Rookie coaches to win 11 games in their first year

UK Peregrine · Post by **UK Peregrine** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 2:19 pm

I saw this today and was surprised to see that only six D1-A coaches had won 11 games in their rookie year as a head coach (that is to say no prior head coaching experience in the NCAA). And perhaps even more surprising is that two BG coaches are on the list.

2006 Brett Bielema, Wisconsin, 11-1
2003 Gregg Brandon, Bowling Green, 11-3
2001 Larry Coker, Miami, 12-0
1991 Gary Blackney, Bowling Green, 11-1
1976 John Robinson, USC, 11-1
1970 Bill Battle, Tennessee, 11-1

Flipper · Post by **Flipper** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 3:15 pm

I don't know what Tennessee looked like in 1970, but Blackney's first two years look all the more impressive based on this list. Everyone else waltzed into a winning situation. Blackney turned a losing atmosphere squarely around. And he was sustaining that turnaround right up until that fat sonofabitch punter took off down the sidelines. The 1994 team was VERY good, maybe his best and I think we averaged something like 24,000 in attendance that year. Things went south in a hurry and I'll never fully understand why.

Odd that Brandon reaped the rewards of Meyer's (and to an extent his) efforts to turn around the gloomy atmosphere Blackney left under.

TG1996 · Post by **TG1996** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 3:19 pm

Tennessee was 9-2 (SEC champs) the year before Battle took over.

http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia ... ?year=1965

So yeah, Blackney wins.

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 3:40 pm

Interesting list.

Not sure what happened with Blackney...that's still crazy. All I know is that I worked with quite a few of his players towards the end of his tenure, and they were some of the laziest people I've ever known. Some of them would skip weightlifting even...no wonder they were not able to compete at a high level on the field.

Urban turned a lot of that around by driving some of those guys out of the program, or making them realize the hard work that it took to become a good team.

Kudos to Blackney for making this list though. As you guys mentioned all the others marched right into prime winning situations. The only ones I've followed all that closely were Brandon & Coker, and I don't think either of those guys are really fit to be a head coach. Really goes to show that for one year, at least, you can ride the wave of winning that your predecessor established.

Flipper · Post by **Flipper** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 3:44 pm

I wonder what those kids Meyer and co ran off think about today. Meyer has won everywhere he's been and is about to play for a national title. I know it would gnaw at me if I knew that I walked away from a chance to play for one of the top coaches in the nation because I didn't want to work hard enough....

Dayons_Den · Post by **Dayons_Den** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 3:48 pm

Flipper wrote:I wonder what those kids Meyer and co ran off think about today. Meyer has won everywhere he's been and is about to play for a national title. I know it would gnaw at me if I knew that I walked away from a chance to play for one of the top coaches in the nation because I didn't want to work hard enough....

I bet they just leave it as "I was on the first team he was ever a head coach of" to their buddies around the water cooler, failing to mention the length of their stay on Meyer's squad. . .

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 5:03 pm

I was acquaintances with a couple of them that quit the team upon his arrival. I also knew a few that stuck it out...

I haven't seen any of the guys who quit in quite awhile...I'm curious if they regret it?