College Football Hall of Fame Coach - Johnny Majors?

#1
V

volwolf

Active Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2008
Messages
43
Likes
12
#1
It would seem to me that Coach Majors's accomplishments in college football are more than sufficient that he should be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame posthumously. Having rebuilt football programs at three major universities, won a national championship, ranked 29th all-time in total college football wins, and mentored many young athletes who played at the next level or became coaches.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lukeneyland, PineyBluff Vol and TrumpedUpVol
#3
#3
TrumpedUpVol said:
He's been in the Hall of Fame since 1987, but I agree with your point about him being a great coach! To my understanding, though, one cannot double dip and be enshrined as both a coach and a player.
Click to expand...
Actually, that is not true I looked it up. Steve Spurrier was inducted for both as a player and as a coach and there are several others.
 
  • Like
Reactions: maotai, BigDave, Remy and 1 other person
#4
#4
Majors won/loss ratio, due to his 2nd tenure at Pitt, falls below the percentage required. If he’d just retired after Tennessee, he’d be in as both player & coach. Regardless, he had an amazing career and was a HOF coach.
 
  • Like
Reactions: maotai, Vol49er, hmhawk and 5 others
#5
#5
volwolf said:
Actually, that is not true I looked it up. Steve Spurrier was inducted for both as a player and as a coach and there are several others.
Click to expand...

Ah, very interesting! Certainly a rare occurrence, though Majors was a great coach.

wmcovol said:
Majors won/loss ratio, due to his 2nd tenure at Pitt, falls below the percentage required. If he’d just retired after Tennessee, he’d be in as both player & coach. Regardless, he had an amazing career and was a HOF coach.
Click to expand...

This explains it. You need a 60% win percentage for College Football HOF eligibility, which is why Howard Schnellenberger has never been invited despite essentially building Miami/Lousville/FAU.
 
  • Like
Reactions: savannahfan and Remy
#6
#6
TrumpedUpVol said:
Ah, very interesting! Certainly a rare occurrence, though Majors was a great coach.



This explains it. You need a 60% win percentage for College Football HOF eligibility, which is why Howard Schnellenberger has never been invited despite essentially building Miami/Lousville/FAU.
Click to expand...

Actually that does not explain it. Coach Majors won lost percentage was .572. Here are coaches listed in the College Football Hall of Fame below that:
Grant Teaff .529 Hayden Fry .564
Clark Shaughnessy .562 Len Casnova .524
John Ralston .544
Jess Neeley .539
Edward Mylin .509
Ray Morrison .537
Andy Moore .535
Tuss McLaughry .490
Lou Little .539
Harvey Harman .565
 
  • Like
Reactions: savannahfan
#7
#7
volwolf said:
Actually that does not explain it. Coach Majors won lost percentage was .572. Here are coaches listed in the College Football Hall of Fame below that:
Click to expand...

Selection Process | College Football Hall of Fame

It looks as if eligibility requirements have changed over time, though it is presently pegged to .600 as a head coach. My assumption is that everyone on your list was inducted before the hall itself moved to .600 or, less likely, by the powers of a special committee. In either event, as great as Majors was as a coach, I just don't see any special accommodations being made for him (especially since he's in the HOF already as a player).
 
#8
#8
TrumpedUpVol said:
Selection Process | College Football Hall of Fame

It looks as if eligibility requirements have changed over time, though it is presently pegged to .600 as a head coach. My assumption is that everyone on your list was inducted before the hall itself moved to .600 or, less likely, by the powers of a special committee. In either event, as great as Majors was as a coach, I just don't see any special accommodations being made for him (especially since he's in the HOF already as a player).
Click to expand...

The .600 must be a fairly recent change. Hayden Frey was inducted in 2003. To me this is an arbitrary criteria for judging a hall of fame coach. A lot more goes into coaching football than just that an overall win percentage. That is why there are 12 coaches with percentages below the .600 that were inducted into the Hall of Fame in the past.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tbwhhs, NighthawkVol, GulfCoasterVol and 1 other person
#10
#10
orangefloyd said:
He rebuilt three programs from the ground up. He deserves to be in the HOF.
Click to expand...
Johnny was solid but not sure how much credit you can give him for Iowa St. The coach before him went 42-53, Johnny went 24-30 and only won 9 conference games
 
#12
#12
MurphyVol said:
Johnny was solid but not sure how much credit you can give him for Iowa St. The coach before him went 42-53, Johnny went 24-30 and only won 9 conference games
Click to expand...

