The Zeitgeist List · coaching

Jim Caldwell

Followed Bill Dooley. Jim Caldwell held Wake Forest at Regional Program III for 8 seasons.

26–63
1993–2000 · 1 stint
Wake Forest
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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 careerWAKE FORESTRegional Programthe building-block levelWake Forest, 1993: 2-9, Regional Program III1993Wake Forest, 1994: 3-8, Regional Program IV1994Wake Forest, 1995: 1-10, Regional Program IV1995Wake Forest, 1996: 3-8, Regional Program IV1996Wake Forest, 1997: 5-6, Regional Program IV1997Wake Forest, 1998: 3-8, Regional Program IV1998Wake Forest, 1999: 7-5, Regional Program III1999Wake Forest, 2000: 2-9, Regional Program III2000-3.6One point per coached season, in career order; dashed segments are program changes — spacing is not proportional to calendar time

Reached Regional Program in his 1st career season — faster than 20% of the 925 FBS coaches who have ever reached Regional Program (rank #1 of 925 by seasons-to-arrival).

Wake Forest, 8 seasons
−3.6
Regional Program III → Regional Program III.

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.

Winless in 8 tries against Bobby Bowden.

One-score games
9–11
45.0% · margin ≤8
vs. Blue Blood or better
0–8
0.0%
The toughest matchup
vs. Bobby Bowden0–8
8 meetings, 1993–2000
’93 L’94 L’95 L’96 L’97 L’98 L’99 L’00 L
0% win rate across a real, 8-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
0–8 0.0%
Power Program
2–12 14.3%
National Program
5–24 17.2%
Regional Program
15–16 48.4%

Coaching career

1993–2000
Wake Forestcaretaker
Regional Program III → Regional Program III
Jim Caldwell held Wake Forest at Regional Program III for 8 seasons.

9th-best Wake Forest tenure of 16 by the numbers.

Followed Bill Dooley (1987–1992) · succeeded by Jim Grobe (2001–2013).

7 NFL Draft picks: Ben Coleman (1993), John Henry Mills (1993), Mike McCrary (1993), Desmond Clark (1999), Fred Robbins (2000), Dustin Lyman (2000), Reggie Austin (2000)

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