92 vs. 2

homes

Well-Known Member
The number of head coaches at the other Big Ten schools versus Iowa since Hayden Fry was hired (not including interim coaches). That's an average of 7 per school, about a new coach every 5+ years. Minnesota leads with 10 - Go Gophers, you see, you can win at something. Regardless if that's a good thing or not in your opinion, that's an amazing contrast.
 
Big Ten titles since 1979

Ohio State 15
1979, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1993, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2005, 2006,2007, 2008, 2009, 2014, 2017

Michigan 13
1980
, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004

Wisconsin 6
1993, 1998, 1999, 2010, 2011, 2012

Iowa 5

1981, 1985, 1990, 2002, 2004

Michigan State 5
1987
, 1990, 2010, 2013, 2015

Penn State 4
1994
, 2005, 2008, 2016

Northwestern 3
1995
, 1996, 2000

Illinois 3
1983
, 1990, 2001

Purdue 1
2000


Minnesota 0
Indiana 0
Nebraska
0
Maryland 0
Rutgers 0
Chicago 0
 
Big Ten titles since 1979

Ohio State 15
1979, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1993, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2005, 2006,2007, 2008, 2009, 2014, 2017

Michigan 13
1980
, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004

Wisconsin 6
1993, 1998, 1999, 2010, 2011, 2012

Iowa 5

1981, 1985, 1990, 2002, 2004

Michigan State 5
1987
, 1990, 2010, 2013, 2015

Penn State 4
1994
, 2005, 2008, 2016

Northwestern 3
1995
, 1996, 2000

Illinois 3
1983
, 1990, 2001

Purdue 1
2000


Minnesota 0
Indiana 0
Nebraska
0
Maryland 0
Rutgers 0
Chicago 0

In fairness, KF would have had a 2015 title with tie if not for the playoff. The remarkable stats in there is how up and down MSU is (a number of coaches), and Illinois. They've had other good teams including 1990 when Iowa blasted them. Their fans must be nuts to have tasted success in the 80s and early 90s with 3 different coaches and darn good teams in the 2000s with 2 different coaches, with very bad seasons in between. Now most always really bad. Mike White, good or bad, brought in a bunch of optimism as did Mac, Turner and the crazy guy. They drove away Mac as he wasn't donor friendly and made a bad hire in Tepper. Turner is hard to assess. Zook was a disaster waiting to happen. Both I think lost key assistants when the program had success. Zook hired Locksley who could recruit, but had issues and now has roles at Alabama.

It would seem to me that whoever the HC is that is hired, it is very important to look at the assistants that coach is bringing in. Can he get successful experience to come, but not necessarily follow.

Iowa, Wisky,and IL are interesting comparisons. For a lot of reason, they should be quite comparable programs. It would seem to me that a very savvy AD with actual coaching success might be a key ingredient to go along with a Coach who can get quality assistants. Iowa has been stable on D a positive success for the AD, but no guts to pressure the Offensive production.
 
In fairness, KF would have had a 2015 title with tie if not for the playoff. The remarkable stats in there is how up and down MSU is (a number of coaches), and Illinois. They've had other good teams including 1990 when Iowa blasted them. Their fans must be nuts to have tasted success in the 80s and early 90s with 3 different coaches and darn good teams in the 2000s with 2 different coaches, with very bad seasons in between. Now most always really bad. Mike White, good or bad, brought in a bunch of optimism as did Mac, Turner and the crazy guy. They drove away Mac as he wasn't donor friendly and made a bad hire in Tepper. Turner is hard to assess. Zook was a disaster waiting to happen. Both I think lost key assistants when the program had success. Zook hired Locksley who could recruit, but had issues and now has roles at Alabama.

It would seem to me that whoever the HC is that is hired, it is very important to look at the assistants that coach is bringing in. Can he get successful experience to come, but not necessarily follow.

Iowa, Wisky,and IL are interesting comparisons. For a lot of reason, they should be quite comparable programs. It would seem to me that a very savvy AD with actual coaching success might be a key ingredient to go along with a Coach who can get quality assistants. Iowa has been stable on D a positive success for the AD, but no guts to pressure the Offensive production.
How many B1G titles would Kirk have if there was a B1G champ game since 2002?
 
I'm not old enough to know personally, but by all indications Penn State was a football powerhouse in the 80's. It would be interesting to see what would have happened to those numbers if Penn State would have been in the B1G.
 
