Best job an FCS coach took.

[Sycamore62]

I've heard a lot of people talk about Wyoming not being a step up for Bohl. Aside from Tressel taking the Ohio St job, what do you think the best job that an FCS coach ever moved to. I can't think of one that they took because the previous coach was successful and went to a better job.

[DFW HOYA]

Jim Harbaugh.

[Mountaineer]

Chip Kelly was the offensive coordinator at New Hampshire before heading off to Oregon and now Philly.

[Big_Fan]

I've heard a lot of people talk about Wyoming not being a step up for Bohl. Aside from Tressel taking the Ohio St job, what do you think the best job that an FCS coach ever moved to. I can't think of one that they took because the previous coach was successful and went to a better job.

Thats a good question...

Terry Bowden to Auburn is a big jump to a program that is a proven winner, but it is a headache to coach there because of meddling boosters.

Charley Pell went from Jax State to Clemson... but JSU was NAIA / NCAA D2 at that time.

Gary Darnell went from Tennessee Tech to Florida, but he had a stint as an assistant in-between... that is not uncommon, or at least wasn't. Probably my biggest concern with Coach Clark is that he will get a big time offer to be a defensive coordinator at an FBS school. We can't match the salary of a BCS conference school.

[I-AA Fan]

well if you are going down to assistants ...besides Tressel at OSU. YSU also had
Marc Dantonio now at Michigan State, Mark Snyder to Marshall, Mark Mangino at Kansas, Jerry Olsavsky went to the Steelers, Brian Wright is now the head coach at Florida Atlantic, Don Treadwell was OC at Michigan State & then HC at Miami. There is a few more but those are the only recent ones that I can remember.

[Texas]

Craig Bohl - Wyoming

[eaglewraith]

Maybe not the most prestigious, but I think Paul Johnson going to Navy was a good move for him. Also led the Midshipmen to their first victory over Notre Dame in like ~40 years. Success there led to him going to GT. Granted, he hasn't won any national championships, but that's a good place for him. Just gotta get the right pieces in place.

- - - Updated - - -

Maybe not the most prestigious, but I think Paul Johnson going to Navy was a good move for him. Also led the Midshipmen to their first victory over Notre Dame in like ~40 years. Success there led to him going to GT. Granted, he hasn't won any national championships, but that's a good place for him. Just gotta get the right pieces in place.

[skinny_uncle]

Wyoming might just be another stepping stone for Bohl, much like Northern Illinois was for Jerry Kill before he took the Minnesota job.

[AppMan]

Sparky Woods went from App State to South Carolina.

[aces1180]

Jerry Kill from Southern to Northern Illinois wasn't a bad move...

[Pards Rule]

Joe Moglia to TD Ameritrade!!! Former Lafayette LB coach too 1978-80.

[chattanoogamocs]

Tommy West went from Chattanooga to Clemson...he was equally mediocre at both (and Memphis too)



The University of Chattanooga was the Alabama coaching pipeline for quite a while back in the good ole days...

Frank Thomas coached the Mocs 1925-1928, going 26-9-2 (winning two SIAA titles).

He went to Alabama and coached from 1931-1946, winning 2 National Championships (two undefeated Rose Bowl Champions) and had over overall record of 115-24-7. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.

Harold Drew was an assistant to Thomas at Chattanooga, took over as the head coach of the Mocs for 2 seasons before becoming an assistant at Alabama under Thomas...he took over when Thomas retired and coached the Tide from 1947-1954, with a record of 54-28-7.

Ironically, Alabama went to the Chattanooga "well" one more time and tried to hire the Mocs coaching legend Scrappy Moore (who was also an asst at UC under Thomas and Drew)...but at the time, believe it or not, the pay wasn't significantly more at Alabama (he was reportedly offered $15,000 and he was making $10,000 at Chattanooga and said he didn't want to pull his son out of local private school, McCallie), so he passed on the offer. Who did Alabama end up hiring? Yep...Paul "Bear" Bryant

Scrappy Moore was born in Chattanooga, played QB at Georgia in the 1920's...he came back home to coach at UC and never left. He was head coach of the Mocs for 35 years, winning 171 games (playing 2-5 ACC/SEC teams every year) and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

[skinny_uncle]

Rey Dempsey went from SIU to Memphis, but it didn't work out that well in the long run.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Either Jim Tressel (Ohio State) or Jim Donnan (Georgia).

[McNeese75]

Brian VanGorder - GSU to Atlanta Falcons xwhistlex :D

[Bill]

Darren Rizzi - URI to Miami Dolphins

[FormerPokeCenter]

Doug Williams from Grambling HC to Tampa Bay, as an administrator...

