Legitimate Head Coaching Selections Only

Take a look at a list of the Head Coaches in Div 1-A and see if you can spot one that might jump ship and come to LSU. Cal and Iowa just signed their coaches to new contracts. I don't think they would jump ship now. Skip Bertman said he wanted someone with Head Coaching experience. Be serious and try to pick someone who we might have a realistic chance of signing on as the new Head Coach at LSU. Here is one (not necessarily my favorite, but it gives you an idea of some who might be available) Spike Dikes at Texas Tech. Here is part of his resume and a link to the rest of it.

http://texastech.collegesports.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/staff/text-m-fb-sdykes.html


There have been 12 head coaches in Texas Tech's 72-year football history. Only one has lasted more than a decade. Peter Willis Cawthon lasted 11 from 1930-1940 and is credited with a number of firsts in Red Raider grid annals.

Spike Dykes, in his record-tying 11th season as the mentor of the Red Raider football team, actually has a lot in common with Cawthon. The affable West Texas native is the second-winningest coach in Texas Tech history and has been credited with a few firsts of his own.

Dykes is truly a man of firsts...

Born in Lubbock and a West Texan through and through, Dykes has proven in his 10 years of guiding the Red Raider football fortunes that he is a true gem. He took over a program that had experienced only one winning season in the last eight years and he's made it so competitive that the Red Raiders have played in a school-record four consecutive bowls games and six overall with Dykes as head coach.

Few coaches anywhere fit hand and glove in their jobs as William Taylor Dykes. The 58-year-old West Texas native has carved a niche in the hearts of Red Raiders everywhere. He not only has elevated the program into consistently challenging for conference championships, he's won admirers for his appreciation of old values and his genuine care for people.

Coming into the Big 12 Conference as the dean of the league's Southern Division, Spike has built a reputation as one of the game's straight shooters. To know Spike is to know the Will Rogers of the world. Forget egos and career ladders. His priorities start and end with people. Everything else is secondary.

He's just as much at home giving an acceptance speech for his induction into the Texas High School Coaches Association's Hall of Honor (a 1991 inductee) as he is sipping coffee and spinning yarns at some diner off the beaten path. His philosophies of life have proven successful in football arenas stretching from many different ends of the spectrum. After a dozen different coaching stops, Dykes and wife Sharon have settled into their West Texas niche like a hand in a glove.

Here are some of the results of Dykes' work:

***He led the Red Raiders to upper division Southwest Conference and Big 12 South Division finishes in each of his 10 seasons, including championship (1994) or runner-up finishes in each of the past six seasons. He became the first SWC coach since TCU's Dutch Meyer (1934-36) to boast of victories over Texas and Texas A&M in two of his first three meetings. He's defeated Tech's two arch rivals eight times in all and he's the first Texas Tech coach to defeat Texas four times in his career. Despite 37 meetings with nationally ranked teams (almost one-third of the schedule), he's fashioned a winning 63-52-1 record since taking over the head duties just two weeks before the 1986 Independence Bowl game.

***He wins at home. Dykes has fashioned a 38-18 record in Lubbock, which includes a nine-game winning streak that was narrowly ended by defending national champion Nebraska 24-10 last season. Prior to that loss to the Huskers, the last defeat at home came early in the 1994 season to Nebraska.
His teams improve as the season progresses. Dykes' career record in games after October 10 is 43-18-1.

***He has delivered the most entertaining offense ever seen at Texas Tech and one of the most cleverly devised anywhere. In eight of his 10 seasons, Texas Tech has scored at least 300 points (missed a eighth in 1994 by just two points). Under Dykes' guidance, Texas Tech teams have established 73 individual or team school records.

***He has produced quality players. He's turned out two Doak Walker Award winners (Byron Morris in 1994 and Byron Hanspard in 1996) and a Dick Butkus Award finalist (Zach Thomas in 1996). Red Raiders have been recognized as first-team All-America nine times under Dykes and he produced 60 All-SWC first-team selections and a first-team all-Big 12 honoree.

