I have no Blog Exchange this week, so to divert myself I decided to shamelessly build off a discussion going on over at ncaabbs.com. How would you rank MAC coaches? I've decided to put on a decathlon for all 13 MAC coaches to find out how I would rank them.
I sent out a bunch of emails to the coaches asking them to perform some tasks like running along the side line as a player makes a big play (and timing), measuring just how loud they can yell at an official, Clipboard Discus, and several others. I have yet to get a single response so I can either wait until hell freezes over or make up my own.
Jerry Kill, Northern Illinois: An Illinois fixture he made the jump from FCS to FBS in 2008, taking NIU from worst in the west to bowl eligible in a single year. This year has had its highs (beating the pants off of WMU) and its lows (losing a squeaker to Toledo). But the potential for NIU to make a bowl again is still pretty good.
Some measures are objective and some will be ranked objectively on someone else subjective ranking (example: recruiting rankings via scout). To level the playing field, whenever possible, I will normalize the score to make sure that some of the Longer serving coaches (like Doug Martin) do not have too much of an advantage over newer coaches like (Jerry Kill).
The Field of MAC Coaches Competing in my Decathlon are:
Al Golden, Temple: Golden has been coaching Temple for three and a half years, he took over one of the worst programs in Division one football and has been steadily rebuilding it into a respectable member of the conference.
Bill Cubit, Western Michigan: One of the longest serving coaches in the MAC cubit began coaching the Bronco's in 2005. He has never won a conference or division title but has kept WMU as one of the more competitive teams in the strong west division.
Butch Jones, Central Michigan: In 2007 Jones took over a Central Michigan team that was defending conference champion and winner of the Motor City Bowl. He has maintained the Chips success by winning a conference title in 2008 and taking them to two bowl games.
Dave Clawson, Bowling green: Dave Clawson took over a Bowling Green squad that had had some recent success (no division titles of late but some respectable records). There may not even have been a new coach for the Falcons were it not for an epic melt down by the previous head coach. Still Falcon fans were happy to snap up Clawson who some saw as a hot comotity last year.
Frank Solich, Ohio: One of two in the conference with a Nebraska pedigree Solich made an early impression with an Ohio Divisional Title several years ago. Several ESPN staff had him on their 'Warm Seat', but leading the MAC east at 5-2 with close losses to UConn and Tennessee he is as secure as any coach in the MAC right now.
J.D. Brookhart, Akron: For one of the more tenured coaches in the MAC 2009 was a season with a lot of potential but the disaster taking place in north east Ohio has erased any good graces that his earlier MAC East success had earned him at UA.
Jerry Kill, Northern Illinois: An Illinois fixture he made the jump from FCS to FBS in 2008, taking NIU from worst in the west to bowl eligible in a single year. This year has had its highs (beating the pants off of WMU) and its lows (losing a squeaker to Toledo). But the potential for NIU to make a bowl again is still pretty good.
Doug Martin, Kent State: Like JD BrookHart he had some early successes (relative for Kent Football) but has been mired in mediocrity for the past half decade. He is one of two MAC coaches in serious jeopardy but the Flashes are still in the thick of the east (albeit their wins are against Miami and Ball State). If he can make a run at the division (even one that falls slightly short) he may save his job.
Mike Haywood, Miami: When the Redhawks went looking for a new coach they went right for a Notre Dame coordinator. Haywood has a reputation as a solid recruiter and a good mentor to half backs. So far he has had no success at Miami but he has run the hardest schedule in the MAC.
Ron English, Eastern Michigan: Another sought after coach lured to the MAC by an early offer last season. English has Michigan roots and a defensive mindset. While EMU has looked a little better on defense this year the fall off in offense, and some key injuries, has led to an 0-6 start.
Stan Parrish, BSU: Taking over after a 12-0 regular season is bad enough, but when your star quarterback bolts for the NFL, you lose your defensive line, and have a history of not winning games in the FBS the decision to be a transitional coach is taken out of your hands.
