The Zeitgeist List · coaching

Thomas Nugent

Followed Tommy Mont. Thomas Nugent held Maryland at Power Program II for 7 seasons.

The ascent
89–80
1949–1965 · 3 stints
VMIFlorida StateMaryland
← 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 careerVMIFLORIDA STATEMARYLANDPower Programperennial contenderNational Programrespectable, streakyRegional Programthe building-block levelVMI, 1949: 3-5, Regional Program III1949VMI, 1950: 6-4, Regional Program IIIVMI, 1951: 7-3, Regional Program IIIVMI, 1952: 3-6, Regional Program III1952+0.1Florida State, 1954: 8-4, Regional Program I1954Florida State, 1955: 5-5, Regional Program IFlorida State, 1956: 5-4, Regional Program IFlorida State, 1957: 4-6, Regional Program IFlorida State, 1958: 7-4, Regional Program I1958+0.0Maryland, 1959: 5-5, Power Program II1959Maryland, 1960: 6-4, Power Program IIIMaryland, 1961: 7-3, Power Program IIIMaryland, 1962: 6-4, Power Program IIIMaryland, 1963: 3-7, National Program IMaryland, 1964: 5-5, National Program IMaryland, 1965: 4-6, National Program I1965-10.1One point per coached season, in career order; dashed segments are program changes — spacing is not proportional to calendar time

Reached Power Program in his 10th career season — faster than 7% of the 395 FBS coaches who have ever reached Power Program (rank #356 of 395 by seasons-to-arrival).

VMI, 4 seasons
+0.1
Regional Program III → Regional Program III.
Florida State, 5 seasons
+0.0
Regional Program I → Regional Program I.
Maryland, 7 seasons
−10.1
Power 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.

1–5 against his rivals. Just 1–5 against Rip Engle.

Rivalry record
1–5
16.7% · 2 rivals
One-score games
25–20–2
53.2% · margin ≤8
vs. Blue Blood or better
1–3
25.0%
Rivalry ledger
Miami1–420%
Florida0–10%
The toughest matchupNemesis
vs. Rip Engle1–5
6 meetings, 1960–1965
’60 L’61 W’62 L’63 L’64 L’65 L
Performance by opponent class
Blue Blood
1–3 25.0%
Power Program
7–25 21.9%
National Program
12–20 37.5%
Regional Program
34–17 66.7%

Coaching career

1959–1965
Marylandcaretaker
Power Program II → Power Program II
Thomas Nugent held Maryland at Power Program II for 7 seasons.

4th-best Maryland tenure of 21 by the numbers.

Followed Tommy Mont (1956–1958) · succeeded by Lou Saban (1966–1966).

36–34
1953–1958
Florida Statecaretaker
Regional Program I
Thomas Nugent held Florida State at Regional Program I for 5 seasons.

9th-best Florida State tenure of 10 by the numbers.

Followed Don Veller (1948–1952) · succeeded by Perry Moss (1959–1959).

34–28
1949–1952
VMIcaretaker
Regional Program III → Regional Program III
Thomas Nugent held VMI at Regional Program III for 4 seasons.

2nd-best VMI tenure of 3 by the numbers.

Followed Slick Morton (1947–1948) · succeeded by John McKenna (1953–1965).

19–18