Saturday, December 3, 2011

Vanderbilt's James Franklin records biggest first-season turnaround among current SEC football coaches

So James Franklin has a new contract and he’s getting new turf, a Jumbotron, and a 120-yard indoor facility.

Awesome.

While we celebrate the fact that we’ve held on to our head coach for at least another season – do you really believe anybody pays attention to contracts anymore? – let’s also celebrate the job he’s doing this season by looking at how his first year compares to that of current SEC head coaches.

Of the 10 other coaches currently in the SEC with at least one year under their belts (still waiting on Houston Nutt’s replacement), they inherited teams with an average of six wins, and they took their teams and they were able to improve their teams’ regular season records by an average of…

Well, actually, they didn’t improve at all. They took teams with an average of six wins and they won an average of six games.

Do you realize that James Franklin’s six wins in his first season surpasses the first-year records of Dan Mullen and Bobby Petrino (five wins each), and equals the six-win first seasons of Will Muschamp, Derek Dooley and – yes – Nick Saban.

But Franklin didn’t win six games with the talent, resources and winning history of Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Arkansas or even Mississippi State. He inherited a Vanderbilt team that, as he is quick to remind us, had won two games in each of the past two seasons.

Here’s how Franklin ranks among current SEC coaches for team improvement in his first regular season:

1. James Franklin, Vanderbilt: +4 (6 wins with a two-win team)
2. Gene Chizik, Auburn: +2 (7 wins with a 5-win team)
3. Dan Mullen, Miss State: +1 (5 wins with a 4-win team)
4. Steve Spurrier, South Carolina: +1 (7 wins with a 6-win team)
5. Mark Richt, Georgia: +1 (8 wins with a 7-win team)
6. Les Miles, LSU: +1 (10 wins with a 9-win team)
7. Nick Saban, Alabama: Even (6 wins with a 6-win team)
8. Joker Phillips, Kentucky: -1 (6 wins with a 7-win team)
9. Derek Dooley, Tennessee: -1 (6 wins with a 7-win team)
10. Will Muschamp, Florida: -1 (6 wins with a 7-win team)
11. Bobby Petrino, Arkansas: -3 (5 wins with an 8-win team)

12 comments:

Another L-M VU Alum. said...

Well, I'm very pleased about- and proud of Vanderbilt Football right now......So pleased that the loss to Louisville in basketball (I was at the game last night) did not sting as much as it could have. Many of the Vanderbilt alumni are talking about CJF and what is going on with the "new" program.

Signing Day should be alot of fun.

even more anonymous said...

Yet another interesting perspective of the kind found only on this site.

Dimon K-H said...

thanks for reading.

Vandygal78 said...

This really is interesting. Wish the commercial sports press would pick this stuff up (and credit you of course). I also really like the analysis of field goal and touchdown affects on our records by coach that you did a few weeks ago. You really do a good job here. Thanks.

Dimon K-H said...

Thanks, Vandygal. I always enjoy your comments, especially this time last year when you said we should hire the most interesting man in the world as our head coach. Looks like we came close.

Anonymous said...

You do realize that not one of your wins came against teams with a winning record, right? For crying out loud, how do you get credit for beating the "Fighting Christians" of Elon College? Yes you are a much improved FB team, but this is Vandy. You guys are suppose to suck, why do you think the SEC keeps you around? Brain power? Yeah that matters in the SEC. I can not wait to see all of these 4-5 star recruits you keep talking about. That way I can keep coming back here to tell you that "YOU SUCK" and I told you so.... Get over yourself.

MV! said...

We suck? This whole blog is built on the premise that we suck, and that we're trying hard not to suck. We have verbal commitments from more four-star athletes than we've had in the past 10 years combined. Notice we're comparing this Vandy team to other Vandy teams, not other teams in the SEC or the nation. I think it's hilarious that somebody would go on a Vandy site and say that Vandy sucks, unless you're that Penn State fan and then that's just creepy.

Anonymous said...

Not a Penn State lurker... just a concerned SEC citizen!!! I will stick around now just to keep reminding you how small you really are...

MV! said...

Come back anytime.

Anonymous said...

I personally welcome all lurkers. Makes me feel like Vandy has arrived. Why are you scared of little old Vandy? My guess is they are a fan of one of our non-bowl SEC brothers (not Ole Miss)

Anonymous said...

Did you mean to say UT (((LOL))), ROTFL..Haters keep on hating. We going bowling this year and the next and the next and the next. Well UT bail their players out of jail.

Another L-M VU Alum said...

This blog is too good to be a pi$$ing contest...That's why I like it. I myself take pride in the fact that: (1)Vanderbilt, a Charter Member of the Southeastern Conference, is the SEC's academic cornerstone; (2)Vanderbilt has the highest endowment(you know, dollars and cents?) at $3billion with University of Florida second at $1billion (We could BUY an NFL team!!!). These facts, coupled with the constant success of all the other sports make Vanderbilt, to me and many, many others, the greatest University in the Southeastern Conference.