[Cleets]

Nobody mentioned the classic blunder (and I'm NOT talking about a land war in Asia)
I'm talking: Bobby Hauk to UNLV

(however they did extend his contract I understand... and he's bowl bound)

[Sader87]

Just for completists/FCS historians, Mark Duffner left Holy Cross for Maryland after the 1991 season. Didn't have a lot of success (but not as bad as some will tell you: 3-8, 2-9, 4-7, 6-5 and 5-6) in 5 years there....has been in the NFL ever since, currently the LB coach with the Jaguars.

Pre-FCS era Holy Cross, Dr Eddie Anderson left HC for Iowa in 1940 and then returned to coach Holy Cross from 1950-1964. Coach Anderson is in the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach.

[poly51]

Jim Harbaugh

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Jim Harbaugh

When Harbaugh took over the Stanford football program was a dumpster fire. In fact, I don't think it's unreasonable to say that the Stanford job in 2007 was on the very short list of worst BCS jobs. Even the Virginia program that Al Groh left for Mike London was in much better shape imo.

You might not see a FCS coach go to a program like Ohio State or Georgia for another 25 years, or ever...

[DFW HOYA]

When Harbaugh took over the Stanford football program was a dumpster fire. In fact, I don't think it's unreasonable to say that the Stanford job in 2007 was on the very short list of worst BCS jobs. Even the Virginia program that Al Groh left for Mike London was in much better shape imo.

The Stanford job has never been at that level. It was a 5-6 team under Walt Harris as late as 2005 and was a regular 4-7 entrant under Buddy Teevens.

I would not put Stanford in the basket with SMU, Rice, Temple, or Duke during this period. Take a look at the records of Ted Roof or Carl Franks at Duke as examples.

[Baldy]

Frank Beamer from Murray State to Virginia Tech. Lou Holtz from William & Mary to NC State.
The list is very long.

[AmsterBison]

Tressel's jump seems to be the best.

On the NDSU side, Casey Bradley, NDSU's DC, brought his Tampa 2 experience to Tampa Bay and quickly jumped to the DC at Seattle and now is the Jacksonville Jaguar head coach.

NDSU's modern-era coaches:
---FCS---
Craig Bohl: Wyoming.
---D2----
Bob Babich: DC Chicago Bears. If you want to talk about a move where everybody won, that is it.
Rocky Hager: Assistant at Temple. Pretty much got fired from NDSU but is still one of the most beloved coaches in program history.
Earl Solomonson: HC Montana State. NDSU won on that one, Montana State lost.
Don Morton: HC Tulsa for two years, then HC Wisconsin.
Jim Wacker: HC Texas State, then TCU, then Minnesota.
Ev Kjelbertson: Fired and don't think he got another job. You cannot have a .566 winning percentage at NDSU and expect to keep your job.
Ron Erhardt: Went to the New England Patriots, got promoted to OC then HC. OC for the Giants (Super Bowl) and NY Jets too.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

The Stanford job has never been at that level. It was a 5-6 team under Walt Harris as late as 2005 and was a regular 4-7 entrant under Buddy Teevens.

I would not put Stanford in the basket with SMU, Rice, Temple, or Duke during this period. Take a look at the records of Ted Roof or Carl Franks at Duke as examples.

I did say the short list of worst BCS jobs. Off the top of my head, the worst BCS jobs in 2007 were probably Stanford, Duke, Mississippi State, Baylor, and Indiana.

AP Article on Harbaugh hiring at Stanford from December 2006....
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/pac10/2006-12-18-stanford-harbaugh_x.htm

[Go Green]

When Harbaugh took over the Stanford football program was a dumpster fire. In fact, I don't think it's unreasonable to say that the Stanford job in 2007 was on the very short list of worst BCS jobs. Even the Virginia program that Al Groh left for Mike London was in much better shape imo.



Stanford became a lot more attractive for Harbaugh when Stanford fired their admissions director and agreed to lower standards. It was a big reason why Teevens and Harris didn't have more success there.

http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/HIGHER-STANDARDS-Stanford-teams-finding-it-s-2589894.php

[Go Green]

Just for completists/FCS historians, Mark Duffner left Holy Cross for Maryland after the 1991 season. Didn't have a lot of success (but not as bad as some will tell you: 3-8, 2-9, 4-7, 6-5 and 5-6) in 5 years there....has been in the NFL ever since, currently the LB coach with the Jaguars.

