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Publication Date: February 20, 2001
Almost Done
This week I want to take a look at the leader boards in the four important coaching categories (wins and percentage, active and all-time). This makes the second time in three weeks I've written about the coaches. That's actually coincidental -- the topics just came up -- but it's actually rather appropriate, since I believe that the coaches' jobs for this year are about done.
That's an odd thing to say, of course, since they'll all work their tails off for the next four months, but I honestly believe that almost all of the things that coaches do that have a large impact on the bottom line are done during the offseason. The single biggest thing that college coaches do is to set the strategy for the program -- what gets emphasized in training, what type of player gets recruited, what percentage of the players' baseball time is spent on skills work and what percentage on strength work, that sort of thing. The second biggest thing that they do is recruit. Both of those things are done almost entirely in the offseason. A close third is player education and skills training. While some of that obviously takes place during the season, the biggest part of it in most programs takes place during fall practice.
Obviously, there are personnel changes to be made during the season and in-game managing to be done, but since most college coaches tend to be fairly poor at those things (they tend to overreact to small sample sizes, for the most part), the coaches who are going to succeed have, for the most part, already done so.
Active Wins
The first list to take a look at is the active wins leaders. All of these lists come from the NCAA Web site; you can find the full lists there, since I'm stopping around twenty on each list. All of the lists have a minimum requirement of five years as a head coach.
Coach, Team Yrs. Won Lost %
1. Augie Garrido, Texas 32 1287 625 .672
2. Chuck Hartman, Virginia Tech 41 1276 651 .662
3. Gene Stephenson, Wichita St. 23 1268 381 .768
4. Larry Hays, Texas Tech 30 1235 666 .650
5. Bob Bennett, Fresno St. 32 1227 705 .635
6. Larry Cochell, Oklahoma 34 1186 679 .636
7. Jim Dietz, San Diego St. 29 1153 702 .620
8. Mike Martin, Florida St. 21 1132 383 .747
9. Norm DeBriyn, Arkansas 31 1099 593 .649
9. Richard Jones, Illinois 34 1099 623 .638
11. Les Murakami, Hawaii 30 1077 570 .654
12. Ron Polk, Georgia 27 1076 512 .678
13. Gary Adams, UCLA 31 1053 770 .577
14. Mark Marquess, Stanford 24 995 498 .666
15. Rudy Abbott, Jacksonville St. 31 992 428 .698
16. Gary Ward, New Mexico St. 19 953 313 .753
17. James Wilson, Temple 41 929 679 .576
18. Bob Morgan, Indiana 25 926 453 .671
19. Jay Bergman, UCF 24 921 526 .636
20. Mike Sheppard, Seton Hall 28 916 465 .662
The first thing that comes to mind here is that, without looking, I'll bet that the two bigger NCAA sports, basketball and football, have much smaller numbers in that first column. Baseball's lower profile is, in general, a bad thing, but it has given the coaches a level of security that doesn't exist in the higher-profile sports. It will be interesting to look back in twenty years (somebody write this down so we'll remember) and see how this has changed. My impression is that the heat has started to turn up a bit -- Bob Bennett's problems of the last couple of years are a good anecdotal example -- and it's quite possible that the days of forty-year careers are over.
There are relatively few surprises here, although Bennett and Dietz are probably reminders of how the game has spread and is no longer just a West Coast phenomenon. Ward's presence is impressive, as he's the only one with less than twenty years experience; it will be interesting to see what his return to the dugout in a historically-less-than-impressive program will do.
This is probably the most interesting list as far as the possibility of changes within the season goes. It looks possible to me that any of the top three could end up on top at the end of the year. Texas is off to a lackluster start and has a serious schedule, while both Virginia Tech and Wichita State play non-embarassing but easier schedules, so the possibility of Wichita State winning fifty while Texas wins thirty is decidedly non-trivial. Hartmann is in a bit of a bind, since the odds on him staying within the nine wins of Stephenson that he would need this year look low to me, but that's also a possibility. It'll be a side issue to the season, of course, but one worth keeping an eye on.
Active Percentage
The next list is the active winning percentage leaders:
Coach, Team Yrs. Won Lost %
1. Gene Stephenson, Wichita St. 23 1268 381 .768
2. Gary Ward, New Mexico St. 19 953 313 .753
3. Mike Martin, Florida St. 21 1132 383 .747
4. Skip Bertman, LSU 17 826 308 .728
5. Jim Morris, Miami (Fla.) 19 844 351 .706
6. Jim Wells, Alabama 11 480 203 .703
7. Rudy Abbott, Jacksonville St. 31 992 428 .698
8. Ray Tanner, South Carolina 13 563 248 .693
9. Rick Jones, Tulane 12 464 207 .691
10. Mark Johnson, Texas A&M 16 691 314 .687
11. Wayne Graham, Rice 9 379 178 .680
12. Ron Polk, Georgia 27 1076 512 .678
13. Pat McMahon, Mississippi St. 8 314 150 .677
14. Dave Van Horn, Nebraska 7 274 131 .677
15. Augie Garrido, Texas 32 1287 625 .672
16. Bob Morgan, Indiana 25 926 453 .671
17. Pat Murphy, Arizona St. 16 603 296 .670
18. Danny Hall, Georgia Tech 13 511 253 .669
19. Mark Marquess, Stanford 24 995 498 .666
20. Danny Price, Florida Int'l 21 837 426 .663
I'm not sure which list is actually more interesting; this one loses the guys who don't have much going for them but longevity at this point, but there's a bit of an apples-and-oranges effect from comparing Graham and Garrido, for example. The first thing that leaps to mind is how much some of the guys jump up from the other list -- Ward jumps way up to second, although he will be hard-pressed to stay there over the next couple of years, while Bertman, who isn't even on the wins list (he's at #28) is all the way up at #4.
