Have there been any coaches who have been unequivocally mid through three years that ended up being elite?

ShortSideOption · Thursday at 5:14 PM

To answer the question of this thread... Ferentz struggled mightily his first 3 seasons then made the jump to double-digit wins year 4. Bielema actually regressed every season his first 3 at Wisconsin then figured it out year 4. Fitzgerald only had 19 wins like Rhule after his first 3 seasons but his year 3 was pretty good.

realbp · Thursday at 5:17 PM

ShortSideOption said:
Most important offseason I can remember for the Huskers. You have to bring in a ton of help.

I think the coaching changes are more important than players. There’s no reason rush defense should ever be that bad. It’s one thing to get out manned and beat, but to not even be able to run fit is coaching.

Can’t miss on the defensive staff.

Can’t miss at QB. If we’re rolling out TJ next season nothing else really matters. We won’t be able to upgrade everywhere around the QB good enough to overcome bad QB play.

Quint · 2026-01-02T07:14:11-0600

Dawgsauce said:
Some of these listed included Drink have not been elite.

The list of truly ‘elite’ coaches is really short to start with.

I think for most of us, we’d just settle for Rhule getting to a point where a four loss season is disappointing and we’d like to see him coach next year.

BIG TONE SOPRANO · 2026-01-02T07:28:53-0600

Mid and backwards hats being worn and used by adults. Simply amazing. That’s the extent of today’s youth and their independent thought. They come up with stuff like mid and 6 7

ChocaEgg · 2026-01-02T07:34:32-0600

BIG TONE SOPRANO said:
Mid and backwards hats being worn and used by adults. Simply amazing. That’s the extent of today’s youth and their independent thought. They come up with stuff like mid and 6 7

jfrommer · 2026-01-02T09:04:35-0600

That SOB Van Owen said:
Can’t think of one.

GBR NFM.

Mark Dantonio at Michigan State

7-6
9-4
6-7

Took off in Year 4

That SOB Van Owen · 2026-01-02T10:11:13-0600

Kaladin said:
Saban wasn’t anything special until he went to LSU

Great example actually. 25-22-1 through 4 years at MSU. 9-2 in year 5 then went to LSU and the rest is history. Rhule the next Saban confirmed.

kchusker1423 · 2026-01-02T10:23:10-0600

Joey Mcguire...

That SOB Van Owen · 2026-01-02T10:32:11-0600

kchusker1423 said:
Joey Mcguire...

Yes proof that it’s not the Xs and Os it’s the Jimmys and the Joes.

Hopefully we buy a good roster in free agency this off season.

Toe · 2026-01-02T17:38:52-0600

Venables went 6-7 in year three at Oklahoma.

Orgeron went 10-25 in three years at Ole Miss.

Cristobal went 9-27 his first three years at FIU.

Sarkisian went 5-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6, and 8-4 at Washington.

Kiffin went 7-6 in year three at USC.

Hedley Lamarr · 2026-01-02T17:41:53-0600

BIG TONE SOPRANO said:
Mid and backwards hats being worn and used by adults. Simply amazing. That’s the extent of today’s youth and their independent thought. They come up with stuff like mid and 6 7

This take is cheeks

Kinish · 2026-01-02T17:46:07-0600

Toe said:
Venables went 6-7 in year three at Oklahoma.

Orgeron went 10-25 in three years at Ole Miss.

Cristobal went 9-27 his first three years at FIU.

Sarkisian went 5-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6, and 8-4 at Washington.

Kiffin went 7-6 in year three at USC.

how do 5 first time head coaches have relevance to a guy who's been a head coach in both p5 and the NFL?

or is matt rhule so shit we should be comparing him to first time coaches.

Toe · 2026-01-02T17:56:10-0600

Kinish said:
how do 5 first time head coaches have relevance to a guy who's been a head coach in both p5 and the NFL?

or is matt rhule so shit we should be comparing him to first time coaches.

I mean if people are gonna bring up Saban's performance at Michigan State...

Stan Raymond · 2026-01-02T20:00:40-0600

ShortSideOption said:
He will be here in 2027. We are going to have a tough 2026 though IMO, everyone else is going to try and get better in the portal too so it's not like we will have some magic wand.

Probably be here in 2027, but if 2026 goes bad I'd bet 2027 is his swan song. This year is really important. I don't think he can recover from a bad 2026

Irv · 2026-01-02T20:05:05-0600

Kinish said:
how do 5 first time head coaches have relevance to a guy who's been a head coach in both p5 and the NFL?

or is matt rhule so shit we should be comparing him to first time coaches.

If the sample you’re looking for is “guys who were good enough to get 3 different FBS HC jobs, then had a mediocre first 3 years at stop 3,” it’s not going to be a super large pool to draw data from.

Having led 3 different FBS programs is already a reasonably small number of guys.

Kinish · 2026-01-02T20:37:30-0600

Irv said:
If the sample you’re looking for is “guys who were good enough to get 3 different FBS HC jobs, then had a mediocre first 3 years at stop 3,” it’s not going to be a super large pool to draw data from.

Having led 3 different FBS programs is already a reasonably small number of guys.

thanks for making my point?

why the fuck should we compare him to saban or lane kiffin when he was 35 being left on the tarmac at USC?

its a dumb convo lol

Milo-of-Croton · 2026-01-02T21:24:27-0600

RSS must be having a $1 special or something, lots of idiots and trolls on there right now. I can’t be on there very long.

Have there been any coaches who have been unequivocally mid through three years that ended up being elite?

ShortSideOption

Offensive Lineman

realbp

Offensive Lineman

Quint

Running Back

BIG TONE SOPRANO

Really Big Truck

ChocaEgg

Not a serious progrum

jfrommer

Defensive Lineman

That SOB Van Owen

In Mombasa drinkin’ gin

kchusker1423

Linebacker

That SOB Van Owen

In Mombasa drinkin’ gin

Toe

Wide Receiver

Hedley Lamarr

Wide Receiver

Kinish

Offensive Lineman

Toe

Wide Receiver

Stan Raymond

Offensive Lineman

Irv

Quarterback

Kinish

Offensive Lineman

Milo-of-Croton

Offensive Lineman

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