A Look at the Debut Years of Big 12 Coaches
by Beergut on Oct 7, 2008 10:13 AM CDT
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PrintAfter viewing the struggles of Mike Sherman in his first season as head coach at A&M, I wondered how other coaches had done in their debut seasons. I took a look at all Big 12 coaches; if the school has a new coach this season, I looked at the previous head coach at that school.
| School | Coach | Year | Record | Signature Win |
| Colorado | Dan Hawkins | 2006 | 2-10 | Texas Tech |
| Iowa State | Gene Chizik | 2007 | 3-9 | Iowa |
| Kansas | Mark Mangino | 2002 | 2-10 | None |
| Kansas State | Ron Prince | 2006 | 7-6 | texas |
| Missouri | Gary Pinkel | 2001 | 4-7 | Kansas |
| Nebraska | Bill Callahan | 2004 | 5-6 | None |
| Baylor | Guy Morris | 2003 | 3-9 | Colorado |
| Oklahoma | Bob Stoops | 1999 | 7-5 | Texas A&M |
| Oklahoma State | Mike Gundy | 2005 | 4-7 | Texas Tech |
| Texas A&M | Dennis Franchione | 2003 | 4-8 | None |
| texas | Mack Brown | 1998 | 9-3 | Texas A&M |
| Texas Tech | Mike Leach | 2000 | 7-6 | None |
Notable: 8 of 12 conference schools experienced a losing season under their new head coach in his debut season. Of the 4 schools who had a winning season, only texas in 1998 experienced a winning percentage above 60%. texas is also the only school to win a bowl game in their new coach's debut season.
It helps to have an upset "signature" win in your debut season, partly to show that your program is headed in the right direction, and partly to get your fans excited about the future. It is even better if your signature win is over a rival. Gary Pinkel, Mack Brown, and Gene Chizik are the only three Big 12 coaches who were able to accomplish a signature win over a rival in their debut season.
Conclusion: There really is no quick fix. Only one coach out of twelve had a notably successful debut season (Mack Brown, 1998), and he had the good fortune to have a Heisman Trophy winner on his roster. I think it is important to remember that if you have a new coach, it is because the previous coach wasn't doing a good job, often losing, and the new coach is having to change a culture as well as install his systems in his first season.
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Good breakdown
very interesting…. I guess all us aggies need to back away from the ledge a little bit.
Interesting
I was wondering earlier about Macks first year record. Interesting to note that Stoops and Macks signature wins are over a then declining A&M team. Showing in some ways that as A&M went down, OU and Texas began/reclaimed/massacred their way back to the top of the big 12 (and mainly over us).
no excuse first year coach or not
they still get top talent in the state of tx. coaching and new office does not control if a player cannot hold onto the ball or thow a ball to the defender instead of the wr. as well i think my grandmother could get in the back field against their o-line.
"Hey, I think it's easy for guys to hit .300 and stay in the big leagues. Hit .200 and try to stick around as long as I did; I think it's a much greater accomplishment. That's hard."-- Bob Uecker
by dmurphnextrusygreer on Oct 7, 2008 2:54 PM CDT reply actions
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