The Coaches who overachieve.

Redwood Forrest

Hall of Fame
Sep 19, 2003
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Just for fun I thought I would do a list of the coaches who overachieve. These coaches do More with Less. Over the past four years these coaches have finished higher in their conference than they should have, according to recruiting. Kirk Ferentz leads the pack by finishing SIX places higher in B1G standings than his recruiting had him. Obviously a pretty good HC, but Ferentz just can't recruit ..... or is it good players just don't want to go to Iowa?

Power Five
Kirk Ferentz Iowa 6

Bill Snyder Kansas St 4
Bobby Petrino Louisville 4
Steve Addizeo Boston Col 4
Dan Mullen Miss State 4

Paul Johnson Georgia Tech 3
Mike Gundy Okla St 3
David Shaw Stanford 3

Hugh Freeze Mississippi 2
Dabo Sweeny Clemson 2
Larry Fedora N Carolina 2


Group of Five
Ken Niumatalolo Navy 3

Rick Stockstill MTSU 3
Skip Holtz La Tech 3
David Bailiff Rice 3
Bobby Wilder Old Domin 3
Sean Kugler UTEP 3

Rod Carey No. Illinois 3
Frank Solich Ohio 3
Terry Bowden Akron 3

Rocky Long San Deigo St 3
Matt Wells Utah St 3
Troy Calhoun Air Force 3

Scott Satterfield Appalach St 3
Paul Petrino Idaho 3
 

deliveryman35

Hall of Fame
Jul 26, 2003
12,998
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Gadsden, AL
Kirk Ferentz is extremely overrated imo. He has racked up a lot of wins over the years against very weak opponents, while his record in big games is not very good. When you consider the competition that he faces and his entire body of work, I think Dan Mullen is the biggest overachiever on that list.
 
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Redwood Forrest

Hall of Fame
Sep 19, 2003
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907
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76
Boaz, AL USA
Kirk Ferentz is extremely overrated imo. He has racked up a lot of wins over the years against very weak opponents, while his record in big games is not very good. When you consider the competition that he faces and his entire body of work, I think Dan Mullen is the biggest overachiever on that list.
I had the same thought myself. It would be Mullen or Snyder ahead of Ferentz.
 

TheTradition

All-SEC
Nov 6, 2010
1,679
65
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Alabaster, AL
I have to agree about Ferentz. He's one of the higher paid coaches at almost 4.5 million per year, and he has one good season every five years.

Mullen does a fantastic job for where he is. If he wasn't so goofy, he would probably get a lot more praise. He's the best State can get.

Not sure Dabo can be considered an overachiever any more if this is based solely off recruiting. Maybe in his early years at Clemson, but they recruit as good as anyone now.

Fedora is another one who I think is way overrated.
 
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Redwood Forrest

Hall of Fame
Sep 19, 2003
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I have to agree about Ferentz. He's one of the higher paid coaches at almost 4.5 million per year, and he has one good season every five years.

Mullen does a fantastic job for where he is. If he wasn't so goofy, he would probably get a lot more praise. He's the best State can get.

Not sure Dabo can be considered an overachiever any more if this is based solely off recruiting. Maybe in his early years at Clemson, but they recruit as good as anyone now.

Fedora is another one who I think is way overrated.
Clemson is a little strange. They average 13.6 over the past five years, which puts them third (if I count Notre Dame) and second if I don't. So ...... Clemson is 2nd or 3rd in the ACC 'crooting but finishes in First place in the ACC. That makes Dabo and overachiever. This is not meant to be an end all chart, just something to think about.

BTW, there is no way Coach Saban can overachieve. #1 classes mean he cannot overachieve. Neither can Urban in the B1G, or Stoop in the Big 12, or USC out West.
 
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selmaborntidefan

TideFans Legend
Mar 31, 2000
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Just for fun I thought I would do a list of the coaches who overachieve. These coaches do More with Less. Over the past four years these coaches have finished higher in their conference than they should have, according to recruiting. Kirk Ferentz leads the pack by finishing SIX places higher in B1G standings than his recruiting had him. Obviously a pretty good HC, but Ferentz just can't recruit ..... or is it good players just don't want to go to Iowa?

Power Five
Kirk Ferentz Iowa 6
Might be because of the names in the conference. Let's face it: Iowa is NEVER going to lead the Big Ten in recruiting. By sheer names, Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State and POSSIBLY Wisconsin and maybe even Nebraska automatically will finish higher in recruiting rankings. This means that Ferentz can never finish higher than fourth at absolute best and probably not higher than sixth.

Plus, is he really that good?

He lost to the ND State Bison last year. ("oh, but they're so good!" - they're still second division talent for the most part in a state not known for football).

Plus, how much of this is due to his really good defense in 2015? He's sorta like Don Nehlen at West Virginia. Every five years he has a contender for the B1G title, usually based on the notion he has a lot of seniors because he doesn't have a lot of juniors drafted (pardon my cynicism).

