Text by Will Stewart, infographics by OXVT (follow him on Twitter here, and view all previous infographics updates on TSL here). Click all infographics for a larger version!
This week’s infographics update is a compilation of the infographics OXVT has produced regarding Frank Beamer’s overall coaching record, his record against the ACC, and other various aspects of his career at VT.
We’ll begin by seeing how Frank stacks up against the historical greats of college football.
As always, click for a larger image.
Frank and the Greats
With 230 wins (post-Virginia 2014), Frank is 12th on the list, and he has three other legends within site: Hayden Fry, Bo Schembechler, and Mack Brown. Frank could move up to 9th in the list as soon as next season, but Lou Holtz, at 249 wins, will take two or more years to reach.
Note that the only active coach on that list is Steve Spurrier. At 6-6 this season, Spurrier didn’t gain any ground on Beamer.
This brings up the point: Frank is reaching the end of his career. What has happened to schools after they have replaced winning coaches? OX takes a look at a few.
It’s safe to say, whoever replaces Frank will have a tall order doing better than he did, if this infographic is any indication.
230 wins is a lot of wins. Here’s an awesome infographic showing Frank’s overall record against all of his victims along the way. You could have a lot of fun with this infographic all by itself … like, for example, which team does Frank have the most wins over? Heh-heh.
The Bowl Streak
One of the major statistics that defines Frank is, of course, his streak of taking Virginia Tech to 22 straight bowls. That’s the longest active streak — maybe, depending upon how you view the FSU issue.
Looking back on those bowl appearances is quite a trip down memory lane. Add Cincinnati and the 2014 Military Bowl to the list.
Frank Against the ACC
Frank has seven conference titles to his credit, four of them in the ACC. A handful of ACC teams have been Frank’s whipping boys, one in particular.
This quick look at coaches tenured in the ACC since 2010 — taken before FSU’s win over GT last weekend — gives us another reason to poke fun at Virginia. Because it’s so easy.
Lastly, a detailed look at everyone’s ACC composite record since the 2004 expansion.
In the coming days, we’ll use OXVT infographics to bring you up to date on the offense, defense, and overall accomplishments of the Hokies this season, and historically.
Many thanks to OXVT for the great infographics all season long! Follow him on Twitter, because that’s a free way to express your gratitude.
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Great job as always!!!
Here’s a great trivia question which also points out that who you beat is also important. Shug Jordan, legendary coach at Auburn, once said of Bear Bryant, “he can take his’n and beat your’n, then take your’n and beat his’n.”
Here’s the question: Bear Bryant won 323 games. There were only two schools he played that he never beat. Who were they?
Answer: Notre Dame and…wait for it…Alabama(!)
Everyone thinks of Alabama when they think of Bryant. They don’t think that he also coached at Maryland, Kentucky (where VT’s Jerry Claiborne played for him), and Texas A&M. When he coached at those schools he never beat Alabama.
I think beating everyone you played says a lot about how great you are. Nobody comes close to Bryant’s record. I checked out Joe Paterno a few years ago, and he never beat 6 or 7 schools he played. Beamer has at least that many. All the guys on the most wins list were tenured for many years, so they had their opportunities in good years and bad.
Paterno and Bowden had a lot more wins than Bryant, but Imho the Bear was the greatest because he beat everyone, except two.
If I am reading the record vs. ACC teams don’t we have a 2-1 record against NC State? The graphic shows 0-1.
Not sure which graphic you’re looking at DKE – VT is 3-1 vs. NCST since expansion as the graphic shows.
Were you looking at Stanford’s Helmet?
Interesting work as always, Ox. The only chart I quibble with is the first one. I think # of wins, which is thrown around a lot as evidence of Beamer’s greatness (“the winningest active coach in college football”) is not the proper metric to display. It should be winning percentage compared to those other legendary coaches. Frank has a better % than two of the coaches close to him on the chart- Holtz and Fry. He has almost no chance to beat the % of any of the others. And if the chart expanded to show many other well known HOF coaches who aren’t depicted (for example, Switzer, Neyland, Bud Wilkinson, Bob Devaney) Frank wouldn’t even show up. According to the NCAA record book, he’s not even in the top 50 all time for winning percentage (for coaches with a minimum of 10 seasons as HC).
Number of wins, once you get past a certain point, is as much a metric of longevity and job security as it is of quality.
Nobody ever said it was the “proper” metric to display. It is A metric to display. It is answering the question “Who amongst active NCAA football head coaches has won the most games?” Answer: Frank Beamer. It was never intended to answer “Who is the best active head coach in NCAA football?” That is a question that is nearly impossible to answer as it is too subjective. Even winning percentage, as you mentioned as the necessary alternative, is not really a comparative metric because no team plays the same other teams at the same given time. You couldn’t fairly compare Frank’s winning percentage to Dabo Swinney’s because a large portion of the time they are playing different teams throughout the year (due to different OOC and inter-division schedules). Perhaps a different way of looking at the “winningest head coach” metric would be to compare all-time and/or active head coaches on wins/year. As an example (and these numbers are made up), if Steve Spurrier has won 225 games over 20 years of head coaching, whilst Frank has won 230 games over 28 years, then Steve would far surpass Frank in terms of “winning”, as he won an average of 11.25 games/year, whereas Frank would be at 8.21 games/year.
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Great article, OX and Will. Love those infographics.
i would like to see him catch Lou Holtz. 19 more wins in two years. Seems realistic.
Yea especially since the comment Holtz made b4 the uva game
Uh, yeah. Right. Until you look at the history and general direction of the program in 1986, as compared to now. Very impressed.
Wow. I remember getting destroyed by UT in 1994 by a freshman QB named Peyton Manning…then after he was drafted a few years later he came into the ACME Oyster Bar in New Orleans while I was eating dinner there visiting in August. He was in town with the Colts to play a pre-season game against New Orleans.
Hard to believe he has been in the league 16 years and that bowl game was 20 years ago!!
Of course, I remember the aerial raid against Cal Bears and that unknown QB named Aaron Rodgers too.
Four bowl losses by 3 points each… UGH!
Interesting side-note to that: Only 2 of Frank’s 9 bowl wins are by one score: the 2002 Nut Bowl (20-13), and the 2012 Russell Athletic Bowl (13-10).
All great stats…until you look at who he could not beat, and who he beat up on regularly. Not impressed….