Since our beloved coach is about to retire, I wanted to think about how "the guys after the guys" did. It's not comprehensive, but I wanted to find coaches who were the faces of their athletic program and coached at an institution for 15 years or more. It's kinda hard to go back in time to recreate context, but I gave it a shot. So here's what I found....
Bear Bryant's Successor (Ray Perkins) - 4 seasons, 3 top 15 finishes, record of 32-15-1 at Alabama. Had a losing record in '84 which enraged Bama boosters. After a 10-3 season and top 10 finish in '86, he left to coach the TB Bucs and Bama fans basically said "get out and good riddance."
Tom Osborne's Successor (Frank Solich) - 58-19 (6 seasons) at Nebraska, 3 top 10 finishes, National Title Game Appearance, 1 Big XII title. Year after getting to the National Championship Game, went 7-7, then went 9-3 the next year. Cornhuskers were not satisfied so they canned him.
Joe Paterno's Successor (Bill O'Brien) - Helped lead Penn State through sanctions. Won Coach of the Year in 2012. Famously complained about "Paterno people" breathing down his neck. Did a very good job, but was never made comfortable. Left for the Texans after 2 seasons.
Bobby Bowden's Successor (Jimbo Fisher) - 6 successful seasons so far, National title, home run hire.
Woody Hayes' Successor (Earle Bruce) - 81-26-1 at Ohio State, 8 top 15 finishes in 9 years. College HOFer as a coach. A lot of 9-3 years, canned for not winning enough
Bob Devaney's Successor (Tom Osborne) - Possibly the greatest college football coach of all time. We all know how amazing he was.
Bo Schembechler's Successor (Gary Moeller) - 44-13-3 in 5 seasons at Michigan, 3 top 10 finishes. Fired after drunken incident at a restaurant.
Darrell Royal's Successor (Fred Akers) - 86-31-2 in 10 years at Texas, 4 top 10 finishes. Struggled in rivalry and bowl games, poor last 3 years, left for Purdue when the heat was on breaking no Longhorn fan's heart.
Vince Dooley's Successor (Ray Goff) - 2 good seasons with Georgia, but he wasn't a very good head coach. Losing SEC record in 7 years, dubbed "Ray Goof" and constantly ridiculed by Steve Spurrier. Had trouble handling players. Great recruiter, was not ready to be head coach. Fired.
Don Nehlen's Successor (Rich Rodriguez) - 60-26 in 7 seasons. WVU had fallen into a slump at the end with Nehlen and Rodriguez kicked the program into another gear. Finished with 3 straight 10+ win, top 10 finish seasons. 60 mins away from a national title game in 2007. Great fit, he could have really built something special but he left for the Michigan job.
Bud Wilkinson's Successor (Gomer Jones) - 9-11-1 in 2 seasons at Oklahoma. Nothing worthy of noting. Resigned.
Don James's Successor (Jim Lambright) - 44-25-1 in 6 seasons at Washington. Shared a Pac 10 title once, but nothing significant. Fired after a 6-6 season.
Barry Alvarez's Successor (Bret Bielema) - 68-24 in 7 seasons at Wisconsin. 3 top 10 finishes, 4 seasons of 10+ wins. Went to the Rose Bowl 3 straight years. Another situation where he had the program on the right path but then he left for Arkansas.
Mack Brown's Successor (Charlie Strong) - 9-12 so far at Texas and people already want him gone. A lot of people didn't want him there to begin with. It's early and I think he can get it turned around if given time. The administration/boosters have claimed they'll stick by him, but IDK how long they are willing to wait.
John McKay's Successor (John Robinson) - In total, 104-35-4 at USC in 12 seasons. First 7 season stint, finished in the top 2 three times. Won a share of the National Title in 1978. 3 Rose Bowl wins. 5 years at USC the 2nd time around: 3 top 25 seasons, won the Pac 10 twice and won another Rose Bowl.
LaVell Edwards' Successor (Gary Crowton) - 26-23 in 4 seasons at BYU, 12-2 his first year and followed it up with 3 straight losing seasons. I think he was in a tough spot because BYU at the end of the Edwards Era was pretty similar to Texas at the end of the Mack Brown Era. Either way, it didn't work out. Resigned.
