Coaches' Win Percentages

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psychlones

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Jun 13, 2006
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This weekend's win pushed CMC's win percentage at Iowa State to .533 (24-21-0), nudging him past Earl Bruce's .529 win percentage (36-32-0) for the highest winning percentage in the modern era at Iowa State. I realize it's only 3+ seasons so far, but I thought it was a noteworthy milestone.

Just to put this in perspective, here are the winning percentages of everyone who has been head coach since 1960. As a fan born in 1970, the bottom 5 coaches on that list (plus Matt Campbell) are the coaches I most associate with Iowa State.

Matt Campbell .533 (24-21-0) 2016-present
Earle Bruce .529 (36-32-0) 1973–1978
Chuck Banker .500 (1-1-0) 1986-1986
Johnny Majors .445 (24-30-1) 1968–1972
Clay Stapleton .444 (42-53-4) 1958–1967
Donnie Duncan .432 (18-24-2) 1979–1982
Jim Criner .405 (16-24-2) 1983–1986
Dan McCarney .397 (56-85-0) 1995–2006
Paul Rhoads .368 (32-55-0) 2009–2015
Jim Walden .335 (28-57-3) 1987–1994
Gene Chizik .208 (5-19-0) 2007–2008
 
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JM4CY

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This weekend's win pushed CMC's win percentage at Iowa State to .533 (24-21-0), nudging him past Earl Bruce's .529 win percentage (36-32-0) for the highest winning percentage in the modern era at Iowa State. I realize it's only 3+ seasons so far, but I thought it was a noteworthy milestone.

Just to put this in perspective, here are the winning percentages of everyone who has been head coach since 1950. As a fan born in 1970, the bottom 5 coaches on that list (plus Matt Campbell) are the coaches I most associate with Iowa State.

Matt Campbell .533 (24-21-0) 2016-present
Earle Bruce .529 (36-32-0) 1973–1978
Chuck Banker .500 (1-1-0) 1986-1986
Johnny Majors .445 (24-30-1) 1968–1972
Clay Stapleton .444 (42-53-4) 1958–1967
Donnie Duncan .432 (18-24-2) 1979–1982
Jim Criner .405 (16-24-2) 1983–1986
Dan McCarney .397 (56-85-0) 1995–2006
Paul Rhoads .368 (32-55-0) 2009–2015
Jim Walden .335 (28-57-3) 1987–1994
Gene Chizik .208 (5-19-0) 2007–2008
That's depressing
 

ZB4CY

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Dec 17, 2012
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This era of Cyclone football will hopefully demolish some of those old, sad, embarrassing records.

One that Brock took over on Saturday, 6 300 yard passing games which is most in school history. That is very sad, too.
 

STATE12

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Jul 8, 2015
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This weekend's win pushed CMC's win percentage at Iowa State to .533 (24-21-0), nudging him past Earl Bruce's .529 win percentage (36-32-0) for the highest winning percentage in the modern era at Iowa State. I realize it's only 3+ seasons so far, but I thought it was a noteworthy milestone.

I think you could argue that only 3+ actually makes it more impressive (unless you're just saying small sample size). He didn't join the team after a successful season where the previous coach took a better job. He had to build this thing from almost the ground up. You could argue that the toughest couple years of a rebuild are behind him and that the win percentage should, theoretically, only increase as the machine begins to run itself.
 

KennyPratt42

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The only sustained success we have had in program history was from 1902-1919. We went a combined 98-42-5 (.676) over the course of 4 head coaches including Clyde Williams.
 
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JM4CY

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To this day, I still don't understand why Jim Walden was allowed to have leash that long. The guy sucked.
 
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jbhtexas

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Oct 20, 2006
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To this day, I still don't understand why Jim Walden was allowed to have leash that long. The guy sucked.

Probably because for the first 3-4 years he was coaching a team short on scholarship players due to NCAA sanctions, and because his team practiced on a grass parking lot. He still had a winning record in his third year. It would be interesting to see what would have happened to ISU football if Walden had taken the Arizona job offer after his third year at ISU.

Gene Smith nearly spent the ISU AD into bankruptcy for McCarney, and it took DM six years to get a winning record. Max Urich, the AD while Walden was coaching, was never going to spend like that. ISU baseball (and to a lesser extend, men's gymnastics, and men's tennis) eventually paid the price.

Why is Walden any worse than Rhoads? They have very similar records, and Rhoads had much better facilities and AD to work with.
 

psychlones

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Who the **** was Chuck Banker?

From The New York Times, Nov. 13, 1986:

Iowa State, which is under investigation by the National Collegiate Athletic Association for purported recruiting violations, dismissed its head football coach, Jim Criner, last night. ''As a result of the recently completed university investigation of N.C.A.A. allegations pertaining to football, new leadership is desired for Iowa State University's football program,'' Gordon Eaton, the school's president, said.

The findings of the internal investigation were not immediately released. But tomorrow, Iowa State officials will present their findings to an N.C.A.A. committee. Chuck Banker, an assistant, was named acting coach for the season's final two games, against Kansas State and Oklahoma State. Iowa State's record is 5-4. Criner will be paid a salary plus benefits through Feb. 28, 1988, when his five-year contract was to expire. He could not immediately be reached for comment. Last July, N.C.A.A. investigators accused Iowa State of making illegal cash payments and loans to players and recruits and also of arranging free or cut-rate airline tickets to athletes and their parents. The N.C.A.A. listed 34 allegations of wrongdoing against the football program and 10 against the basketball program.
 

cyclones500

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I would have assumed that Majors would have been higher.

I have a mental assumption that Majors was closer to .500, but looking at archives, he was 3-7 for first two years, so that's already 8 games down just to climb out.

Also, his second bowl team in ’72 was an odd situation. Finished 5-6-1 (with a 1-point bowl loss) … in those days, bowls could extend invitations prior to the end of the season, and Iowa State got an invitation when it was something like 5-2 or 5-2-1 (longtime fans/historians help with that) .. then lost the remainder of regular season games.

From 1968 to 1972, his teams lost only 3 times to an opponent that finished the season under .500,: Kansas State and Oklahoma State in 1970; Colorado in 1968.
 

AlaCyclone

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Jun 14, 2007
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This weekend's win pushed CMC's win percentage at Iowa State to .533 (24-21-0), nudging him past Earl Bruce's .529 win percentage (36-32-0) for the highest winning percentage in the modern era at Iowa State. I realize it's only 3+ seasons so far, but I thought it was a noteworthy milestone.

Just to put this in perspective, here are the winning percentages of everyone who has been head coach since 1960. As a fan born in 1970, the bottom 5 coaches on that list (plus Matt Campbell) are the coaches I most associate with Iowa State.

Matt Campbell .533 (24-21-0) 2016-present
Earle Bruce .529 (36-32-0) 1973–1978
Chuck Banker .500 (1-1-0) 1986-1986
Johnny Majors .445 (24-30-1) 1968–1972
Clay Stapleton .444 (42-53-4) 1958–1967
Donnie Duncan .432 (18-24-2) 1979–1982
Jim Criner .405 (16-24-2) 1983–1986
Dan McCarney .397 (56-85-0) 1995–2006
Paul Rhoads .368 (32-55-0) 2009–2015
Jim Walden .335 (28-57-3) 1987–1994
Gene Chizik .208 (5-19-0) 2007–2008
I was in school during the Walden Years. The Football sucked, and the weather for games was worse with a couple of exceptions. Love Matt Campbell!