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Coaching Trees: Mike Gundy Vs. Bob Stoops

One of the many measures of a head coach is his ability to create a legacy in the coaching profession. All great coaches have assistants who have learned from them and gone on to become great coaches in their own right. Although Coach Stoops has been a head coach longer than Coach Gundy, let’s compared the two in terms of their coaching tree.

Coach Stoops has had (and correct me if I am wrong) four assistants go on to become head coaches. These include his brother Mike Stoops (Arizona), Mike Leach (Texas Tech), Mark Mangino (Kansas) and Kevin Sumlin (Houston). Coach Gundy counters with Tim Beckmon (Toledo) and Larry Fedora (Southern Miss).

Coach Mangino seemingly brought magic with him to Lawrence, KS. In 2007 his Kansas Jayhawks went to the Orange Bowl and finished the season winning several national coach of the year awards. However, after seven seasons at Kansas Mangino resigned under pressure after allegations of verbal and physical abuse by his players. The story seemingly repeated itself in the case of Mike Leach. Coach Leach took his Air Raid offense to Texas Tech and built the program into a winner. He had a career record of 47-33 and won a share of the Big XII South title in 2008. The next season he would be fired before his team played in the Alamo Bowl under allegations of inappropriate treatment of a player. His lawsuit against the school is ongoing.

Kevin Sumlin is currently continuing a resurgence for the Houston Cougars. He has a combined record of 21-12 while overseeing a record setting offense that formerly employed current Cowboy Offensive Coordinator Dana Holgorsen. After winning Conference USA last year with Holgorsen, Houston is currently 5-6 this season. Mike Stoops is currently coaching Arizona. He has a career record of 40-42 although he had winning seasons the last three years (including 7-3 in 2010). After a slow start, his career is a success currently.

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With two Big XII coaches, one Pac-10 coach and one Conference USA coach, it must be noted Coach Stoops assistants have taken over higher profile positions than Coach Gundys assistants. All of these coaches can coach football however running a football program requires many skills and as you know two are already out of coaching, at least temporarily.

Overall Grade: B-

Larry Fedora has also seen the good and the bad at Southern Miss. His tenure began with a bang by signing five-star WR DeAndre Brown. In three and one-half season he has a career record of 14-12. Recently he has had to deal with the hardest part of coaching when three players were shot at a local nightclub. His team is improving and currently sits at 8-3 in 2010.

Tim Beckmon is the head man at Toledo of the Mid-American Conference. After a record of 5-7 in 2009, he is 7-4 in 2010. This is a measurable improvement over the years previous to Beckman’s arrival when Toledo averaged four wins per season.

Overall Grade: B+

On the field, each of these coaches would have to be considered a good hire . Without the off the field issues you would have to give the nod to Stoops legacy although he has coached longer than Coach Gundy. However, it is impossible to avoid the off-field issues between Mangino, Leach and the school administrations. We can re-evaluate this comparison in 2011 when the list may include Dana Holgorsen, Kevin Wilson and/or Brent Venables.

It is interesting that Stoops assistants have run into difficulty in dealing with players and administrations considering this has never (that we know of) been the case at OU. Is Stoops given free reign over the athletic department and his assistants expect the same clout coming in? Do they feel pressure to achieve instant success like Stoops did in Norman? What has caused these guys to step outside the lines and cross their bosses? If you know, please tell me.

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