The best chance for a change in the list is that Martin is quite likely to pass Ward during the course of this season -- if Florida State goes .750 and NMSU goes .500, both conservative guesses, he will pass him. It's possible that Bertman will pass Ward as well, although that would require some pretty extreme results from both teams. The other interesting race because of the personal connections is the neck-and-neck battle between Polk and McMahon.
All-Time Wins
Coach, Last Team Yrs. Won Lost %
1. Cliff Gustafson, Texas 29 1427 373 .792
2. Rod Dedeaux, Southern Cal 45 1332 571 .699
3. Augie Garrido, Texas 32 1287 625 .672
4. Chuck Hartman, Virginia Tech 41 1276 651 .662
5. Ron Fraser, Miami (Fla.) 30 1271 438 .742
6. Gene Stephenson, Wichita St. 23 1268 381 .768
7. Jack Stallings, Ga. Southern 39 1258 796 .612
8. Larry Hays, Texas Tech 30 1235 666 .650
9. Bob Bennett, Fresno St. 32 1227 705 .635
10. Al Ogletree, Texas-Pan Am 41 1217 713 .631
11. Larry Cochell, Oklahoma 34 1186 679 .636
12. Chuck Brayton, Washington St. 33 1162 523 .689
13. Bill Wilhelm, Clemson 36 1161 536 .683
14. Jim Dietz, San Diego St. 29 1153 702 .620
15. Mike Martin, Florida St. 21 1132 383 .747
16. Jim Brock, Arizona St. 23 1100 440 .714
17. Norm DeBriyn, Arkansas 31 1099 593 .649
17. Richard Jones, Illinois 34 1099 623 .638
19. Les Murakami, Hawaii 30 1077 570 .654
20. Ron Polk, Georgia 27 1076 512 .678
There are legends here, so read quietly or something. It's hard to imagine today's game kicking off a career like Gustafson's or Dedeaux's, but it seems fairly inevitable that both of them will be caught in the next five years. Interestingly enough, Garrido may not be the one to catch Gustafson, since the alumni rumbling is getting louder each year, and this year is not looking likely to quell that. For that matter, he's not likely to get the forty-five wins he needs to catch Dedeaux this year either, which could conceivably mean he doesn't get the chance at all. Stephenson is probably four years off, although he'd only have to average fifty-four a year for three years to make it, and that's possible; he seems the most likely candidate to break the record. After that, Martin is probably the next best candidate, but he's almost three-hundred wins away, so he'll have to decide he wants it and get a little luck; some of that may depend on where Stephenson is in five years.
All-Time Percentage
Finally, the all-time winning percentage list; this one requires ten years as a head coach.
Coach, Last Team Yrs. Won Lost %
1. John Barry, Holy Cross 40 619 147 .806
2. W.J. Disch, Texas 29 465 115 .802
3. Cliff Gustafson, Texas 29 1427 373 .792
4. Harry Carlson, Colorado 17 143 41 .777
5. Gene Stephenson, Wichita St. 23 1268 381 .768
6. Gary Ward, New Mexico St. 19 953 313 .753
7. George Jacobs, Villanova 11 76 25 .752
8. Bobby Winkles, Arizona St. 13 524 173 .752
9. Mike Martin, Florida St. 21 1132 383 .747
10. Frank Sancet, Arizona 23 831 283 .744
11. Ron Fraser, Miami (Fla.) 30 1271 438 .742
12. Bob Wren, Ohio 23 464 160 .742
13. Bibb Falk, Texas 25 435 152 .741
14. Skip Bertman, LSU 17 826 308 .728
15. Bud Middaugh, Michigan 22 821 319 .720
16. J.F. "Pop" McKale, Arizona 30 302 118 .715
17. Jim Brock, Arizona St. 23 1100 440 .714
18. Toby Green, Oklahoma St. 21 318 132 .707
19. Jim Morris, Miami (Fla.) 19 844 351 .706
20. Joe Arnold, Florida 18 750 313 .705
This list, without criticizing anyone, fails too many statistical significance tests to be interesting. Jacobs' record, for example, comes to under seven wins a year; that's just too much of a different world to be comparable one way or the other. A minimum wins requirement might be more interesting; I'll see if I can put that together some time.
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