Big Performance Turnarounds in Year 2

How many currently active head football coaches were lucky enough to witness a major change in on-field performance by the second year of their program?

I compiled a list of the top current and active college head football coaches in the land and recorded their career record to-date at that school, winning percentage at current school, and their team records in Year 1 and Year 2. I then looked for the largest delta in number of victories between Year 1 and 2 for each coach.

I counted 22 individual cases where the new and currently active head football coach demonstrated:

A. A greater number of football victories from year 1 to year 2 (+1 win or more)

AND

B. The ability to get to a post-season bowl in Year 2

This approach excludes some pretty good coaches and some good football teams (like an LSU, Tulsa, Boise State) that may have had a brilliant 11-2 record in year 1 and a good 10-3 record in year 2, as an example. They’d be excluded from the count because they did not technically “improve” in the win column the second year.

Also, what I am showing only takes into consideration active head coaches at their current head coaching positions, not past jobs the coach might have held. Therefore, Rich Rodriguez’s 3-8 to 9-4 miracle work between 2001 and 2002 at West Virginia is excluded here because his current job is at Michigan.

Here's what I found (sorted by highest delta in year 2 victories):

Coach	Team	Year 1	Year 2	Year 2 Win Delta
Jim Tressel	Ohio St.	2001: 7-5 Lost the Outback Bowl	2002: 14-0 Won the Fiesta Bowl (NC)	7
Bobby Stoops	OU	1999: 7-5 Lost Independence Bowl	2000: 13-0 Won Orange Bowl (NC)	6
Pete Carroll	USC	2001: 6-6 Lost Las Vegas Bowl	2002: 11-2 Won Orange Bowl	5
Mark Richt	Georgia	2001: 8-4 Lost Music City Bowl	2002: 13-1 Won Sugar Bowl	5
Bobby Bowden	FSU	1976: 5-6	1977: 10-2 Won Tangerine Bowl	5
Bronco Mendenhall	BYU	2005: 6-6 Lost Las Vegas Bowl	2007: 11-2 Won Las Vegas Bowl	5
Nick Saban	Alabama	2007: 7-6 Won Independence Bowl	2008: 12-2 Lost Sugar Bowl	5
Urban Meyer	Florida	2005: 9-3 Won Outback Bowl	2006: 13-1 Won BCS NCG	4
Gary Patterson	TCU	2001: 6-6 Lost Galleryfurniture.com Bowl	2002: 10-2 Won Liberty Bowl	4
Chris Ault	Nevada	2004: 5-7	2005: 9-3 Won Hawai'I Bowl	4
Mark Mangino	Kansas	2002: 2-10	2003: 6-7 Lost Tangerine Bowl	4
Butch Davis	UNC	2007: 4-8	2008: 8-5 Lost Meineke Car Care Bowl	4
Dan Hawkins	Colorado	2006: 2-10	2007: 6-7 Lost Independence Bowl	4
Joe Paterno	PSU	1967: 5-5-0	1967: 8-2-1 Tied Gator Bowl	3
Skip Holtz	ECU	2005: 5-6	2006: 7-6 Lost Papajohns.com Bowl	2
Brian Kelly	Cincy	2007: 10-3 Won Papajohns.com Bowl	2008: 11-3 Lost Orange Bowl	1
Kyle Whittingham	Utah	2005: 7-5 Won Emerald Bowl	2006: 8-5 Won Armed Forces Bowl	1
Jeff Tedford	Cal	2002: 7-5	2003: 8-6 Won Insight.com Bowl	1
Ralph Friedgen	Maryland	2001: 10-2 Lost Orange Bowl	2002: 11-3 Won Peach Bowl	1
Charlie Weis	ND	2005: 9-3 Lost Fiesta Bowl	2006: 10-3 Lost Sugar Bowl	1
Steve Spurrier	S.Carolina	2005: 7-5 Lost Independence Bowl	2006: 8-5 Won Liberty Bowl	1
Tom O'Brien	NC State	2007: 5-7	2008: 6-7 Lost Papajohns.com Bowl	1

It’s kind of interesting to take note which coaches faced the fire of year one and survived the hate storm long enough to tell about it. Some coaches never faced any such fire their first and second year out.

There were three cases where a national championship was won in Year 2: Ohio State (Tressel 2002), Oklahoma (Stoops 2000) and Florida (Meyer 2006).

I'll revisit the list again at the conclusion of the 2009 football season in January 2010.