Today we take a look at Kentucky’s Mark Stoops, LSU’s Les Miles, Hugh Freeze of Ole Miss, Dan Mullen of Mississippi State and Will Muschamp of South Carolina.
- Mark Stoops of Kentucky
Stoops is entering his fourth year as coach of the Wildcats. His record is 12-24 at this point, a win percentage of .333. Not only does he have no titles at Kentucky, but none of his teams have been to a bowl game.
Out of 17 coaches that coached at least three years at Kentucky, Stoops has a better win percentage than only one.
Let’s compare Brooks to some of Kentucky’s most successful coaches:
Paul “Bear” Bryant—The Bear coached at UK from 1946-53 and compiled an overall record of 60-23-5. He won the school’s first SEC title in 1950 and beat Number 1 Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl. After three years, Bryant had a record of 20-9-2.
Blanton Collier—Collier followed Bryant and coached the Cats from 1954-61. He compiled a 41-36-3 overall record and was 19-10-1 after his first three years. Collier won no titles at Kentucky.
Fran Curci—Curci held the reigns at UK from 1973-1981. His overall record was 47-51-2 with one SEC title. After three years, Curci had a 13-19-1 ledger.
Jerry Claiborne—This Hall of Fame coach and Kentucky grad amassed an overall record of 41-46-3 from 1982-1989. He won no titles while at UK and had a record of 15-18-2 after three years in Lexington.
Joker Phillips—The coach Brooks succeeded compiled a record of 13-24 in his three years at UK, 2010-2012. His win percentage was better than Stoops’ after three years and Kentucky fired Phillips.
Stoops has done very little to inspire faith from the Big Blue Nation. If Stoops does not lead UK to a bowl game this season, Kentucky may have a new coach to start the 2017 season.
- Les Miles of LSU
Miles is on the hot seat and was almost terminated after the last game of the regular season last year. However, his record is stellar. Miles has coached at LSU since 2005 and owns a 112-32 record, a win percentage of .778. He has won two SEC titles and one National Championship. He also lost in the BCS title game in 2011 to Nick Saban and Alabama. Miles has the best win percentage of any LSU coach who coached more than two years and has the second most wins behind Charlie McClendon’s 203. LSU fans are unhappy that he has won no SEC titles since 2011 and hasn’t beaten Saban and Alabama since 2011. In a-what-have-you-done-lately-SEC, Miles may be terminated if he doesn’t at least get into the College Football Playoffs after this season. Here is how he compares to some of LSU’s most successful coaches.
Bernie Moore—Hall of Famer Moore coached at LSU from 1935-1947 and compiled an overall record of 83-39-6. After 11years, Moore’s record was 69-35-4, a .639 win percentage. He won two SEC titles—1935 and 1936—with the Tigers.
Paul Dietzel—Though he only coached at LSU from 1955-1961, Dietzel won two SEC titles and one national championship. His win percentage with the Tigers was .630.
Charlie McClendon—Hall of Famer McClendon coached in Baton Rouge from 1962-1979 and amassed a record of 137-59-7. After 11 years at LSU he had a record of 88-29-5, a win percentage of .721. He won one SEC title in 1970.
Nick Saban—Future Hall of Famer Saban only coached in Baton Rouge from 2000-2004, but he had a win percentage of .750, including 2 SEC titles, one second place in the SEC and LSU’s second national championship.
Saban set the bar very high at LSU and the Tiger fans want someone who can compete with him on a yearly basis. Miles’ LSU teams won three out of the first five encounters with Saban’s Crimson Tide but as previously noted, Alabama has won the last 5, including the BCS national championship game in 2012. A victory for Miles against the Tide in November would most likely propel LSU into the College Football Playoffs. Another loss to Saban may cost Miles his job.
- Hugh Freeze of Mississippi
Freeze has tallied a four-year record at Ole Miss of 34-18, a win percentage of .650. As of yet his teams have won no titles of any kind. Of the eight Rebel coaches who stayed at the school at least four years, Freeze has a better win percentage than all but two, including Steve Sloan, Billy Brewer, Tommy Tuberville, David Cutcliffe and Houston Nutt. Let’s compare Freeze with the two most successful coaches in Ole Miss’ history.
