Big Ten coaches bolting for other jobs- some research

[Winnipegopher]

Recent posts have discussed whether it is worthwhile to hire a coach who may bolt at the first signs of success. Off the top of my head I could not remember this happening to a Big Ten team very often (I only remembered Barnett) so I thought I would do a little research. To the best of my knowledge, in recent history (post 1970), this has only happened four times.

• Minnesota: Lou Holtz 1986- dream job at Notre Dame- we all know this story
• Illinois: John Mackovic 1991- Went to Texas coming off four straight bowl games and a conference championship. This must have been devastating for the Illini.
• Northwestern: Gary Barnett, 1998- went to “dream job” in Colorado.
• Michigan State: Nick Saban, 1999 to LSU after 4 years and only 1 very good year.

What does this tell us?

It tells us that coaches don’t bolt that often and when they do, it is usually because of a very good job and a heck of a lot of success. I think we can live with that risk.

Other thoughts:
Indiana: Boy have they been awful in football. Despite have some big names (Wyche, Mallory, Corso) they have not had a coach finish with a winning record since Bo McMillen in 1947. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Hoosiers_football

Purdue: Anyone care to enlighten as to why PU fired Jim Young after one bad year in 1981?

Michigan: I had completely forgotten that Gary Moeller was fired for a videotaped drunken tirade in a bar in 1994. Unfortunately apparently not available on YouTube.

 

[IronRanger91]

Jim Young left due to family issues...he was not fired...more than likely would have remained the coach there for quite some time.

 

[metrolax]

I cannot remember if Jim Young was fired by Purdue or hired away by Army. I'm thinking
he might have been hired away, but don't quote me. He was a great coach- the best one
Army has had since Cahill or Blaik.

 

[Rouser4eVA]

Nice Work!

This was a concern I had, but I think it's because of my Minnesota-bred sports fatalism. Nice post, very enlightening! I'm also curious, did your research reveal any successful coaches who jumped to the NFL after a short stint at a Big Ten school?

Thanks for taking the time to share your work!

 

[Winnipegopher]

This was a concern I had, but I think it's because of my Minnesota-bred sports fatalism. Nice post, very enlightening! I'm also curious, did your research reveal any successful coaches who jumped to the NFL after a short stint at a Big Ten school?

Thanks for taking the time to share your work!

Nope, none that went to the NFL. The only Big Ten coach I know of that went straight to NFL was Bo McMillen at Indiana who went to Detroit in 1948. Apparently he was bored with being AD and coach.

Thanks to those for the Jim Young update. I had no information and just assumed he was let go.

 

[gopherfield]

Let's not forget Indiana football also had Cam Cameron (one-time NFL Head Coach and longtime OC), as well as BTN's own Jerry DiNardo. As bad as their football has been, you can argue they have had one of the best group of well-known coaches in the last 30 years in the BigTen. Certainly better than our list of Gutey, Wacker, Mason, and Brewster.

 

[Goldmember]

It is worth mentioning that Lou was hired to coach at Minnesota because of group of very powerful Downtown Minneapolis/Notre Dame boosters. People have said that Lou often privately joked about the Minnesota interview process as one in which he was sometimes unsure whether he was interviewing for the Minnesota job or the Notre Dame job. The people who were most responsible for bringing him to Minnesota were all ND fanatics first and foremost. Hence, "the Notre Dame clause" being written into his contract.

At the time ND was far away the best job in the country (it still a decent gig today and it is easily a 10th of what it once was).