Offense vs. Defense: Who Makes the Best Head Coach in College Football?

Record for Offensive Coaches: 1,501-674; Winning Percentage: .690 %

COACHES WITH A DEFENSIVE BACKGROUND

Pete Carroll, No. 1 USC Trojans (78-14)

(Buffalo Bills, Minnesota Vikings DB; New York Jets DC; 49ers DC)

Bob Stoops, No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners (100-22)

(Kansas State DC, DB; Florida DC)

Bret Bielema, No. 8 Wisconsin Badgers (21-5)

(Kansas State DC; Wisconsin-Madison DC)

Nick Saban, No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide (101-48)

(Michigan State DC; Houston Oilers DB; Cleveland Browns DC)

Tommy Tuberville, No. 10 Auburn Tigers (106-53)

(Arkansas State DE; Miami, (FL) DC; Texas A&M DC)

Jim Leavitt, No. 12 South Florida Bulls (70-44)

(Kansas State DC, LB)

Bronco Mendenhall, No. 14 BYU Cougars (31-10)

(Northern Arizona DC; Oregon State DC; Louisiana Tech DB; New Mexico DC; BYU DC)

Jim Grobe, No. 18 Wake Forest (78-72)

(Marshall LB; Air Force LB)

Kyle Whittingham, No. 20 Utah Utes (24-14)

(Idaho State DC; Utah DC, DL)

Ron Zook, No. 22 Illinois Fighting Illini (38-38)

(Florida DC; Pittsburgh Steelers ST; Kansas City Chiefs DB; New Orleans Saints DC)

Record by Defensive Coaches: 647-320; Winning Percentage .670 %

So what did we learn after reading the stats? Well, it looks like there isn't a real difference in an offensive or defensive minded head coach in terms of winning percentage. The offensive coaches had a .690 winning percentage versus the defensive coaches with a .670 winning percentage. So there isn't any real difference in the success of an offensive or defensive minded head coach at this level.

There were 15 coaches with an offensive background versus 10 coaches with a defensive background, and the top 10 was split with five offensive coaches and five defensive coaches leading the way.

Some schools are traditionally offensive schools and some are defensive schools, so really finding a coach that best fits in the character of the school is what is important, not whether he has an offensive or defensive background.

Just a note: Joe Paterno was not included in this study because he has coached his entire career as a head coach at Penn State, so there wasn't any background that I found for Paterno.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?