First-year SEC coaches average a losing record

StuartHammerKSR

After reading Bryan the Intern’s post yesterday morning about first-year coaching success at Kentucky, it became evident that Mark Stoops does not have history working in his favor. Since 1927, first-year coaches at UK have posted a combined 52-97-4 record in their first season. Of course, losing games in a head coach’s first year at the helm is to be expected. It takes time to implement a system, recruit players, and generally get a feel for who is a playmaker on your team. Add to the fact we’re talking about Kentucky football. But it got me thinking… How does that translate to the entire Southeastern Conference? I researched first-year coaches since 1960 at every SEC school (excluding the two newest members, Missouri and Texas A&M) and recorded each coach’s first-year mark. Then I tallied it up with a total W-L record and win percentage. Take note that Arkansas and South Carolina entered the league in 1992. Let’s see how the Kentucky football program stacks up against the rest of the powerhouse conference. The results, summarized at the bottom, probably are not far off from what you expect.

Alabama 1983 (Ray Perkins) 8-4 1987 (Bill Curry) 7-5 1990 (Gene Stallings) 7-5 1997 (Mike DuBose) 4-7 2001 (Dennis Franchione) 7-5 2003 (Mike Shula) 4-9 2007 (Nick Saban) 7-6 TOTAL: 44-41 (.517) Arkansas 1977 (Lou Holtz) 11-1 [SWC] 1984 (Ken Hatfield) 7-4-1 [SWC] 1990 (Jack Crowe) 3-8 [SWC] 1993 (Danny Ford) 5-5-1 1998 (Houston Nutt) 9-3 2008 (Bobby Petrino) 5-7 2012 (John L. Smith) 4-8 TOTAL: 44-36-2 (.536) Auburn 1976 (Doug Barfield) 3-8 1981 (Pat Dye) 5-6 1993 (Terry Bowden) 11-0 1999 (Tommy Tuberville) 5-6 2009 (Gene Chizik) 8-5 TOTAL: 32-25 (.561) Florida 1960 (Ray Graves) 4-5-1 1970 (Doug Dickey) 7-4 1979 (Charley Pell) 0-10-1 1985 (Galen Hall) 9-1-1 1990 (Steve Spurrier) 9-2 2002 (Ron Zook) 8-5 2005 (Urban Meyer) 9-3 2011 (Will Muschamp) 7-6 TOTAL: 53-36-3 (.576) Georgia 1961 (Johnny Griffith) 3-7 1964 (Vince Dooley) 7-3-1 1989 (Ray Goff) 6-6 1996 (Jim Donnan) 5-6 2001 (Mark Richt) 8-4 TOTAL: 29-26-1 (.517) Kentucky 1962 (Charley Bradshaw) 3-5-2 1969 (John Ray) 2-8 1973 (Fran Curci) 5-6 1982 (Jerry Claiborne) 0-10-1 1990 (Bll Curry) 4-7 1997 (Hal Mumme) 5-6 2001 (Guy Morriss) 2-9 2003 (Rich Brooks) 4-8 2010 (Joker Phillips) 6-7 TOTAL: 31-66-3 (.310) LSU 1962 (Charles McClendon) 9-1-1 1980 (Jerry Stovall) 7-4 1984 (Bill Arnsparger) 8-3-1 1987 (Mike Archer) 10-1-1 1991 (Curley Hallman) 5-6 1996 (Gerry DiNardo) 7-4-1 2000 (Nick Saban) 8-4 2005 (Les Miles) 11-2 TOTAL: 65-25-4 (.691)

Mississippi State 1962 (Paul Davis) 3-6 1967 (Charles Shira) 1-9 1973 (Bob Tyler) 4-5-2 1979 (Emory Bellard) 3-8 1986 (Rockey Felker) 6-5 1991 (Jackie Sherrill) 7-5 2004 (Sylvester Croom) 3-8 2009 (Dan Mullen) 5-7 TOTAL: 32-53-2 (.367) Ole Miss 1971 (Billy Kinard) 10-2 1974 (Ken Cooper) 3-8 1978 (Steve Sloan) 5-6 1983 (Billy Brewer) 6-6 1994 (Joe Lee Dunn) 4-7 1995 (Tommy Tuberville) 6-5 1999 (David Cutcliffe) 8-4 2005 (Ed Orgeron) 3-8 2008 (Houston Nutt) 9-4 2012 (Hugh Freeze) 7-6 TOTAL: 51-54 (.485) South Carolina 1961 (Marvin Bass) 4-6 [ACC] 1966 (Paul Dietzel) 1-9 [ACC] 1975 (Jim Carlen) 7-5 [Ind] 1982 (Richard Bell) 4-7 [Ind] 1983 (Joe Morrison) 5-6 [Ind] 1989 (Sparky Woods) 6-4-1 [Ind] 1994 (Brad Scott) 7-5 1999 (Lou Holtz) 0-11 2005 (Steve Spurrier) 7-5 TOTAL: 41-58-1 (.410) Tennessee 1963 (Jim McDonald) 5-5 1964 (Doug Dickey) 4-5-1 1970 (Bill Battle) 11-1 1977 (Johnny Majors) 4-7 1993 (Philip Fulmer) 9-2-1 2009 (Lane Kiffin) 7-6 2010 (Derek Dooley) 6-7 TOTAL: 46-33-2 (.567) Vanderbilt 1963 (Jack Green) 1-7-2 1967 (Bill Pace) 2-7-1 1973 (Steve Sloan) 5-6 1975 (Fred Pancoast) 7-4 1979 (George MacIntyre) 1-10 1986 (Watson Brown) 1-10 1991 (Gerry DiNardo) 5-6 1995 (Ron Dowhower) 2-9 1997 (Woody Widenhofer) 3-8 2002 (Bobby Johnson) 2-10 2010 (Robbie Caldwell) 2-10 2011 (James Franklin) 6-7 TOTAL: 37-94-3 (.276)

********************************* SUMMARY LSU (.691) Florida (.576) Tennessee (.567) Auburn (.561) Arkansas (.536) Alabama (.517) Georgia (.517) South Carolina (.410) Mississippi State (.367) Kentucky (.310) Vanderbilt (.276) The total record for all first-year coaches in the SEC since 1960 is 505-547 (.480). What does all this mean? Mark Stoops has a lot of work to do to break a serious bad-luck trend for first-year Kentucky coaches, and first-year coaches in general. Even in the mighty SEC, some of the best coaches in the game started off without sterling records. To make matters worse, the history at UK since 1960 shows an average W-L of 3.4-7.3. While a four-win season for Stoops might not please much of the Big Blue Nation that would be out-performing his predecessors. Taking baby steps to success isn't such a bad thing.