Charlie Strong
Followed Willie Taggart. Charlie Strong slid South Florida from National Program III to National Program II in 3 seasons.
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.
Reached Blue Blood in his 1st career season — faster than 59% of the 100 FBS coaches who have ever reached Blue Blood (rank #1 of 100 by seasons-to-arrival).
Style position and drift
Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.
Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 258 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2014–2025.
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.
8–9 against his rivals. Winless in 3 tries against Gary Patterson.
His own effect, isolated
A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.
Model fit as of 2026-09-04.
Coaching career
3rd-best South Florida tenure of 9 by the numbers.
Performs about as expected for his recruiting talent, on both sides of the ball.
Followed Willie Taggart (2013–2016) · succeeded by Jeff Scott (2020–2022).
| Season | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||
| Record | 10–2 | 7–6 | 4–8 | |
| Postseason | W bowl | L bowl | — | |
| Recruiting rank | #76 | #65 | #77 | |
| Style — pass rate | ||||
| Pass rate | 36.7 | 45.6 | 42.4 | |
| Coordinators | ||||
| OC | Sterlin Gilbert | Sterlin Gilbert | Kerwin Bell | |
| DC | Brian Jean-Mary | Brian Jean-Mary | Brian Jean-Mary | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | ||||
| Offense | 68 | 36 | 24 | |
| Defense | 79 | 21 | 53 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | ||||
| 1st-down pass% | 33.4 | 37.6 | 39.0 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 29.5 | 27.8 | 40.8 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 36.7 | 36.6 | 30.8 | |
5 NFL Draft picks: Marlon Mack (2017), Rodney Adams (2017), Kofi Amichia (2017), Deadrin Senat (2018), Marquez Valdes-Scantling (2018)
7th-best Texas tenure of 12 by the numbers.
Underperforms his recruiting talent on offense and performs about as expected for his recruiting talent on defense.
Followed Mack Brown (1998–2013) · succeeded by Tom Herman (2017–2020).
| Season | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||
| Record | 6–7 | 5–7 | 5–7 | |
| Postseason | L bowl | — | — | |
| Recruiting rank | #17 | #10 | #7 | |
| Style — pass rate | ||||
| Pass rate | 46.9 | 32.3 | 40.2 | |
| Coordinators | ||||
| OC | Joe Wickline | Jay Norvell / Joe Wickline | Sterlin Gilbert | |
| DC | Vance Bedford | Vance Bedford | Vance Bedford | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | ||||
| Offense | 18 | 43 | 30 | |
| Defense | 87 | 49 | 55 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | ||||
| 1st-down pass% | 36.7 | 28.8 | 37.7 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 24.7 | 23.1 | 27.0 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 25.0 | 25.7 | 34.6 | |
7 NFL Draft picks: Malcom Brown (2015), Jordan Hicks (2015), Mykkele Thompson (2015), Quandre Diggs (2015), Geoff Swaim (2015), Hassan Ridgeway (2016), D'Onta Foreman (2017)
3rd-best Louisville tenure of 15 by the numbers.
Followed Steve Kragthorpe (2007–2009).
8 NFL Draft picks: Johnny Patrick (2011), Bilal Powell (2011), Byron Stingily (2011), Greg Scruggs (2012), Calvin Pryor (2014), Marcus Smith (2014), Teddy Bridgewater (2014), Preston Brown (2014)
7th-best Florida tenure of 22 by the numbers.
Succeeded by Urban Meyer (2005–2010).
8 NFL Draft picks: Ben Troupe (2004), Keiwan Ratliff (2004), Max Starks (2004), Guss Scott (2004), Bobby McCray (2004), Channing Crowder (2005), Ciatrick Fason (2005), Reynaldo Hill (2005)