In with a Bang.... (Updated)

The following is an update to a post from last August, the original which can be found here.

Over the past 20 years there have been 9 coaches to win a national championship within the first 3 years of taking over at head coach of their respective college program, and outside of one, Pete Carroll at USC, that coach never won another one (Urban Meyer won it two years ago so we will have to wait and see, Les Miles (pictured) won it last year and we feel comfortable will never win it again and Pete Carroll won it in his 3rd and 4th seasons. The rest of the lineup is as follows:

Lou Holtz – Notre Dame ’88 (3rd Year)
Gene Stallings – Alabama ’92 (2nd Year)
Lloyd Carr - Michigan '97 (3rd Year)
Bob Stoops – Oklahoma ’00 (2nd Year)
Larry Coker – Miami ’01 (1st Year)
Jim Tressel - Ohio St. ‘02 (3rd Year)

Obviously, each data point has a different backdrop and context from the others…. Holtz continued to field national championship caliber teams after ’88, though the last 3 years were mediocre (23-11-1) by Tying Irish standards. Stallings also, had very good on-field success after his lone championship, though he stepped down in ’96 after an exhaustive 2 yr. investigation of the ‘Bama program which did result in sanctions. Michigan coach Lloyd Carr, though, has not only not won another national title but was perceived as heading a program in gradual decline and was fired, er, stepped down at the end of last season as a result.

Also in the 90s, one has examples conversely of this alleged phenomena where ironically it was two ball coaches that had been at their respective schools for years before winning their first championships in the persons of Bobby Bowden at Florida St. and Dr. Tom Osborne at Nebraska. In fact, those two pretty much owned the decade by combining for 5 National Championships.

Things get a little juicier with this next set. Tressel won in his 3rd year and had a chance to win the title in the last 2 consecutive years before being upset by Florida and Urban Meyer, a 2nd Year guy at the time and then Les Miles of LSU, a year 3 guy. No shame, that.

Larry Coker is the poster-old man for this post. After winning the championship in his very first season with the ‘Canes, his win totals declined thereafter until he was dismissed two years ago. And though by no means is he in the hot seat, Sooner Nation, is getting a little anxious for Bob Stoops to get back to the BCS title game... or least show-up at a BCS bowl game where they have lost their last 4 of which they appeared.

Again… not sure if there are enough data points to lead to anything more conclusive than perhaps that each of the above won primarily with the last guy’s recruits.

We would be remiss if we did not hand out an Honorable Mention-type award as well: Kirk Farentz of Iowa has seen his win totals in steady decline after winning the Big 10 title in both '02 (4th season) and '04 (6th season). And both Ralph Friedgen of Maryland and Chuck Amato as HC at NC State who were fired at the end of the ’06 season, shared similar career arcs starting at the beginning of the decade in the ACC.

It will be interesting to see how Tressel, Stoops, Meyer and Miles, coaches who man one of the 7 or 8 mega-programs in the nation, fare in the coming years.