Pre-FCS era Holy Cross, Dr Eddie Anderson left HC for Iowa in 1940 and then returned to coach Holy Cross from 1950-1964. Coach Anderson is in the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach.

Buddy Teevens left Dartmouth in 1991 to take over Tulane. Although he didn't get as many wins there, he left the program in much better shape than he found and Terry Bowden was able to turn Teevens' recruits into an undefeated team.

More recently, Jim Knowles leaving Cornell to become the Duke Defensive Coordinator looks like a good move.

[DFW HOYA]

Stanford became a lot more attractive for Harbaugh when Stanford fired their admissions director and agreed to lower standards.

By lowering standards, Stanford went from the toughest Pac-10 school for admission to the...toughest.

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports/2008/11/06/pac-10-football-admissions-data-for-all-schools/

[PaladinFan]

He didn't go from a top program, but Bobby Johnson's move from Furman to Vanderbilt was a good one. Not often an FCS coach lands directly as the head man at an SEC school. High academic standards, nice paycheck, and low expectations.

[Go Green]

By lowering standards, Stanford went from the toughest Pac-10 school for admission to the...toughest.



:)

Still, hard feelings can result when your best recruits are being rejected by admissions... and suiting up for Harvard a few months later (as the Stanford soccer coach complained).

[Big_Fan]

Buddy Teevens left Dartmouth in 1991 to take over Tulane. Although he didn't get as many wins there, he left the program in much better shape than he found and Terry Bowden was able to turn Teevens' recruits into an undefeated team.

More recently, Jim Knowles leaving Cornell to become the Duke Defensive Coordinator looks like a good move.

That would be Tommy Bowden.

Terry was busy eating around that time.

[NDSU Fan]

NDSU's Gus Bradley making it to the Jax Jaguars as the HC taking along former Bison coaches B. Babich and T. Wash!

[Walkon79]

Gotta be Harbaugh from San Diego to Stanford, hands down!!

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Gotta be Harbaugh from San Diego to Stanford, hands down!!

Harbaugh's name has come up quite a few times and I'm trying to figure out why.

Can someone explain the rational behind this? I don't see it coming close to Tressel's, Donnan's or even West's jump.

I've never heard Stanford being mentioned in the same breath as Ohio State, Georgia or Clemson in terms of job prestige. The most impressive aspect about Harbaugh's jump is the fact he did it from a PFL school. But, Stanford was in the dumps so the candidate pool had to be relatively small. Harbaugh had an affinity for Stanford because of his youth/father. If that didn't exist I doubt he ends up there.

[Pard4Life]

Lafayette's Herb McCracken left the Pards in 1935 to help his friend run a new start-up publishing house. It is now the colossus Scholastic Corporation. Pretty good long-term investment!

[colonelblitz]

Danny Hope to Purdue..

[dwtime]

Jack Bicknell from Maine to Boston College to coach a decent QB Doug Flutie. Flutie was supposed to go to UNH btw but Bicknell offered a last minute scholarship if my memory serves me right.

[poly51]

Harbaugh's name has come up quite a few times and I'm trying to figure out why.

Can someone explain the rational behind this? I don't see it coming close to Tressel's, Donnan's or even West's jump.

I've never heard Stanford being mentioned in the same breath as Ohio State, Georgia or Clemson in terms of job prestige. The most impressive aspect about Harbaugh's jump is the fact he did it from a PFL school. But, Stanford was in the dumps so the candidate pool had to be relatively small. Harbaugh had an affinity for Stanford because of his youth/father. If that didn't exist I doubt he ends up there.

School prestige.

Harvard, Yale, Stanford, then everybody else. And of the 3, only Stanford has FBS/BCS Football. Also Stanford Athletics is second only to UCLA in number of National Championships (All sports).

[Go Green]

School prestige.

Harvard, Yale, Stanford, then everybody else. .

In some quarters in New Jersey, them's fighting words.

[walliver]

Harbaugh's name has come up quite a few times and I'm trying to figure out why.

Can someone explain the rational behind this? I don't see it coming close to Tressel's, Donnan's or even West's jump.

I've never heard Stanford being mentioned in the same breath as Ohio State, Georgia or Clemson in terms of job prestige. The most impressive aspect about Harbaugh's jump is the fact he did it from a PFL school. But, Stanford was in the dumps so the candidate pool had to be relatively small. Harbaugh had an affinity for Stanford because of his youth/father. If that didn't exist I doubt he ends up there.

I think part of the reason is that Donnon and West were not successful in their new jobs, and Tressel has his own issues.