Harry Mehre—He left the University of Georgia to coach at Ole Miss. He guided the Rebels from 1938-1942 and from 1944-1945. After four years, Mehre’s teams compiled a win percentage of.780 but with no titles of any kind.
Johnny Vaught–He led the Rebels from 1947-1970 and for eight games in 1973. The Hall of Fame coach is the gold standard at Ole Miss, where he won six SEC titles and three national championships. His overall win percentage at Ole Miss stands at .720 but after four years it stood at .650, the same as Freeze’s percentage.
Freeze appears to have a bright future at Ole Miss. He will probably never come close to Vaught’s record as long as Saban remains at Alabama but is clearly the best Rebel coach since Vaught. An impending NCAA investigation into alleged rules violations could have a major impact on the Ole Miss program if the allegations prove true. How that would affect Freeze’s tenure at the school remains to be seen.
- Dan Mullen of Mississippi State
Mullen, entering his eighth season in Starkville, has compiled a record of 55-35, a win percentage of .610. Only three other coaches in Mississippi State’s 121 year history of football have stayed as long as Mullen. That right there speaks volumes. As of yet, Mullen has no titles at MSU.
Hall of Fame coach Allyn McKeen coached in Starkville from 1939-1942 and from 1944-1948. He had a win percentage of .764 and the school’s lone SEC title.
Emory Bellard coached the Bulldogs from 1979-1985. He compiled a win percentage of .468 with no titles.
Jackie Sherrill held the reigns at MSU from 1991-2003. After seven seasons, Sherrill had a win percentage of .510. He won no titles at Mississippi State.
If Mullen decides to remain in Starkville, he may well be the Bulldogs’ all-time winningest coach—he is 19 victories shy of Sherrill. History has shown that winning championships at Mississippi State is a herculean task. My guess is that Mullen will leave to pursue championships at a school that has a better recruiting base, a larger stadium and a larger football budget than State.
- Will Muschamp of South Carolina
Muschamp begins his first season as head coach of the Gamecocks. His only other head coaching experience came at the University of Florida where he recorded a 17-15 record from 2011-2014, after which the Florida administration terminated him.
The South Carolina situation is different from that of Florida. In the history of the football program that dates back to 1896, South Carolina has won only one title, the Atlantic Coast Conference championship in 1969. Florida, on the other hand, has won six SEC titles and three national championships since 1991. Florida expects to win championships on a regular basis. While South Carolina would love to have such expectations the reality is that the program has no history of such. So the Gamecock Nation may be a bit more patient with Muschamp as he tries to win titles and establish title expectations from both the administration and the fan base.
Since 1896, South Carolina has had 12 coaches who stayed at the school for at least 5 years. Only six left with a win percentage of .500 or better. Sol Metzger coached from 1920-1924 and left with a win percentage of .587. Billy Laval guided South Carolina from 1928-1934 and left with a win percentage of .590. It wasn’t until Warren Giese’s tenure of 1956-1960 that the program would see another coach with a win percentage over .500. Giese left with a .570 win percentage.
Interestingly, Paul Dietzel won South Carolina’s only title in 1969 but left win a win percentage of .443 after coaching at the school from 1966-1974. Jim Carlen guided the Gamecocks from 1975-1981 and left with a win percentage of .555. Joe Morrison coached from 1983-1988 and compiled an impressive win percentage of .580 but died of a heart attack while exercising in Columbia. Even Hall of Fame coach Lou Holtz couldn’t amass a winning overall record during his time at the school from 1999-2004. His win percentage is .471. Finally, future Hall of Famer Steve Spurrier found the most success in Columbia with an overall win percentage of .637, but he could not secure an SEC title or national championship for the program from 2005 into the 2015 season.
South Carolina fans are starved for championships and Muschamp will likely be given time to attain one. We’ll just have to see if Muschamp can make the Gamecock fans crow.
Next time we’ll analyze Butch Jones of Tennessee, Derek Mason of Vanderbilt, Missouri’s Barry Odom and Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin.