Tim Beckman, Toledo: The most productive new coach in the MAC this season, right now the Rockets have already bettered their win total from last year. Beckman has hit the ground running in Toledo and helped turn Opelt into one of the best ranked quarterbacks in all of college football.
Turner Gill, Buffalo: The big story everywhere last season was Turner Gills turnaround in Buffalo, a team which needed to go back to the 60's for its last winning D1A season. Beating 12th ranked Ball State was a career highlight, so far this year he is starting as slowly as last.
The Events..
Conference Record (Objective): When everything is said and done its all about winning Conference games.
| Coach | Wins | Losses | % | Points |
| Butch Jones, CMU | 15 | 3 | 0.833 | 6 |
| Tim Beckman, Toledo | 2 | 1 | 0.667 | 5 |
| Dave Clawson, Bowling green | 2 | 1 | 0.667 | 5 |
| Bill Cubit, WMU | 22 | 13 | 0.629 | 3 |
| Jerry Kill, Northern Illinois | 6 | 4 | 0.600 | 2 |
| Al Golden, Temple | 11 | 8 | 0.579 | 1 |
Championships (Objective): Winning the conference is worth 3, Winning a division outright is worth 2, and winning or losing a division by tie breaker is worth 1. Because guys who win the conference enough generally move on I have decided to use conference winning percentage as a tie breaker at the bottom. (Normalized)
| Coach | Champs | Division | Tie | Score | Points |
| Butch Jones, Central Michigan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.50 | 6 |
| Turner Gill, Buffalo | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1.33 | 5 |
| Frank Solich, Ohio | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.50 | 4 |
| J.D. Brookhart, Akron | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.20 | 3 |
| Dave Clawson, Bowling green | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 |
| Tim Beckman, Toledo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |
BCS Wins (Objective): Wins against BCS programs are always a nice feather in the cap of a mid major proram and it would be wrong not to have a category recognizing that. The tiebreaker is the quality of the team beaten. CMU's win over Indiana loses out to Ohio's win over Pitt for the extra point. (Normalized)
| Coach | Wins | Score | Points |
| Tim Beckman, Toledo | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Jerry Kill, Northern Illinois | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Bill Cubit, WMU | 3 | 0.75 | 3 |
| Frank Solich, Ohio | 2 | 0.5 | 2 |
| Butch Jones, CMU | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| J.D. Brookhardt, Akron | 2 | 0.4 | 1 |
Bowl Appearances (Objective): Nothing says success like winning a Bowl game, but the MAC has been so bad in Bowls of late I am forced to include Bowl losses as a consolation price. The number of Bowls will be the tie breaker. (Normalized)
| Coach | Bowls | Score | Points |
| Butch Jones, CMU | 2 | 1.00 | 6 |
| Jerry Kill, Northern Illinois | 1 | 1.00 | 5 |
| Bill Cubit, WMU | 2 | 0.50 | 4 |
| Turner Gill, Buffalo | 1 | 0.33 | 3 |
| Frank Solich, Ohio | 1 | 0.25 | 2 |
| J.D. Brookhardt, Akron | 1 | 0.20 | 1 |
Drafted Players (Objective): This is an important measure of a coach. To get full credit for a drafted player the coach must have been head coach the year the player was drafted and over the player at least one year prior to that (at the very least as a coordinator). The score for a 1st or second round pick is 3 points, a third of fourth round pick is 2 points, and a fifth through seventh round pick is 1 point. New coaches this season are ineligible for this event. (Normalized)
| Coach | 1st/2nd | 3rd-5th | 6th-7th | Score | Points | |
| Bill Cubit, WMU | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2.5 | 6 | |
| J.D. Brookhardt, Akron | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1.6 | 5 | |
| Frank Solich, Ohio | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1.0 | 4 | |
| Doug Martin, Kent State | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1.0 | 3 | |
| Al Golden, Temple | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.7 | 2 | |
| Turner Gill, Buffalo | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.7 | 1 | |
Academics (Objective): These players are also student Athlete's and coaches that are making sure that kids are leaving with an education should be rewarded.