***He has surrounded himself with high-quality assistants who have experience on all levels of the game. Half the staff has been with him since he got the job.

In an era of big-time athletics, Spike's basic reason for coaching has never wavered.

"I think you coach because you love kids. And if you do that, every day is rewarding. That way you never get your priorities out of perspective. It all boils down to the chance to work with young people, hopefully be an influence on them for the better, help them make something of themselves that is positive."

Wanting only what's best for his players is a big deal to him, and that's why academics always is foremost on his mind. "We can never forget why these young men are here," said Dykes, who served three seasons as defensive coordinator at Texas Tech before stepping into the big office. "We want them to receive the type of education that will make it easier for them to advance in society after they leave."

Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is a COLLEGE Coach. Loves college football. That's the kind of guy I hope we can get---a true blue college coach who is a proven winner.

Here's the challenge. Find a legitimate Head Coach and post his resume.

 

Here's another interesting guy. Look what company he keeps in the column of most wins in the MAC.

http://utrockets.collegesports.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/pinkel_gary00.html

Gary Pinkel Enters His 10th Season at UT as One of the Most Successful Coaches in MAC History


Gary Pinkel closed out the decade of the 1990’s as Toledo’s most successful coach ever, and in the process has secured his place among the greatest football coaches in MAC history.

Toledo’s all-time victory leader with 63 wins, Pinkel currently ranks sixth among MAC coaches in career victories, and is poised to move even higher this season. With just four wins, he can move into fourth place on the all-time MAC victory list.

The path to the highest echelon of MAC coaching greats has been paved with excellence and consistency. Here’s a sample of what Pinkel and the Rockets have accomplished during his reign over the past nine years:

***Pinkel’s teams have had more overall wins (63) and more MAC wins (47) than any other Mid-American Conference school.

***Pinkel’s teams have played in the post season three times in the last five years, capturing one MAC Championship crown and two MAC West Division titles.

***In nine seasons, Pinkel’s teams have finished in the top three in the MAC or MAC West Division seven times, including three first-place finishes.

***Since 1995, Toledo has gone 39-15-1 (.718) in regular-season games, the 11th-best mark in NCAA Division I. During that span, Toledo’s record in MAC regular season games is 31-8-1 (.788). In MAC games at the Glass Bowl during that period, the Rockets are 19-2 (.905).

***Pinkel now ranks sixth in career wins (63) among coaches in the history of the MAC, ahead of such luminaries as Don James, Bo Schembechler, Woody Hayes, Don Nehlen and Ara Pareseghian. With just four wins this season, Pinkel will move into fourth place, ahead of Bill Mallory (64) and Trevor Rees (66).

***Pinkel is 13 victories ahead of his nearest competitor among the 23 head football coaches in Toledo history.

Pinkel ranks ninth in MAC history and first in UT history in winning percentage (.632) among coaches who have coached at least four seasons.

I know, he doesn't come from a "big time" program, but he does have some very interesting stats.

 

I agree. That's why it's interesting to look at Coach bios, especially those whose names are not always making headline news nationwide.

 

mrbayoublu, you may want to refresh your search. Spike Dykes is no longer the coach of Texas Tech. It is Mike Leach:

http://texastech.collegesports.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/leach_mike00.html

 

Here's a list of D1-A coaches for you:

http://homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~dwilson/rsfc/coaches.shtml

 

Guys,

Dykes, Leach or whoever the coach is at Texas tech have one thing in common: They finish 6-5 or 7-4 every year AND unfortunately give my Aggies fits.

What about Chuck Amato or Chris Scelpo?

 

Thanks. My bad, real bad. Up late last night and posted it. That's why I try to stay away from rumors...or I'd get it so wrong I'd be slaughtered on the board. And since I love this board, I'll take all the help I can get. Merry Christmas.

 

Hey SoLa, thanks for the list of coaches. Why don't you start a thread with that list? That would be a great place for everyone to start speculating from. Merry Christmas

 

Scelfo from Tulane? Just curious...

 

Yeah, that guy. I spelled it wrong.