Paraphrasing, I was asked this question (PHXTigers) in a previous thread, but I did wayyyy to much F-ing research to have it die as a simple reply, so here is a new thread:

quote:
What other coaches out there would guarantee a better winning percentage than Miles has had since he has been here?

Do not include coordinators who have never been a head coach in college and what not.

Well guarantee is a little strong. You certainly cannot guarantee Miles is going to win 55 of his next 70 games here at LSU, much less another coach.

That being said, we certainly did not hire Miles knowing what he was going to do here, so we have to base the search for a candidate based on what Miles was able to prove BEFORE he took over arguably the most talented team in the country without a coach in 2005.

Before coming to LSU, Miles was 28-21 at Oklahoma State. I guess we should start the search there for coaches who won 57% of their games the last 4 or so years at a school. Also, the guy behind Miles was 30-38 (44%), so we need to find coaches who have improved the winning percentage of their predecessor by +12-13% or more.

Here are 14 guys more and sometimes much more qualified now than Les was in 2005. Let's see:

Bo Pelini (Nebraska): 24-8 (75%) since 2008, Nebraska won 55% of its games from 2004-2007. +20%

Paul Johnson (GT) : 22-9 (71%) since 2008, Ga Tech won 57% of its games from 2002-2007. +14%

Jim Grobe (WF) : 61-53 (54%) since 2001, WF won 29% of its games from 1993-2000. Grobe is 33-19 (63%) from 2006-2009. Conservatively +25%

Turner Gill (Buffalo, now Kansas): 20-30 (40%) since 2006, Buffalo won only 19 games (17%) from 1996-2005. +23%

Todd Graham (Tulsa): 21-7 (75%) since 2007, Tulsa won 57% of its games from 2003-2006. +18%

Butch Jones (CMU, now Cinci): 27-13 (68%) since 2007, CMU won 54% of their games from 2003-2006. +14%

Brian Kelly (Cinci, now ND): 34-6 (85%) since 2007, Cinci won 51% of its games from 2003-2006. +34%

Mark Dantonio (Mich St): 25-17 (60%) since 2007, Mich St won 46% from 2000-2006. +14%

Gary Patterson (TCU): 88-28 (76%) since 2000, TCU won 49% of its games from 1992-1999. +27% (How this guy is not already a HC at a big time BCS school is completely beyond me)

Jim Harbaugh (Stanford): 21-20 (53%) since 2007, Stanfrod won 29% of its games from 2001-2006. +24%

June Jones (SMU): 38% since 2008, SMU won 26% of its games from 2002 to 2007. +12%

Skip Holts (ECU, now USF): 38-27 (58%) since 2005, ECU won 27% of its games from 2001-2004. +31%

Art Briles (Baylor): 11-17 (39%) since 2008, Baylor won 26% of its games from 2002-2007. +13%

Greg Schiano (Rutgers): 57-55 (51%) since 2001, Rutgers won 20% of its games from 1996-2000. +31%

Troy Calhoun (Air Force): 28-15 (65%) since 2007, Air Force won 43% of its games from 2003-2006. +22%

Kevin Sumlin (Houston): 20-9 (69%) since 2008, Houston won 55% of its games from 2003-2007. +14%

Others like Kyle Whittingham, Chris Peterson, and Chip Kelly have not necessarily improved their teams, but have excelled in upholding the winning ways into which they walked.

Note: Since Miles has left, Oklahoma State has slightly improved to 58% winning percentage.

Am I missing any other HCs that are not already at big time programs (Saban, Meyer, etc)?

Thoughts on these candidates?

This post was edited on 9/28/10 at 2:13 am