Two Iowa State coaches in the last 100 years have had a winning record. The current one and the one that took over the program that Majors built.
 
  • Like
Reactions: knox73, orangefloyd and TrumpedUpVol
#13
#13
Thunder Good-Oil said:
Two Iowa State coaches in the last 100 years have had a winning record. The current one and the one that took over the program that Majors built.
Click to expand...

Majors didn't have a winning record at Iowa St. He was 24-30-1 there. Of course they were playing OU, Nebraska and Colorado every year. His best against these guys was the tie, a 23-23 games against Nebraska.

1968 3-7
1969 3-7
1970 5-6
1971 8-4
1973 5-6-1
 
#15
#15
4 Inducted as Both a Player and a Coach
  • Bobby Dodd (Player at Tennessee; Coach at Georgia Tech)
  • Steve Spurrier (Player at Florida; Coach at Duke, Florida, South Carolina)
  • Amos Alonzo Stagg (Player at Yale; Coach at Springfield [MA], Chicago [IL], Pacific [CA])
  • Bowden Wyatt (Player at Tennessee; Coach at Wyoming, Arkansas, Tennessee)
 
#16
#16
Thunder Good-Oil said:
Two Iowa State coaches in the last 100 years have had a winning record. The current one and the one that took over the program that Majors built.
Click to expand...
True, but the guy before Johnny had a .444 winning %, Johnny was .445 and the guy that followed Johnny was .529.

I just don't think saying the guy that came after Majors was slightly over .500 means Johnny "rebuilt" the program as some say or that's it's additional justification for the hall if fame.

I also don't think Johnny's second stint with Pitt should be held against him either. He was way past him prime and had no business being there.
 
#17
#17
MurphyVol said:
True, but the guy before Johnny had a .444 winning %, Johnny was .445 and the guy that followed Johnny was .529.

I just don't think saying the guy that came after Majors was slightly over .500 means Johnny "rebuilt" the program as some say or that's it's additional justification for the hall if fame.

I also don't think Johnny's second stint with Pitt should be held against him either. He was way past him prime and had no business being there.
Click to expand...

Before Johnny Majors, Iowa State had NEVER been to a bowl game. He took them to 2 straight.

Excluding him from the HoF due to his winning percentage while there are several other coaches inducted with a lesser winning percentage is BS.
 
  • Like
Reactions: knox73
#18
#18
WillisWG said:
Majors didn't have a winning record at Iowa St. He was 24-30-1 there. Of course they were playing OU, Nebraska and Colorado every year. His best against these guys was the tie, a 23-23 games against Nebraska.

1968 3-7
1969 3-7
1970 5-6
1971 8-4
1973 5-6-1
Click to expand...

Which is why I said there are 2, not 3, ISU coaches in the last 100 years with winning records. Iowa State football was hot garbage. Majors built the program and took them to their first and second EVER bowl games.
 
#19
#19
MurphyVol said:
True, but the guy before Johnny had a .444 winning %, Johnny was .445 and the guy that followed Johnny was .529.

I just don't think saying the guy that came after Majors was slightly over .500 means Johnny "rebuilt" the program as some say or that's it's additional justification for the hall if fame.

I also don't think Johnny's second stint with Pitt should be held against him either. He was way past him prime and had no business being there.
Click to expand...
Earle Bruce followed Johnny then went 4-7 1973-1975 with Johnny's recruits. Earle had 3 8 wins seasons after that. Not sure you can attribute any of those 8 win seasons to Majors.

His record at Pitts the 2nd go round is what it is, as is his the first 5 seasons as V-HC.

Past his prime? So CPF didn't back stab Majors as many believe?
 
#20
#20
volwolf said:
The .600 must be a fairly recent change. Hayden Frey was inducted in 2003. To me this is an arbitrary criteria for judging a hall of fame coach. A lot more goes into coaching football than just that an overall win percentage. That is why there are 12 coaches with percentages below the .600 that were inducted into the Hall of Fame in the past.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Phillip Fulmer took over an elite Tennessee program. That obviously helps his winning percentage. Majors took over 3 downtrodden programs (Pitt 2x), which obviously lowers his pct. That needs to be considered. Imagine if Tennessee had been, in 1977 when Majors took over, where it was in 1992-93 when Fulmer took over. No telling what Majors' record would look like.

(That's not a knock on Fulmer, who clearly deserves to be in the HOF too...just using his situation as an example).
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top