Your first sentence is the kicker that really limits

the pool.

JoePa isn't really a good example because he had 30 years of success and championship capital built up. He was going to retire whenever he wanted to.

The 2 closest examples I can come up with, to try to give us some hope, are Frank Beamer and Bobby Bowden. Both were 8-win coaches their first 10 seasons at Va Tech and FSU respectively.

Beamer's first major bowl win, and first "signature" win was the 1995 Sugar Bowl vs Texas in his 9th season as HC. His next 15 seasons were pretty good, with many 10 and 11 win seasons, but only won 1 Orange bowl in that time frame while losing a couple Oranges and Sugars. Won some Gator Bowls. Consistently in the Top 15-Top 10.

Bowden had a somewhat better 1st 10 years at FSU (1976-1986) compared to Beamer; while winning the same number of games on average, Bowden had a couple of quality wins against Nebraska and OSU, and played Auburn and Miami (when they were starting to get good too) several times. The '79 and 80 Orange bowl losses weren't blowouts, won a couple Gators. Then in 1987, things really took off. From 1987 til 2000 he finished in the top 5 every season. His major bowl record in that time period is equally astounding.

Of course, the sticking point is both Va Tech and FSU in the 1970s and 1980's were neglected, garbage programs in terms of respect and resources. Neither had any expectations or aspirations. They did not have the institutional support that ND has or had, and both coaches had to build the program from the ground up. Swarbrick's bloviating about about "program building" is a bunch of pablum.

Click here for link at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Bowden