The Zeitgeist List · coaching

Bob Pruett

Bob Pruett held Marshall at Power Program III for 8 seasons.

79–23
1997–2004 · 1 stint
Marshall
← all coaches

Career arc

His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.

Stature score reached, by season of his head-coaching careerMARSHALLPower Programperennial contenderNational Programrespectable, streakyMarshall, 1997: 10-3, National Program II1997Marshall, 1998: 12-1, National Program II1998Marshall, 1999: 13-0, Power Program III1999Marshall, 2000: 8-5, Power Program III2000Marshall, 2001: 11-2, National Program I2001Marshall, 2002: 11-2, Power Program III2002Marshall, 2003: 8-4, National Program I2003Marshall, 2004: 6-6, National Program I2004+0.0One point per coached season, in career order; dashed segments are program changes — spacing is not proportional to calendar time

Reached Power Program in his 3rd career season — faster than 46% of the 395 FBS coaches who have ever reached Power Program (rank #194 of 395 by seasons-to-arrival).

Marshall, 8 seasons
+0.0
National Program II → National Program I.

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

0–1 against his rivals. Just 1–2 against Larry Blakeney.

Rivalry record
0–1
0.0% · 1 rival
One-score games
20–7
74.1% · margin ≤8
vs. Blue Blood or better
0–3
0.0%
Rivalry ledger
West Virginia0–10%
The toughest matchup
vs. Larry Blakeney1–2
3 meetings, 2002–2004
’02 W’03 L’04 L
33% win rate across a real, 3-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.
Performance by opponent class
Blue Blood
0–3 0.0%
Power Program
2–3 40.0%
National Program
11–6 64.7%
Regional Program
56–11 83.6%

Coaching career

1997–2004
Marshallcaretaker
Power Program III
Bob Pruett held Marshall at Power Program III for 8 seasons.

1st-best Marshall tenure of 11 by the numbers.

Succeeded by Mark Snyder (2005–2009).

13 NFL Draft picks: Randy Moss (1998), John Wade (1998), Chad Pennington (2000), Rogers Beckett (2000), Doug Chapman (2000), James Williams (2000), Paul Toviessi (2001), Chris Massey (2002) + 5 more

79–23