Coaches / Head coach / Gary Darnell
Career
56
not coaching now
Rating—recent
Peak56best 5 yrs
Career56whole career
confidence
Gary Darnell
Head coach, 1989–2004
Headline rating: as head coach. Every role he has been rated in is below.
Chemistry
—
index in development
Seasons here—
Programs2
Stints2
Career path
Head-coaching stints since 1936; assistant roles since 2016
As head coach
Rating—Peak56Career56
1989–2004 · 9 seasonsRecord 49-50National titles 0Great seasons 0 (top ~7% of all teams that year)
- Rating 56: his whole career, recent seasons weighted most, measured as how far his teams stood above their era, crediting him with half of what each program already was when he arrived (about the share that, historically, follows a coach to his next job), fading as the program becomes his own.
- Peak 56: best five-season stretch, 1989–2000 at Florida and Western Michigan (34-19).
- Career 56 (#400 since 1936): total accomplishment over 9 seasons (49-50), 0 national titles, 0 elite seasons; full credit for the program he inherited.
Rating = who he is: his whole head-coaching career (since 1936), weighted toward recent years — how far his teams stood above their contemporaries, how much he lifted programs, his great seasons and titles. Form = the last two seasons. Career = the all-time ranking number.
| Season | Team | Record | Season rank | vs contemporaries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Western Michigan | 1-10 | #117 | -1.91 SD |
| 2003 | Western Michigan | 5-7 | #85 | -0.70 SD |
| 2002 | Western Michigan | 4-8 | #82 | -0.67 SD |
| 2001 | Western Michigan | 5-6 | #80 | -0.43 SD |
| 2000 | Western Michigan | 9-3 | #25 | +0.77 SD |
| 1999 | Western Michigan | 7-5 | #77 | -0.41 SD |
| 1998 | Western Michigan | 7-4 | #86 | -0.79 SD |
| 1997 | Western Michigan | 8-3 | #73 | -0.39 SD |
| 1989 | Florida | 3-4 | #26 | +0.76 SD |
Season rank = his team among all major-college teams that year; vs contemporaries = how far above the average team (in standard deviations).