Worst program over 30 years

[WarthogRebel]

I've been trying to find the worst FBS football program over the past 30 years. ( trying to see where we stack up against the truly bad programs) The best stats I can find are the worst win loss percentages for each program since inception.

We come in as 5th worst ( including forfeited games in '83 and '84 ). The three worst, however, have played football less that 20 years. Excluding those three, Kent State stands alone as the worst and we are in a statistical tie with UTEP as the second worst.

That's out of 130 teams. Bad beyond comprehension. So bad I can't find a team in any sport that has come back from that long a term of dismal failure.

It takes more than a coach to get in that rarefied air of misery. It takes an apathetic community especially business leaders, a series of administrations that are either apathetic or actively working against football, multiple incompetent AD's and a string of poor coaches. Any one won't kill you. It all has to come together.

Truly amazing. I'm sure someone could write a book. But books on failure don't sell well.

I believe you have to change at least three of the factors listed above to get success.

I don't see it happening.

There will be a time when throwing $$ down the FBS football rat hole will only make sense to the most rabid fans - like me.

IMO FBS football is a dead man walking. The real question in my mind is basketball. Smarter folks than me need to think about how to keep basketball relevant if or when football, as it currently stands, implodes.

 

[j. spilotro]

I've been trying to find the worst FBS football program over the past 30 years. ( trying to see where we stack up against the truly bad programs) The best stats I can find are the worst win loss percentages for each program since inception.

We come in as 5th worst ( including forfeited games in '83 and '84 ). The three worst, however, have played football less that 20 years. Excluding those three, Kent State stands alone as the worst and we are in a statistical tie with UTEP as the second worst.

That's out of 130 teams. Bad beyond comprehension. So bad I can't find a team in any sport that has come back from that long a term of dismal failure.

It takes more than a coach to get in that rarefied air of misery. It takes an apathetic community especially business leaders, a series of administrations that are either apathetic or actively working against football, multiple incompetent AD's and a string of poor coaches. Any one won't kill you. It all has to come together.

Truly amazing. I'm sure someone could write a book. But books on failure don't sell well.

I believe you have to change at least three of the factors listed above to get success.

I don't see it happening.

There will be a time when throwing $$ down the FBS football rat hole will only make sense to the most rabid fans - like me.

IMO FBS football is a dead man walking. The real question in my mind is basketball. Smarter folks than me need to think about how to keep basketball relevant if or when football, as it currently stands, implodes.

It’s sad, really sad, but it’s probably right.

We have to see what the stadium and facility change in the program. I think it helps, but we need so much more.

I think it starts with a strong, strong AD and an athletic friendly president. Until you see that, I don’t think we have a good shot at change.

 

[rebel5280]

Seeing how you guys seem to be dialed in on the subject..

Can the two of you and anyone else who would be in the know on President's/AD's please list some candidates for both President and AD?

I don't know anything about that pool of people..

 

[rebel5280]

And I agree that the dysfunction on Maryland Pkwy seems very real and runs very deep with this school and program. The way its been described, there are too many levels to combat with any one or even two moves?

I agree that it will indeed take more than a coach and some luck!

 

[LocoRebel]

I haven't looked at any stats freshly for this... but I'd remind of NMSU. Worth consideration?

 

[rorebel24]

Why is Hawaii so better than us? Less budget, far away school, few high schools to target. I do think its starts with a coach that has a plan and can recruit.

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

Why is Hawaii so better than us? Less budget, far away school, few high schools to target. I do think its starts with a coach that has a plan and can recruit.

Agree.

You can't afford to miss in player evaluation.

Need to create an identity.

 

[BleedRebelRed90]

I've been trying to find the worst FBS football program over the past 30 years. ( trying to see where we stack up against the truly bad programs) The best stats I can find are the worst win loss percentages for each program since inception.

We come in as 5th worst ( including forfeited games in '83 and '84 ).

?? The '83 and '84 seasons were well over 30 years ago.

My go-to stats site is sports-reference.com and while I didn't see an easy way to filter just the last 30 years, it is also interesting to look at all-time school records, which I reached at https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/

That page lists the records for schools during the years they participated as a "major school" which for UNLV they count from 1978 on (42 years). There are 298 programs total, but a lot of them only participated as "major schools" for a few years, like most of the top 10 by winning percentage (the list will sort by winning % if you click the "Pct" column header under "Overall", and most of the top 10 had winning % over 90% because they were military units that competed for one or two years during WWI and WW2.

Anyway, when you sort that way, UNLV is #249 out of 298 programs, and they are counting that with the '83 and '84 wins included (making our record 180-300-3 instead of 162-318-3). I realize it is not exactly what you were looking for, but the programs who currently play as "major schools" and have for more than 30 years with all-time winning % under 40% are:

240 Akron 1975 2019 34 388 150 235 3 .390
247 Buffalo 1962 2019 30 333 123 205 4 .377
248 UTEP 1935 2019 82 893 326 547 18 .376
249 Nevada-Las Vegas 1978 2019 42 484 180 300 3 .376
255 Louisiana-Monroe 1975 2019 33 375 136 237 2 .365
263 New Mexico State 1931 2019 86 913 314 585 14 .352
273 Kent State 1962 2019 58 640 205 428 5 .325
276 Eastern Michigan 1975 2019 45 504 156 340 7 .317

Idaho would have been down by NMSU but Idaho stopped competing as a "major school" in 2018.

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

?? The '83 and '84 seasons were well over 30 years ago.

My go-to stats site is sports-reference.com and while I didn't see an easy way to filter just the last 30 years, it is also interesting to look at all-time school records, which I reached at https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/

That page lists the records for schools during the years they participated as a "major school" which for UNLV they count from 1978 on (42 years). There are 298 programs total, but a lot of them only participated as "major schools" for a few years, like most of the top 10 by winning percentage (the list will sort by winning % if you click the "Pct" column header under "Overall", and most of the top 10 had winning % over 90% because they were military units that competed for one or two years during WWI and WW2.

Anyway, when you sort that way, UNLV is #249 out of 298 programs, and they are counting that with the '83 and '84 wins included (making our record 180-300-3 instead of 162-318-3). I realize it is not exactly what you were looking for, but the programs who currently play as "major schools" and have for more than 30 years with all-time winning % under 40% are:

240 Akron 1975 2019 34 388 150 235 3 .390
247 Buffalo 1962 2019 30 333 123 205 4 .377
248 UTEP 1935 2019 82 893 326 547 18 .376
249 Nevada-Las Vegas 1978 2019 42 484 180 300 3 .376
255 Louisiana-Monroe 1975 2019 33 375 136 237 2 .365
263 New Mexico State 1931 2019 86 913 314 585 14 .352
273 Kent State 1962 2019 58 640 205 428 5 .325
276 Eastern Michigan 1975 2019 45 504 156 340 7 .317

Idaho would have been down by NMSU but Idaho stopped competing as a "major school" in 2018.

.376 would be a phenomenal batting average though.

 

[drmontehorne_a_yahoo.com]

What will the new stadium do to the football budget? hmmmmmm

 

[WarthogRebel]

I think there’s a lot of facets to that question. For instance, what is the rent at the new stadium versus what is the cost of maintaining the silver bowl. We have to also consider if we were going to put money into the silver bowl to upgrade it. Additionally, were we going to need to build a new stadium instead of going in to the existing raiders facility.
Without some solid numbers and answers to assumptions I don’t think anyone can say.