Another element of the cycle of firing coaches is the buyout money that comes with doing so. While Ferentz's buyout is extreme (but, hey, it was a negotiated deal so don't blame him), these other schools are paying a lot of money to former coaches in the constant search for someone better, often without the desired results. I suppose an argument to be made is that smaller buyout amounts make it easier to change coaches, i.e, they're not stuck with a "bad fit", that's a valid point. On the other hand, because it's easier (less costly) to do, a school could be more likely to pull the trigger, starting the rebuilding cycle over again.

A look at some BT schools that have undergone several self-inflicted coaching changes in the recent years, and the "success" in doing so -

Purdue - After Tiller, Hope and Hazell, they may have found a keeper in Brohm, but we'll see.
Minnesota - How far back do you want to go, still searching. Maybe Kill was getting there, but his ailment didn't allow that to be played out. Fleck is a superb self-promoter, but it's way too early to judge his hire.
Michigan - Bounce from Rodriguez to Hoke, to Harbaugh. His results have not been markedly better than the other 2, although he's made UM fans believe he has been better.
Nebraska - Still searching - Frost is their latest portal to the past.
Indiana - Hoeppner looked like he was turning things but they hadn't gotten there, but since then they've had Lynch, Wilson and now Allen - I'd say they're still searching, hoping Allen is the guy, but way too soon to say
Illinois - Zook, Beckman, Cubit, Smith - they're also still searching, it seems like they'll be in the market soon.
Michigan State - Williams and Smith, they then found a winner in Dantonio, no question.

I wonder what the collective amount is to these schools to buyout the contracts of fired coaches.

It seems like Iowa values the stability and the adage that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. There's plenty of proof to support that point of view, within their own conference. Who knows, maybe Iowa agreed to the bigger buyout with Ferentz so they didn't have the make any hard choices, the buyout certainly provides some nice cover to Barta from having to make that decision and risk a bad hire. That may worth the heat he takes for the buyout. He's actually crazy like a fox. Nah. That was just a bad deal.
 

Iowa, Wisky,and IL are interesting comparisons. For a lot of reason, they should be quite comparable programs. It would seem to me that a very savvy AD with actual coaching success might be a key ingredient to go along with a Coach who can get quality assistants. Iowa has been stable on D a positive success for the AD, but no guts to pressure the Offensive production.

Iowa is a small state with 2 P5 schools. We should be materially worse than Wisconsin and Illinois. Iowa is a case study in coaching stability. Wisconsin and Illinois are case studies in having a good athletic director vs. a bad athletic director. Wisconsin got a good one and fixed football first, then basketball. Illinois hired a bad one (Ron Guenther) who absolutely obliterated their football program with bad hires and their once storied basketball program has also cratered, never recovering from the loss of Bill Self.
 
Iowa is a small state with 2 P5 schools. We should be materially worse than Wisconsin and Illinois. Iowa is a case study in coaching stability. Wisconsin and Illinois are case studies in having a good athletic director vs. a bad athletic director. Wisconsin got a good one and fixed football first, then basketball. Illinois hired a bad one (Ron Guenther) who absolutely obliterated their football program with bad hires and their once storied basketball program has also cratered, never recovering from the loss of Bill Self.
There is a huge disconnect between IL and Chicago. Chicago is about the same distance from Champaign as South Bend Madison and Champaign for practicality.

Just dont buy the poor Iowa mentality. IL has a number of FCS schools. Purdue and NW right in the back yard. Wisconsin just isnt football hotbed.

The 3 programs in the end are comparable. IS U gets no national coverage. When IL was good it was mostly about Florida. Wisky recruits Fl. Iowa suffers more from unimaginative offense than anything.
 
I'm not old enough to know personally, but by all indications Penn State was a football powerhouse in the 80's. It would be interesting to see what would have happened to those numbers if Penn State would have been in the B1G.
Penn State played quite a few cupcakes before they join the Big Ten I believe.
 
There is a huge disconnect between IL and Chicago. Chicago is about the same distance from Champaign as South Bend Madison and Champaign for practicality.

Just dont buy the poor Iowa mentality. IL has a number of FCS schools. Purdue and NW right in the back yard. Wisconsin just isnt football hotbed.

