Buyer's Remorse: Will Mark Pope and Kyle Smith Succeed at New Outposts?
It isn't "just a knife fight (according to social scholars)" and doesn't always pan out for a big-time university after hiring a coach from a fellow power-league member. Poaching within a conference (say John Calipari from Kentucky to Arkansas in the SEC), takes things to an even higher level. Naturally, it's too early to judge whether Mark Pope (Brigham Young to alma mater Kentucky) and Kyle Smith (Washington State to Stanford) this year plus Ed Cooley (Providence to Georgetown) and Micah Shrewsberry (Penn State to Notre Dame) last year will thrive at their new outposts. If not, they'll "fall" in line with the following alphabetical list of prominent coaches who struggled at their new digs after bolting one power conference member for another?
Coach Summary of Career After Switching Jobs Between Current Power-League Members Tom Davis 58-59 record with Stanford from 1982-83 through 1985-86 after leaving Boston College Bill E. Foster 54-141 with Northwestern from 1986-87 through 1992-93 after leaving South Carolina Pat Kennedy 67-85 with DePaul from 1997-98 through 2001-02 after leaving Florida State Dave Leitao 63-60 with Virginia from 2005-06 through 2008-09 after leaving DePaul Kevin O'Neill 36-47 with Tennessee from 1994-95 through 1996-97 after leaving Marquette Oliver Purnell 54-105 with DePaul from 2010-11 through 2014-15 after leaving Clemson George Raveling 115-118 with Southern California from 1986-87 through 1993-94 after leaving Iowa Tubby Smith 46-50 with Texas Tech from 2013-14 through 2015-16 after leaving Minnesota Kevin Stallings 24-41 with Pittsburgh in 2016-17 and 2017-18 after leaving Vanderbilt Bob Weltlich 77-98 with Texas from 1982-83 through 1987-88 after leaving Mississippi