Hayden Fry's Successor (Kirk Ferentz) - 123-85 in 17 seasons so far. I think other than Osborne, Ferentz is the most beloved guy on the list by his fanbase. Started off slow, but he took Iowa to new heights. 4 top 10 finishes, 4 10+ win seasons. Currently 8-0 and in the thick of the playoff hunt. Stayed loyal despite NFL calls. Iowa stayed loyal to him despite middling years. Once Beamer retires, Ferentz will be the 2nd longest tenure coached in FBS (because Bob Stoops was hired 2 days earlier). It has been a perfect marriage.
Bill Snyder's Successor the First Time (Ron Prince) - 17-20 in 3 seasons at Kansas State. Wildcats fans certainly did not like this guy. After Prince, KSU fans realized they needed Bill Snyder back. I guess that's what happens when you hire an assistant from LOLUVA, right? Fired.
Frank Beamer's Successor - ????
Thoughts? Any lessons can we learn from this?
Comments
The only thing I'll point out is that before this years run by Iowa, a large portion of the fan base wanted Ferentz out and said he was way overpaid.
I think to gather any sort of conclusions from this list, you'd have to establish what kind of backgrounds the hits and misses had before they were hired.
Ok, I can look at the new coach's relationship is to the old coach and the program:
Ray Perkins - Played for Bear at Bama
Frank Solich - Played for Nebraska, coached for Osborne
Bill O'Brien - Outsider
Jimbo Fisher - Coached Under Bowden
Earle Bruce - Played for Hayes, Coached for Hayes
Tom Osborne - Coached Under Devanney
Gary Moeller - Coached Under Schembechler
Fred Akers - Coached Under Royal
Ray Goff - Played for Dooley, Coached Under Dooley
Rich Rodriguez - Played for Nehlen, Coached Under Nehlen for a year a decade before taking the job
Gomer Jones - Coached Under Wilkinson
Jim Lambright - Played for Washington, Coached Under James
Bret Bielema - Coached Under Alvarez
Charlie Strong - Outsider
John Robinson - Coached Under John McKay
Gary Crowton - Was a Grad Assistant for Edwards 20 years before the hire, but that's it
Kirk Ferentz - Coached Under Hayden Fry
Ron Prince - Outsider
0/3 on the outsiders being successful, granted not really O'breins fault.
A few others to consider (maybe not legends, but fixtures) -
Jim Tressel - there was an interim to finish out the 2011 season and then Urban Meyer came in
Phil Fulmer - Lane Kiffin went 7-6 (losing to VT in the bowl) before bolting for a "better" job at USCw
Pete Carroll - Lane Kiffin went 28-15 and was fired on his way back from an away loss at ASU
Steve Spurrier (UF) - Ron Zook went 23-15 and was fired mid way through his third season
Lou Holtz (ND) - Bob Davie was Holt's DC and was promoted to HC, going 35-25 and being fired after 5 seasons
Guess it would be best to stay away from Lane Kiffin
Lessons learned? As the saying goes, you don't want to be the guy that follows The Guy.
A few more:
Lloyd Carr's successor (Rich Rodriquez) - Went 15-22 overall and 6-18 in Big 10 in three seasons. Worst overall and conference winning percentage of the 19 head coaches to serve at Michigan.
Duffy Daugherty's successor (Denny Stolz) - went 19-13-1 in 3 seasons at Michigan State. An NCAA investigation revealed that MSU committed 34 recruiting violations between 1972 and 1975. The Spartans were banned from television and bowl games for three years and Stolz resigned.
Frank Broyles' successor (Lou Holtz) - compiled a 60-21-2 record and went to 6 bowl games in 7 seasons at Arkansas before being fired after a 6-5 season for reasons not fully known. Holtz was widely considered the favorite to replace Woody Hayes, but didn't want to follow Hayes and chose to go to Minnesota instead.
George Welsh's successor (Al Groh) - nothing to be said here that isn't known by everyone on this board - and possibly all of mankind.