Go look at his annual record - he's basically the usual 8-5 Auburn and that's in an ABOVE normal year for him. He had great seasons in 2002, 2004, 2009, and 2015. The rest of his career is a bunch of 7-6 seasons.

Now look just a little bit closer:

1) He didn't play national champion Ohio State in 2002 (there's a loss for ya)
2) He didn't play Michigan or Ohio State in 2015, which is why it was suspicious when he got to the B1G title game undefeated

OK, he DID beat Harbaugh in 2016, but he was also 8-5.
 

selmaborntidefan

TideFans Legend
Mar 31, 2000
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I think Mullen is one of the best coaches out there.

Remember that this guy heads the SECOND program in a three-program small state and is geographically closest to that Big Red Monser in Tuscaloosa. Yet look at some of the years he's had. 2016 was a 'first year with Dak gone' recovery.

2015 - went 9-4

2014 - 10-3, number one for first time in history of the program after starting the year unranked

2013 - started poorly but went on a winning streak at the end of the year to finish 7-6

2012 - started 7-0, including wins over Auburn and Tennessee; granted, those teams weren't that good, but nobody knew that when the original games were played; did end up 1-5.

2011 - started 3-4, but ended 7-6

2010 - started 1-2 but ended 9-4 and blew out Michigan in the Gator Bowl (say what you wish, but under NO circumstances is MSU's recruiting in the same solar system as Michigan even in a bad year)

Keep in mind he did this while Ole Miss was buying recruits. His record will improve commensurate to the sanctions handed down in Oxford.

He won two rings at Florida. He may be happy and content enough there. MSU is happy with 10-3 trips to highly touted bowl games and beating Ole Miss. He does that and he'll be there until he retires.
 

CrimsonProf

Hall of Fame
Dec 30, 2006
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Birmingham, Alabama
I think Mullen is one of the best coaches out there.

Remember that this guy heads the SECOND program in a three-program small state and is geographically closest to that Big Red Monser in Tuscaloosa. Yet look at some of the years he's had. 2016 was a 'first year with Dak gone' recovery.

2015 - went 9-4

2014 - 10-3, number one for first time in history of the program after starting the year unranked

2013 - started poorly but went on a winning streak at the end of the year to finish 7-6

2012 - started 7-0, including wins over Auburn and Tennessee; granted, those teams weren't that good, but nobody knew that when the original games were played; did end up 1-5.

2011 - started 3-4, but ended 7-6

2010 - started 1-2 but ended 9-4 and blew out Michigan in the Gator Bowl (say what you wish, but under NO circumstances is MSU's recruiting in the same solar system as Michigan even in a bad year)

Keep in mind he did this while Ole Miss was buying recruits. His record will improve commensurate to the sanctions handed down in Oxford.

He won two rings at Florida. He may be happy and content enough there. MSU is happy with 10-3 trips to highly touted bowl games and beating Ole Miss. He does that and he'll be there until he retires.
I think Mullen is a phenomenal coach - he gets incredible effort and execution out of a 3* roster. I'm curious as to whether he could handle the pressures of a blue blood program but I think he's a national championship coach in the right situation.
 

TheRealPokeChop

Hall of Fame
Jul 7, 2010
5,970
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Hueytown, Al
With CKF i would argue that he can recruit, he just tends to have less success with highly touted players. But he has a good reputation of developing talent, especially with linemen, o and d. And as someone mentioned there is something to say for the low level of high school football talent and competition in Iowa making it difficult to find those ready made true 4 star athletes that can make a class pop on the ranking lists.

Whether hes worth his hefty contract or not is good question however considering his overwhelming lack of titles in his tenure at Iowa.
 

Redwood Forrest

Hall of Fame
Sep 19, 2003
11,042
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Boaz, AL USA
With CKF i would argue that he can recruit, he just tends to have less success with highly touted players. But he has a good reputation of developing talent, especially with linemen, o and d. And as someone mentioned there is something to say for the low level of high school football talent and competition in Iowa making it difficult to find those ready made true 4 star athletes that can make a class pop on the ranking lists.

Whether hes worth his hefty contract or not is good question however considering his overwhelming lack of titles in his tenure at Iowa.
CFK has the #53 class of 66 Power Five teams over five years. He has 1 Five star and 2 four stars on his roster. Eighty-two of his players are Three stars. Three teams under him (Illinois, Minnesota and Purdue) are worse at recruiting than he is ..... and he gets to play them every year. Whether it is him or the corn fields of Iowa, something is lacking in recruiting there.
 

UntouchableCrew

All-SEC
Nov 30, 2015
1,530
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I think Ferentz is a very good coach. Iowa does not have much in state talent and isn't a great destination. He's overpaid for sure, but I think you'd be surprised what a "bad" coach would look like in a state like that (Iowa State.)
 

RollTide_HTTR

Hall of Fame
Feb 22, 2017
8,768
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Agreed. I think if you put Mullen in Tuscaloosa people would realize just how good he is. He has to convince players to go to Starkville, for goodness sake...
Is there a reason Mullen hasn't moved on from Starkville? I've always thought he could go to a better program and make some real noise.
 

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