The 3 programs in the end are comparable. IS U gets no national coverage. When IL was good it was mostly about Florida. Wisky recruits Fl. Iowa suffers more from unimaginative offense than anything.
Not that offense isn't an issue, but I think you underestimate Iowa's geographic and demographic disadvantages.

Iowa has 2.7 million fewer people that WI, more urban centers with Green Bay, Madison, and Milwaukee, and when it comes to college football, it's the Badgers, then DIII. There is not 1 FCS or DII school in WI, which allows them to lock down the state (and is part of the reason the WIAC is easily the toughest DIII conference).

IN has twice the population of Iowa, and more urban centers and a denser population as well. They also have Notre Dame and a host of FCS schools to contend with too, so I'd agree that Iowa still has more going for it than Indiana and Purdue.

Illinois though, has every right to be better than Iowa, and they still aren't. IL has a population of 12 million, and 3 instate FBS schools, one of which is a private school with high academic standards for entrance, and another a smaller G5 school with nowhere near the same resources. Even with Chicago being a popular poaching ground for other schools, the Illini should own the state of Illinois, but due to poor athletic administration and a pretty bad on-field product, they get peanuts.
 
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Not that offense isn't an issue, but I think you underestimate Iowa's geographic and demographic disadvantages.

Iowa has 2.7 million fewer people that WI, more urban centers with Green Bay, Madison, and Milwaukee, and when it comes to college football, it's the Badgers, then DIII. There is not 1 FCS or DII school in WI, which allows them to lock down the state (and is part of the reason the WIAC is easily the toughest DIII conference).

IN has twice the population of Iowa, and more urban centers and a denser population as well. They also have Notre Dame and a host of FCS schools to contend with too, so I'd agree that Iowa still has more going for it than Indiana and Purdue.

Illinois though, has every right to be better than Iowa, and they still aren't. IL has a population of 12 million, and just 2 instate FBS schools, one of which is a private school with high academic standards for entrance. Even with Chicago being a popular poaching ground for other schools, Illinois should own the state of Chicago, but due to poor athletic administration and a pretty bad on-field product, they get peanuts.

I think your argument is still valid, but just for the record, NIU is also an instate FBS school inside the state of Illinois.

But NIU plays in the MAC, which means Illinois- Urbana Champaign should still have a big advantage in the state. The fact that NW and NIU both do better than ILL in football is just baffling.
 
I think your argument is still valid, but just for the record, NIU is also an instate FBS school inside the state of Illinois.

But NIU plays in the MAC, which means Illinois- Urbana Champaign should still have a big advantage in the state. The fact that NW and NIU both do better than ILL in football is just baffling.
I thought I forgot one. Edited, thanks for the heads-up.
 
I'm not old enough to know personally, but by all indications Penn State was a football powerhouse in the 80's. It would be interesting to see what would have happened to those numbers if Penn State would have been in the B1G.
Go and look at who Penn State played on a yearly basis as an independent. Would typically only play one or two good teams. The rest were 1-2 win teams teams like temple and Rutgers.
 
Penn State played quite a few cupcakes before they join the Big Ten I believe.
I happened to look up the 1982 season for PSU when they finished 11-1. They played 5 top 15 teams including #2 Nebraska (W) #4 Alabama (L) and #5 PItt (W). This is a pretty typical schedule for them during their time as an independent. Also beat #1 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.
 
Not that offense isn't an issue, but I think you underestimate Iowa's geographic and demographic disadvantages.

Iowa has 2.7 million fewer people that WI, more urban centers with Green Bay, Madison, and Milwaukee, and when it comes to college football, it's the Badgers, then DIII. There is not 1 FCS or DII school in WI, which allows them to lock down the state (and is part of the reason the WIAC is easily the toughest DIII conference).

IN has twice the population of Iowa, and more urban centers and a denser population as well. They also have Notre Dame and a host of FCS schools to contend with too, so I'd agree that Iowa still has more going for it than Indiana and Purdue.

Illinois though, has every right to be better than Iowa, and they still aren't. IL has a population of 12 million, and 3 instate FBS schools, one of which is a private school with high academic standards for entrance, and another a smaller G5 school with nowhere near the same resources. Even with Chicago being a popular poaching ground for other schools, the Illini should own the state of Illinois, but due to poor athletic administration and a pretty bad on-field product, they get peanuts.

I get your point here but I did laugh when I read your comment about Green Bay being an urban center. If you've ever been to Green Bay, the last thing anyone would ever associate it with is "urban"
 

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