Coaches From the MAC Straight to the Big Ten Since 1962

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Historical look at some hires. (Hopefully everything is accurate.)

Illinois-Tim Beckman (12-25) record at the school
Indiana-Bill Mallory (69-77-3) Gary Hoeppner (9-14)
Iowa-Frank Lauterbur (4-28-1)
Maryland-No
Michigan-Bo Schembechler (194-48-5)
Michigan State-No
Minnesota-Jerry Kill (29-29)-PJ Fleck (?)
Nebraska-No
Northwestern-Randy Walker (37-46)
Ohio State-No (Didn't count Woody Hayes because he was already there in '62. He did go 9-1 at Miami in 1950 and then took the Ohio State job.)
Penn State-No
Purdue-Darrell Hazell (9-33)
Rutgers-No
Wisconsin-Dave McClain (46-42-3)

MAC Coaches Taking the Next Big Job Since 1962

1962- John Pont. The RedHawk alumnus goes 8-2 at Miami of Ohio, takes the Yale job and a couple of years later goes to Indiana. 1973, leaves Indiana to take the Northwestern job. Overall (63-101-3) Side note-Alex Agase leaves Northwestern and takes the Purdue job (where he played a year of his college career while serving in the Marines) in 1973.
1968-Bo Schembechler goes 7-3 at Miami of Ohio and takes the Michigan job. Overall (234-65-8)
1970-Frank Lauterbur goes 11-0 in 1969 followed by 12-0 in 1970 at Toledo and takes the Iowa job. Overall (52-60-3)
1973-Bill Mallory goes 11-0 at Miami and takes the job at Colorado. Overall (167-130-4)
1977-Dick Crum goes 10-1 at Miami and takes the North Carolina job. Overall (113-77-4)
1977-Dave McClain goes 9-2 at Ball State and takes the Wisconsin job. Overall (72-49-3)
1977-Ed Chleblek goes 8-3 at Eastern Michigan and takes the Boston College job. Overall (26-51)
1981-Chuck Stobart goes 9-3 at Toledo and takes the Utah job. Overall (69-84-3)
1983-Bill Mallory goes 10-2 at Northern Illinois and takes the Indiana job. Second time through the MAC for Bill. Overall (167-30-4)
1990-Nick Saban goes 9-2 at Toledo in his first and only season there and quits to take the DC job with the Cleveland Browns. Overall (210-61-1)
1999-Randy Walker goes 10-1 at Toledo and takes the Northwestern job. Overall (95-82-5)
2000-Gary Pinkel goes 10-1 at Toledo and takes the Missouri job. Overall (191-110-3)
2004-Terry Hoeppner goes 10-1 in 2003 followed by 8-5 in 2004 at Miami and takes Indiana job. Overall (57-39)
2006-Brian Kelly goes 9-4 at Central Michigan and takes the Cincinnati job. Overall (112-53)
2008-Brady Hoke goes 12-1 at Ball State and takes the San Diego State job. Overall (78-70)
2009-Butch Jones goes 11-2 at Central Michigan and takes the Cincinnati job. Overall (80-48)
2010-Al Golden goes 8-4 at Temple and takes the Miami of Florida job. Overall (59-59)
2010-Jerry Kill goes 10-3 at NIU and takes the Minnesota job. Overall (52-45)
2012-Dave Doeren goes 12-1 at NIU and takes the North Carolina State job. Overall (48-30)
2012-Darell Hazell goes 11-3 at Kent State and takes the Purdue job. Overall (35-43)
2015-Matt Campbell goes 9-2 at Toledo and takes the Iowa State job. Overall (38-24)
2015-Dino Babers goes 10-3 at Bowling Green and takes the Syracuse job. Overall (22-17)
2016-PJ Fleck goes 13-1 at Western Michigan and takes the Minnesota job. Overall (30-22)

So, I believe the last two out of the MAC are Coyle hires.
 

Whoa, that's a lot of work. Thanks.
 


The MAC has long been a proving ground for coaches
 

Thanks for the research - it's a cautionary tale, as many with outstanding MAC records did not make it at the higher level. This is also true of many Div. II and III coaches with amazing records at those levels (Jim Wacker being one of them), who did poorly at the top. This is why Les Miles looked better to me than Fleck. In fact, Claeys looked better. Hope I'm wrong.
 



Great Plains Gopher said:
Thanks for the research - it's a cautionary tale, as many with outstanding MAC records did not make it at the higher level. This is also true of many Div. II and III coaches with amazing records at those levels (Jim Wacker being one of them), who did poorly at the top. This is why Les Miles looked better to me than Fleck. In fact, Claeys looked better. Hope I'm wrong.
Click to expand...
Difference being Jim Wacker was already a proven failure at the major college level with a 40-58 record at TCU including 21-48 in the southwest conference and a .500 record or better in conference in just 2 of 9 years including no winning records in conference play his last 7 years.
 

Thanks for the research. I think it gets skewed a little bit by the fact that big-time programs don't hire MAC-level coaches. Rather, they choose retreads or up and comers or coordinators from other big programs. So the MAC coaches go to the Iowa States and Purdues of the world where their potential for success is pretty limited. Big holes to dig out of.

I feel like Fleck, regardless of what you think of him, is walking in to a much less dire situation here so all else equal has greater opportunity.
 

I'm nit-picking here, but I think you need to put an asterisk by Bill Mallory. He coached at Colorado for five seasons before being fired (after going 35-21-1 and having two bowl appearances and Top 25 rankings in those five seasons) and heading to Northern Illinois. You've got that all down in the narrative, but he did bounce back and forth between Power 5 and the MAC.
 



Thanks fan of Ray Williams. Some of the coaching tenures were cut short by heart attack (McClain and Walker) or health (Kill and Hoeppner (who took a leave before dying of brain cancer)).
 

Some guy said:
Difference being Jim Wacker was already a proven failure at the major college level with a 40-58 record at TCU including 21-48 in the southwest conference and a .500 record or better in conference in just 2 of 9 years including no winning records in conference play his last 7 years.
Click to expand...

I would disagree with Wacker being a "proven failure" being he self-reported his school right after he got there because of the rampant violations of NCAA rules and the school was on probation for much of his time there. Many consider his record there to be quite good considering the circumstances.

Side note - he actually got death threats from other SWC coaches when he reported the violations because everyone in that conference was crooked and they knew the NCAA would come looking.

Also, we'll never know what Hoeppner would have done at IU. I thought he was getting them to start turning the corner when he died...
 

Lakeville Goldy said:
I would disagree with Wacker being a "proven failure" being he self-reported his school right after he got there because of the rampant violations of NCAA rules and the school was on probation for much of his time there. Many consider his record there to be quite good considering the circumstances.

Side note - he actually got death threats from other SWC coaches when he reported the violations because everyone in that conference was crooked and they knew the NCAA would come looking.

Also, we'll never know what Hoeppner would have done at IU. I thought he was getting them to start turning the corner when he died...
Click to expand...

The fact that anyone would consider his record quite good at TCU explains why he was hired and also explains why he had the success he had here
 

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