Can you get some more info from Jerry?
And 666 unread... 
good morning. i'll give you more from me!
in the last 15 years, there have been 75 winless or 1-win seasons by 45 different FBS teams. in other words, 1/3rd of the country has had at least one titantic disaster of a season - similar to the one dan mccarney had prior to seth LittreLL taking over.
however, only 25 times has a newly hired coach gotten a chance to take over a winless or 1-win program. that includes three coaches who took new jobs this year - Mike Bloomgren at Rice, Dana Dimel at UTEP and Jonathan Smith at Oregon State.
so we're essentially working with a sample of 22 coaches who inherited situations similar to seth LittreLL at UNT in the last 15 years.
10 such coaches failed or kinda failed. this has happened multiple times at the same schools, who simply cannot get out of their own way and commit absolutely nothing to football - schools like New Mexico St, Idaho, Umass.
but there been several LittreLL-like turnarounds.
in 2005, bill cubit took over 1-win Western Michigan, and by year two, won 8 games and a trip to the International Bowl.
in 2006, turner gill took over 1-win buffalo, and by year three, won 8 games and the MAC championship.
in 2006, todd graham took over 1-win Rice, and won 7 games in his first year including a trip to the New Orleans Bowl.
in 2007, jim harbaugh took over 1-win Stanford, and won 8 games in his third year, including a trip to the Sun Bowl. (He went 12-1 in his fourth.)
in 2008, june jones took over 1-win SMU, and by year two, won 8 games including the Hawaii Bowl. (In 1999, jones took over winless hawaii and got them to 9 wins his first year.)
in 2009, steve sarkisian took over winless Washington, and by year two, won 7 games including a victory in the Holiday Bowl.
in 2010, willie taggart took over winless WKU, and won 7 games in his second year.
in 2013, todd monken took over winless Southern Miss, and by year three, won 9 games and a trip to the Heart of Dallas Bowl.
in 2013, trent miles started a program, won one game his first two years, and then won 6 and a bowl trip his third.
in 2015, chad morris took over 1-win SMU, and won 7 games in his third year, including a trip to the Frisco Bowl.
In 2016, scott frost took over winless UCF, and by year two, went 13-0 and won a fake national championship.
in 2017, jeff tedford took over 1-win Fresno St, and won 10 games his first year, 11 his second, and was ranked top-25 both times.
so why is it that so many coaches have success turning around programs coming off historically bad seasons in such a short amount of time? why have more succeeded than failed?
well, in my view, AD's are reluctant to fire a coach after a historically bad season because it hurts their chances of finding a quality replacement. so they will often wait one more year, put the coach on blast, and see if he can improve things a bit. the only time it makes logical sense to fire a coach after a trainwreck season is when you already have a replacement lined up. and to have a replacement lined up, it obviously means you must have a coach interested in the job. and if a coach is interested in the job, it means they think there's a tremendous opportunity.
jeff tedford knew he could quickly turn around fresno state.
scott frost knew he could quickly turn around ucf.
chad morris knew he could quickly turn around smu.
and seth LittreLL knew he could quickly turn around UNT.
how could he not think that? he probably saw the same exact thing morris did - a historically terrible, watered-down league filled with bottom-feeder programs. in the most recent six years, FIU, Southern Miss, SMU, Charlotte, Rice and UTEP have all had winless or one-win seasons. all have made a coaching change or multiple changes. and then UAB didn't even exist for two years.
bill clark could have had other jobs after UAB got rid of its football program following the '14 season. but he decided to sit out two years and return to UAB. why would he do that?
here's why: because he knew he could conquer this terrible league, win the championship in two years, and boost his own profile.
