Interesting stat from ESPN

Interesting stat from ESPN
by DBCooper (2021-11-30 07:43:05)

Over the past 30 years, there have been 12 instances of a coach winning at least 11 games in his final season at the helm of a Power 5/AQ school.

Of those 12:
-- 5 left for the NFL
-- 5 either retired or resigned due to NCAA violations or scandals
-- 2 took a job at a different college football program

Those two CFB instances are Brian Kelly leaving Cincinnati for Notre Dame, and Brian Kelly leaving Notre Dame for LSU.

That's not all that instructive.

Edit: I originally forgot that at the time the Big East was considered a power conference. But that's a weak data point. Any Big East coach that won 11 games was going to bolt. Rich Rod left after 10 wins with 11 wins in the preceding two years.

If you expand to non-Power 5's, you certainly expand the list. It's not particularly remarkable. Sumlin did. Urban did. Herman left after 9-3 but the season before went 13-1. Petersen left after 8-4 but wont 11 in 7 of the prior 8.

So I don't really find the stat remarkable. But yes, it's uncommon. This move isn't appreciably different than Riley or Jimbo.

The bigger deal is that Kelly left UC before its biggest game of its program history. And Kelly now left with a playoff berth still up in the air.

Very interesting *