| Coach | APR | Points |
| Frank Solich, Ohio | 949 | 6 |
| Jerry Kill, Northern Illinois | 947 | 5 |
| Bill Cubit, Western Michigan | 932 | 4 |
| Butch Jones, Central Michigan | 930 | 3 |
| J.D. Brookhardt, Akron | 926 | 2 |
| Doug Martin, Kent State | 919 | 1 |
Recruiting (Subjectively Objective): I am going to use Scouts ranking of recruiting classes averaged out to per year ranking. Tiebreakers will be the best overall national ranking during their tenure.
| Coach | RecAvg | RecScore | Points |
| Al Golden, Temple | 2.2 | 6 | 6 |
| Dave Clawson, Bowling green | 4.0 | 5 | 5 |
| Butch Jones, Central Michigan | 4.3 | 4 | 4 |
| Stan Parrish, BSU | 5.0 | 3 | 3 |
| J.D. Brookhardt, Akron | 6.0 | 2 | 2 |
| Mike Haywood, Miami | 7.0 | 1 | 1 |
Improvement (Subjectively Objective): To arrive at this number take the coaches recored over the number of years coaching and compare it to the same number of years before their hire.
| Coach | Old Record | NewRec | Improvement | Points |
| Turner Gill, Buffalo | 0.109 | 0.386 | 3.555 | 6 |
| Al Golden, Temple | 0.149 | 0.333 | 2.238 | 5 |
| Tim Beckman, Toledo | 0.333 | 0.571 | 1.714 | 4 |
| Frank Solich, Ohio | 0.333 | 0.500 | 1.500 | 3 |
| Bill Cubit, WMU | 0.414 | 0.571 | 1.381 | 2 |
| Doug Martin, Kent State | 0.250 | 0.338 | 1.354 | 1 |
Big Wins (Subjective): The MAC used to be a conference that top 25 teams overlooked at their own peril not so much anymore but it should still be looked at win over a ranked either at the time of the game or at the end of the season counts. For the tie breaker the BCS scores are used.
| Coach | Top 25 | Points |
| Turner Gill, Buffalo | 1 | 6 |
| Tim Beckman, Toledo | 0 | 5 |
| Jerry Kill, Northern Illinois | 0 | 4 |
| Bill Cubit, Western Michigan | 0 | 3 |
| Frank Solich, Ohio | 0 | 2 |
| Butch Jones, Central Michigan | 0 | 1 |
What have you done for me lately (Objective): Nobody cares if you won the division 5 years ago if your team is getting worse every year. The 'What Have you done for me lately event' measures just this season against the 2008 season. For new coaches It measures their first six/seven or seven games against the last six/seven from last year.
| Coach | 2009 | 2008 | Score | Points |
| Frank Solich, Ohio | 0.714 | 0.333 | 2.14 | 6 |
| Tim Beckman, Toledo | 0.571 | 0.286 | 2.00 | 5 |
| Butch Jones, CMU | 0.857 | 0.667 | 1.29 | 4 |
| Doug Martin, Kent State | 0.429 | 0.333 | 1.29 | 3 |
| Jerry Kill, Northern Illinois | 0.500 | 0.500 | 1.00 | 2 |
| Al Golden, Temple | 0.667 | 0.714 | 0.93 | 1 |
Final Results (Tie Breakers are the number of seasons as a coach):
| Coach | Score |
| Butch Jones, CMU | 31 |
| Frank Solich, Ohio | 22 |
| Turner Gill, Buffalo | 20 |
| Tim Beckman, Toledo | 20 |
| Jerry Kill, NIU | 18 |
| Bill Cubit, WMU | 15 |
| Al Golden, Temple | 13 |
| Dave Clawson, BGSU | 12 |
| J.D. Brookhardt, Akron | 8 |
| Doug Martin, Kent State | 5 |
| Stan Parrish, BSU | 3 |
| Mike Haywood, Miami | 1 |
| Ron English, EMU | 0 |