Thomas Cahill: coaching record and career

Now

Career arc

Stats

Big games

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.

7-6 against his rivals. Winless in 4 tries against Ara Parseghian.

Rivalry record

7-6

53.8% · 2 rivals

One-score games

15-14-2

48.4% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

0-6

0.0%

Rivalry ledger

Navy5-362%

Air Force2-340%

The toughest matchup

vs. Ara Parseghian0-4

4 meetings, 1966–1973

’66 L’69 L’70 L’73 L

0% win rate across a real, 4-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

Dynasty

0-1 0.0%

Blue Blood

0-5 0.0%

Power Program

3-11 21.4%

National Program

15-13 53.6%

Regional Program

20-9 69.0%

Building the roster

One numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.

1Roster ownership

Roster ownership

This coach's entire tenure (1966-1973) predates 2021, when transfer-portal tracking begins in this database. Portal usage cannot be measured for this tenure at all -- this is not the same as '0% portal'.

“His own” means the player arrived while he was head coach; “inherited” means a predecessor brought him in.

Career

Coaching career

See Army’s full coaching history →

The arc of his career is on Now.

Steady no large move in either direction on our stature ladder

1966–1973

Army Steady

Power Program III → National Program I (left at Regional Program III)

Closest comparable run: Kim Helton’s Houston run (1993–1999)

Thomas Cahill slid Army from Power Program III to National Program I in 8 seasons.

−20.7 pts over 8 seasons · bottom 1% of 6-9-season tenures (368 in sample)

6th-best Army tenure of 17 by the numbers.

Followed Paul Dietzel (1962–1965) · succeeded by Homer Smith (1974–1978).

40-39-2

Was he good?

Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.

Raised the program

-8.0 pts at Army · #1143 of 1290 · bottom quarter