A new way to view Stoops
Published: 6/18/2009 7:13 PM
Last Modified: 6/18/2009 7:13 PM
From the why-didn't-I-think-of-that department...
Tim Griffin, the tireless Big 12 correspondent for ESPN.com, has come up with a novel way to rank the league's head football coaches -- include the performance of ALL of their teams, not just the ones they've served as head coach, in their overall record.
This keeps Bob Stoops above the crowd -- his 192-68-1 record (a .738 winning percentage) includes time spent at Kansas State, Florida and even Kent State, where he cut his coaching teeth in 1988 -- but jumbles the rest of the hierarchy.
By Griffin's method, Nebraska's Bo Pelini ranks second behind Stoops, thanks to some stellar years as an assistant at OU and LSU. Then comes, in order, Bill Snyder, Dan Hawkins, Mike Leach, Mark Mangino, Gary Pinkel and...
Mack Brown, ranking eighth.
Been around as long as Brown, you're bound to throw in some clunkers. Remember, the guy assisted at Southern Miss, Memphis State and Iowa State in the 70s.
And how about Mike Gundy? Poor guy comes in dead last.
"He had some bad previous jobs as an assistant," Griffin writes, "working at Oklahoma State, Baylor and Maryland before returning to Oklahoma State to work under Les Miles."
Stoops supporters will no doubt spin this as the latest feather in their coach's visor. That though Snyder and Steve Spurrier deserve much of the credit for K-State and Florida successes in the 90s, Stoops' defensive coordination played a big role. And, therefore, he deserves whatever record-padding you want to make of the situation.
At the same time, no way does Brown rate as the eighth-best coach in the Big 12. No way is Gundy looking up at his 11 peers. More fair is to say the two head men had to start their careers somewhere, and they took a few lumps by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
