Second Year Coaches
Mississippi - Houston Nutt (9-4)
Arkansas - Bobby Petrino (5-7)
Michigan - Rick Rodriguez (3-9)
Baylor - Art Briles (8-5)
Texas A & M - Mike Sherman ((4-8)
Nebraska - Bo Pellini ((9-4)
Clemson - Dabo Swinney ((7-6)
Georgia Tech - Paul Johnson (9-4)
Duke David Cutcliffe (4-8)
UCLA - Rick Neuheisel (4-8)
Washington St - Paul Wulff (2-11)
West Virginia - Bill Stewart (9-4)
Colorado St - Steve Fairchild (7-6)
Houston - Ken Sumllin (8-5)
SMU - June Jones (1-11)
S. Mississippi - Larry Fedora (7-6)
Hawaii - Greg McMacklin (7-7)
Navy - Ken Niumatatolo (8-5)
No. Illinois - Jerry Hill (6-7)
I don't think anyone can argue with the jobs done by Houston Nutt, Art Briles, Bo Pellini, Paul Johnson, Bill Stewart, Kevin Sumlin, Larry Fedora, or Ken Niumatatolo. Stewart and Niumatatolo inherited will coached teams and some talent so we need to see more about them.
Petrino, Rodrguez, Sherman, Neuheisel, inhereted works in progress and I don't think anyone thought they were going to work miracles LY and they all pretty much seem to be making strides in the right direction although they still have it to do.
I don't know about Dabo Swinney though. He has some talented players and we really don't know what he can do yet.
The rest of that group took over teams that are maybe not as talent laden and they are starting out in the hole with a lot of work ahead of them. Actually these are the kinds of coaches I admire most. They take what they get and work to make them competitive and really have little hope of every setting the world on fire. In a lot of cases the expectations are low and are programs are below average.
Obviously none of these coaches has recruited enough players to do it their way but there is already some presure involved especially on Rodriguez and Neuheisel.
Briles and Sherman could have a little breakout and Larry Fedora could have a big year with a weaker schedule this year than last and a very talented offense.