (the Tigers lost to Florida State in the BCS Championship Game)
The buzz: Malzahn was Auburn’s offensive coordinator when the Tigers won the national title in 2010, then left after the 2011 season to coach at Arkansas State. Auburn went 3-9 in ’12 and Gene Chizik was fired; Malzahn was brought back to replace Chizik. Auburn went 11-1 in the regular season, then hammered Missouri in the SEC title game before falling 34-31 to FSU in the final BCS title game. The Tigers scored at least 30 points 12 times, including in each of the final 10 games, and at least 43 points six times. Three of the 43-point games came against ranked teams.
2. Dennis Erickson, Miami
Season: 1989
Preseason ranking: 4th
Record: 11-1
Final record: 1st
The buzz: Erickson, who had just finished his second season at Washington State, was hired when Jimmy Johnson left to coach the Dallas Cowboys. Erickson took over a program that had gone 44-4 in the previous four seasons, with one national title and two No. 2 finishes. Erickson’s staff included three future head coaches (Sonny Lubick, Ed Orgeron and Tommy Tuberville); one of his offensive linemen (Mario Cristobal) also became a head coach. Behind a defense featuring numerous future NFL standouts (including DTs Cortez Kennedy and Russell Maryland), Miami opened 6-0, outscoring foes by a combined 250-49. The Hurricanes lost at No. 9 Florida State in their seventh game and dropped from second to seventh in the polls. But they ended the season on a four-game winning streak, including a dominant 17-point win over top-ranked Notre Dame in the regular-season finale, then beat No. 7 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Notre Dame beat top-ranked Colorado in the Orange Bowl and second-ranked UM ascended to No. 1 in the final polls.
1. Larry Coker, Miami
Season: 2001
Preseason ranking: 2nd
Record: 12-0
Final ranking: 1st
The buzz: Coker took over a loaded team after he was promoted from offensive coordinator following Butch Davis’ departure to become coach of the Cleveland Browns. How loaded? Frank Gore, the No. 3 rusher in NFL history, was the No. 3 running back, behind Willis McGahee and Clinton Portis. Among the backups: Antrell Rolle, Sean Taylor, Vince Wilfork and Kellen Winslow Jr. Miami had gone 11-1 under Davis in 2000. In ’01, the Hurricanes won every game but one by double-digits, won every game but two by at least 22, won four times won by at least 40 and three times by at least 58.
Other first-year coaches who were considered: LSU’s Mike Archer in 1987, Wisconsin’s Bret Bielema in 2006, Miami (Ohio)’s Dick Crum in 1974, Washington State’s Bill Doba in 2003, Maryland’s Ralph Friedgen in 2001, Florida’s Galen Hall in 1985, USC’s Clay Helton in 2016, Houston’s Tom Herman in 2015, UCF’s Josh Heupel in 2018, Arkansas’ Lou Holtz in 1977, Boston College’s Jeff Jagodzinski in 2007, Houston’s John Jenkins in 1990, Oklahoma State’s Pat Jones in 1984, LSU’s Les Miles in 2005, Michigan’s Gary Moeller in 1990, Colorado’s Rick Neuheisel in 1995, Nebraska’s Tom Osborne in 1973, Syracuse’s Paul Pasqualoni in 1991, Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley in 2017, Stanford’s David Shaw in 2011, Florida’s Steve Spurrier in 1990 and Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin in 2012.