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College football satisfaction index: How happy are C-USA fans with their coaches?

Pat Forde

The college football fan relationship with their favorite team’s head coach is highly volatile. Characterized by sharp autumnal mood swings and overreactions, it’s a bit like the Brangelina marriage – filled with drama.

With the 2016 season in the books, this seems like an apt time to check in on every fan-coach relationship in FBS. What follows is a Fan Satisfaction Index, appraising where every coach stands with his constituency, based on the following scale:

5 – Build the statue.
4 – Extend the contract.
3 – Stay the course.
2 – Fire the coordinators.
1 – Call the moving trucks.

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CONFERENCE USA

Charlotte: Brad Lambert (16-30 at Charlotte, 3-13 in C-USA). Satisfaction rating: 4. The only coach the school has ever had won three league road games in the 49ers’ second season as an FBS program. That’s worth an extension.

Florida Atlantic: Lane Kiffin, newly hired. Honeymoon period.

Will new coach Lane Kiffin have success early at Florida Atlantic? (AP)
Will new coach Lane Kiffin have success early at Florida Atlantic? (AP)

Florida International: Butch Davis, newly hired. Honeymoon period.

Louisiana Tech: Skip Holtz (31-22 at Louisiana Tech, 22-11 in C-USA). Satisfaction rating: 4. He’s built the best program in the C-USA West. While that might be damning with faint praise, it’s worth noting that Holtz has won nine games and a bowl each of the past three seasons. And his Tech teams have been fun to watch.

Marshall: Doc Holliday (53-37 at Marshall, 36-22 in C-USA). Satisfaction rating: 3. After three straight 10-win seasons capped by bowl victories, the bottom fell out in 2016: the Thundering Herd went 3-9, finishing with a humiliating 54-point home loss to Western Kentucky. Holliday’s reservoir of goodwill with the fans will be tested if 2017 doesn’t produce a turnaround.

Middle Tennessee: Rick Stockstill (72-66 at MTSU, 22-10 in C-USA). Satisfaction rating: 3. He’s become an institution in Murfreesboro, rolling through 11 seasons and establishing the Blue Raiders as a consistent C-USA East competitor. And his son, Brent, has been a quality quarterback. But surrendering more than 40 points in six of the last eight games cost coordinator Tyrone Nix his job, so there is some dissatisfaction with the current product.

North Texas: Seth Littrell (5-8 at North Texas, 3-5 in C-USA). Satisfaction rating: 4. The Mean Green might have been the worst of all 80 FBS bowl teams – but after going 1-11 in 2015, they’ll take it. If the worst offense in the conference can be juiced up, UNT could compete for the C-USA West title.

Old Dominion: Bobby Wilder (67-30 at ODU, 14-10 in C-USA). Satisfaction rating: 4. The only coach in the school’s modern era crafted a memorable season: 10 wins, the school’s first bowl bid (and first bowl win), plus a share of the C-USA East title. ODU is frankly fortunate Wilder is still its coach heading into 2017.

Rice: David Bailiff (56-69 at Rice, 40-41 in C-USA). Satisfaction rating: 2. A guy who ranked as the league’s highest-paid coach in 2016 at more than $900,000 was 1-8 and without an FBS victory until Nov. 12, when the Owls beat Charlotte by a point. Bailiff is a class guy whose commitment to the school helped earn him an 11th season in 2017, but staff changes have been made and the product must improve from the 3-9 of ’16.

Southern Mississippi: Jay Hopson (7-6 at Southern Miss, 4-4 in C-USA). Satisfaction rating: 3. Hopson’s first season was not as successful as Todd Monken’s last (9-5, 7-2), which is a bit disappointing given the presence of senior quarterback Nick Mullens. He missed a couple of games, which the Golden Eagles lost, but even when healthy Mullens’ production was down from 2015. USM was a sloppy team in ’16, committing 33 turnovers, something it must clean up.

UTEP: Sean Kugler (18-31 at UTEP, 11-21 in C-USA). Satisfaction rating: 2. UTEP has just six winning seasons in the last 45 years of football, so that helps explain why Kugler will get a fifth year after going 5-7 in 2015 and 4-8 in ’16. But even at a school with such historically meager expectations, there will be some urgency placed on improvement in 2017.

UTSA: Frank Wilson (6-7 at UTSA, 5-3 in C-USA). Satisfaction rating: 4. Wilson was given a generous starting salary by C-USA standards ($835,000), and he doubled the 2015 win total while delivering the first bowl bid in school history. A renowned recruiter, if Wilson builds on that first season the issue for UTSA may be retaining him.

Western Kentucky: Mike Sanford, newly hired. Honeymoon period.