I leveraged an analysis I saw from a year ago (here) that looked at Rivals recruiting rankings compared to the Massey Composite Ranking. This allowed them to see which programs were performing above/at/below their relative talent level. Since they posted their raw data, I sliced it a little differently by looking at year-to-year results rather than a 5 year average. Once I identified programs that had good years (high Massey ranking) with less talent (low Rivals ranking), I looked for programs that had 2+ years. From those programs and seasons, I looked at the head coaches and coordinators to see where they are now and how they've done. I narrowed it down to 6 guys who have demonstrated an ability to coach up talent over multiple seasons. In no particular order:
- Brian Harsin, HC at Boise State - coached at Boise State under Dan Hawkins and Chris Peterson, working up to OC. Was the OC for the Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma. Was a co-OC at Texas under Mack Brown (with Major Applewhite), then HC at Arkansas State for one year following Gus Malzahn, before taking over at Boise State.
- Dave Doeren, HC at NC State - has engineered the biggest one-year turnaround in the country at NC State, from 3-9 his first year to 8-5 his second year. They're currently 7-4 with one game to go in his third season. Prior to that was HC at Norther Illinois for two years (MAC champs both years), and was DC at Wisconsin for 5 years. Grew up in KC and played/coached at Drake. ISU would be a step down though.
- Ivin Jasper, OC at Navy - if you want triple-option guru... He's been at Navy for 16 years, working under both Ken Niumatalolo and Paul Johnson (OC for past 8 years, QB coach for past 14 years).
- Willie Taggart, HC at USF - has improved USF in each of his three seasons as HC (2-10, 4-8, currently 7-4). Had a similar turn around at Western Kentucky from 2010 - 2012 (2-10, 7-5, 7-6), taking WKU to it's first ever bowl game. WKU had moved from 1-AA to FBS in 2009. Previously a RB coach for Jim Harbaugh's Stanford teams.
- Matt Wells, HC at Utah State - led a potent offense at USU as OC/QB coach for two years before being promoted to HC two years ago when Gary Anderson left for Wisconsin. Prior to that he bounced around as position coach at New Mexico and Louisville, and spent 4 years at Tulsa on Steve Kragthorpe's staff. USU is his alma mater though.
- Dave Schramm, OC at Fresno State - produced highly ranked offenses at Fresno State and at Utah (he was co-OC when #10 Utah beat us 68-27).
