..who took over a downtrodden program and had them contending nationally in year 2. It appears to be a short and distinguished list:
Bob Stoops- took over an OU program that had been irrelevant for over a decade, went 7-5 in year 1, ran the table and won the natty in year 2. We know their QB pretty well.
Nick Saban- went 7-5 in year 1. Ran the table all the way to Atlanta in year 2, where he lost to an all-time UF team. Pulled a no-show and lost to Utah in the Sugar Bowl.
Those two are the most similar to our situation. But there are a couple others. UF wasn’t in great shape when Spurrier arrived, but they were only 4-5 years removed from some really good teams. And with their recruiting base, it was just a matter of time. Kirby Smart got UGA rolling in year 2, though they were already in very good shape when he arrived. He took them from very good to great. Pete Carrol went 11-2 in his second year at SC. But again, the built-in recruiting advantage there is an apples/oranges comparison to UT.
That’s all I can come up with off the top of my head. But that’s a very strong list. Every one of those guys are or will be HOF’ers. So if CJH can finish strong this year, he’ll join a pretty elite club.
