IdaGriz01
Well-known member
I won’t say how I got onto this topic, because that would immediately derail the thread. But I got to wondering if (or how many) football coaches who stayed mostly at the FCS (1-AA) level during their career ended up in the College Football Hall of Fame. Using the Wikipedia list – which has 214 names – I came across some interesting points. One clarification: It’s really tough to figure what level some of the “lesser” schools played at “way back when,” so I largely ignored some members whose careers were back before 1950-1960. That narrowed the field quite a bit.
Starting on the high end, we find that the highest winning percentage (92.9%) belongs to Larry Kehre, who coached at D-III Mount Union from 1986 to 2012. He was inducted in 2017. In fact, one thing I discovered is that the Hall contains quite a few D-III coaches with high winning percentages.
FYI: Walter Camp (92.5% at Yale and Stanford) and Knute Rockne (88.1% at Notre Dame) are the top two for the D-I level. They were inducted in 1951, when the Hall opened. Lloyd Carr has the highest percentage for a “recent” D-I inductee (inducted in 2011). He coached at Michigan from 1995 to 2007 and compiled a win rate of 75.3%.
I had to keep digging past all the I-A and D-III coaches until I finally got to John Merritt (inducted 1994), who coached at Jacksonville State and Tennessee State to compile a win rate of 75.7%. Besides being a full-career FCS coach, he is one of the few black coaches in the Hall. Another black coach is William J. Nicks (inducted 1999), who ended at Prairie View A&M … but long before they became an FCS school. His win rate was 74.6%.
Jim Tressel (inducted 2015, career win rate of 74.2%) kinda qualifies since he spent 15 years at FCS Youngstown State versus just 10 at Ohio State.
But Tubby Raymond (inducted 2003, 71.4% career) definitely meets the criteria. He was head coach at Delaware from 1966 to 2001, ending with exactly 300 career wins.
Next in order was the legendary Eddie Robinson (inducted 1997, 70.7%) of Grambling, 1941-1997. Then we get William “Billy” Joe (inducted 2007, 68.5% ), who coached at various HBCU schools, including 11 years at Florida A&M.
Here was a bit of a shock (not FCS): Pappy Waldorf (inducted 1966), as legendary as Robinson, had a win rate of just 62.8%.
Marino Casem is next in order (inducted 2003, 62.7%). He coached at Alabama State, Alcorn State (mostly) and Southern from 1963-1992.
The "lesson" seems pretty clear, and hardly a surprise. Coaches who are in the Hall but spent most of their careers at the FCS level, are mostly those that coached at HBCU institutions. Corollary: A few years of great FCS success earns a coach an FBS berth, where they stay ... if they really are Hall of Fame caliber.
Another bit of a shock. Across the board, over a quarter (57 of 214) of the Hall of Fame coaches have a winning percentage below 63%. In fact, the low man in the Hall is legendary(?) Tuss McLaughry, who coached at Westminster College, Amherst, Brown and Dartmouth in the span from 1915 to 1954. His win rate was just 49.0%, the only below-500 member of the Hall. Two bottom feeders you might have heard of (not FCS, obviously) are John Ralston (inducted 1992, 54.4%) and Hayden Fry (inducted 2003, 56.4%). So the career winning percentage does not appear to be an over-riding factor for selection to the College Hall of Fame.
Starting on the high end, we find that the highest winning percentage (92.9%) belongs to Larry Kehre, who coached at D-III Mount Union from 1986 to 2012. He was inducted in 2017. In fact, one thing I discovered is that the Hall contains quite a few D-III coaches with high winning percentages.
FYI: Walter Camp (92.5% at Yale and Stanford) and Knute Rockne (88.1% at Notre Dame) are the top two for the D-I level. They were inducted in 1951, when the Hall opened. Lloyd Carr has the highest percentage for a “recent” D-I inductee (inducted in 2011). He coached at Michigan from 1995 to 2007 and compiled a win rate of 75.3%.
I had to keep digging past all the I-A and D-III coaches until I finally got to John Merritt (inducted 1994), who coached at Jacksonville State and Tennessee State to compile a win rate of 75.7%. Besides being a full-career FCS coach, he is one of the few black coaches in the Hall. Another black coach is William J. Nicks (inducted 1999), who ended at Prairie View A&M … but long before they became an FCS school. His win rate was 74.6%.
Jim Tressel (inducted 2015, career win rate of 74.2%) kinda qualifies since he spent 15 years at FCS Youngstown State versus just 10 at Ohio State.
But Tubby Raymond (inducted 2003, 71.4% career) definitely meets the criteria. He was head coach at Delaware from 1966 to 2001, ending with exactly 300 career wins.
Next in order was the legendary Eddie Robinson (inducted 1997, 70.7%) of Grambling, 1941-1997. Then we get William “Billy” Joe (inducted 2007, 68.5% ), who coached at various HBCU schools, including 11 years at Florida A&M.
Here was a bit of a shock (not FCS): Pappy Waldorf (inducted 1966), as legendary as Robinson, had a win rate of just 62.8%.
Marino Casem is next in order (inducted 2003, 62.7%). He coached at Alabama State, Alcorn State (mostly) and Southern from 1963-1992.
The "lesson" seems pretty clear, and hardly a surprise. Coaches who are in the Hall but spent most of their careers at the FCS level, are mostly those that coached at HBCU institutions. Corollary: A few years of great FCS success earns a coach an FBS berth, where they stay ... if they really are Hall of Fame caliber.
Another bit of a shock. Across the board, over a quarter (57 of 214) of the Hall of Fame coaches have a winning percentage below 63%. In fact, the low man in the Hall is legendary(?) Tuss McLaughry, who coached at Westminster College, Amherst, Brown and Dartmouth in the span from 1915 to 1954. His win rate was just 49.0%, the only below-500 member of the Hall. Two bottom feeders you might have heard of (not FCS, obviously) are John Ralston (inducted 1992, 54.4%) and Hayden Fry (inducted 2003, 56.4%). So the career winning percentage does not appear to be an over-riding factor for selection to the College Hall of Fame.