Ranking The Top Ten Current Athletic Directors

By: David Ware (@davidware)

The Debate for the Greats

With every passing season, another athletic director makes a case for why they are one of the best in the league. During recruiting cycles, all the recruits here from different athletic directors discuss the success they have had in their CFSL careers, and of course, that will help pull some top talent. If you know me, you know I love stats, so we are going to break down the top 10 current ADs in the CFSL. Mac records do not count towards the stats used to calculate this.

To calculate the top ADs, I have compiled their wins, losses, winning percentage, number of seasons as AD, championships, and finally, wins per season average. I created a weighted average of these stats and used the following weights for each stat.

Formula

The reason I counted losses at a lower percentage is to help even out for those who have coached longer will not be penalized for it. The losses still count and the winning percentage still helps those who have not coached as long. Let’s not waste any more time and let’s dig into the top active ADs in the CFSL.

10. Miami’s George Yost (.770)

Yost is in his fourth year as AD and all four years have been at Miami where he has compiled a record of 27 wins and 11 losses. His 0.711 winning percentage ranks third among active ADs in the CFSL and he is averaging 6.8 wins per season as an AD. Yost only has one losing season as AD and has a career-high of 10 wins in a season.

9. Penn State’s TJ Smith (.802)

TJ is in his 10th season as an AD in the CFSL, which is tied for second-longest with two other ADs. Smith served five seasons at Florida, one season at Texas A&M, and he is in his fourth season at Penn State. He has compiled 35 wins and 49 losses and averages 3.5 wins per season. In his 10 seasons, he has had five seasons of 0.500 or better. Smith is a very consistent AD who always builds a top team of active users.

8. Alabama’s David Ware (.868)

Ware is completing his sixth season as AD and all of those have been at Alabama. He has never had a losing season and his 0.636 winning percentage ranks sixth among all current AD’s. He has a record of 35 wins and 20 losses. His 35 wins rank for seventh-most among the current group of AD’s. Ware has never had a losing season and has made the playoffs in all six of his seasons. This season has been his best and he averages 5.8 wins per season.

7. USC’s Jacob Cobb (.915)

This seems a little low for a guy with two championships in four seasons at USC, but it is the limited number of games that has him sitting at seven right now. Cobb has recorded 31 wins and 11 losses during his four seasons. His current winning percentage of 0.738 ranks second highest among the current ADs. Cobb is one of only two current AD’s with multiple championships who could become the first AD to win three straight championships this season. His only losing season was his very first and has double-digit wins the last two seasons.

6. Michigan’s Aaron Eichenberg (.995)

Aaron is in his seventh season at Michigan and has compiled 43 wins and 24 losses during that span. He is the all-time win leader at Michigan and his 0.642 winning percentage is the fifth-highest among active ADs. He also ranks fifth with his 43 wins and could lead Michigan to its 100th CFSL win this week against Ohio State. Aaron only has two losing seasons in his time as AD at Michigan.

5. Florida’s Adam Smith (1.006)

Adam Smith spent his first four seasons at Oklahoma State where he won a championship and the last three seasons at Florida. He has compiled 42 career wins and 26 losses with a winning percentage of 0.618. He ranks eighth for winning percentage and sixth for wins among active ADs. Smith has only had two losing seasons during his tenure as AD and averages 6.0 wins per season.

4. Auburn’s Justin Duke (1.049)

Duke spent his first three seasons at Texas where he had his only losing season as a rookie AD. He has spent the last three seasons at Auburn, where he did not lose his first regular season game until this season. Duke has compiled 44 wins and 15 losses in his six seasons with two perfect regular seasons to his name. He ranks fourth in wins and first in winning percentage among the current ADs and could tie for third place in wins this season possibly with just one more win. Duke averages the second-highest wins per season at 7.3 second only to Jacob Cobb.

3. Oklahoma’s Dustin Hall (1.080)

Dustin is one of the three ADs tied at 10 seasons which is second only to Tom Pence and his 16 seasons at Florida State. Hall has spent five seasons at Oklahoma before going to Notre Dame for three seasons, just to come back to Oklahoma. He is in his second season back. He doesn’t have any championships but in 10 seasons, he has only had two losing seasons. He has 50 career wins and 41 losses to his name. Those 50 wins rank second to Tom Pence who has 84 at Florida State. His winning percentage ranks 10th currently and he averages 5.0 wins per season.

2. LSU’s Josh Claydon (1.100)

If you are newer to the CFSL, you may not know how successful Claydon was during his past tenure as AD. He started in the Mac and struggled for two seasons before taking over Notre Dame in season 11 where he went 4-2. He then went on to be the first AD to win back-to-back championships and had a perfect season in season 12. This is his eighth season as an AD and he has had just three losing seasons including this year. Don’t expect him to have too many more at LSU as he is getting the team rolling. He has compiled 45 wins and 27 losses during his career and is third in wins among active ADs. He has averaged 5.6 wins per season in his career.

1. Florida State’s Tom Pence (1.682)

Did you think anyone else could be at the top? Pence is in the hall of fame with his 84 career wins during his record 16 seasons at Florida State. He is the longest-tenured AD in league history and barring anything crazy, will become the first ever to hit 100 wins. He is 34 wins above the closest AD in wins he has a championship to show for as well. It was his fourth season before he hit a 0.500 season but since then he has only had two seasons under .500. He has been a model of consistency at Florida State and has continued to set the bar for all ADs to strive to be like. Pence has averaged 5.3 wins per season during his career.

Well, there you have it ladies and gentlemen, the top 10 active AD’s in the CFSL. I want to thank Tom Pence for continuing to be a role model to all of the ADs and for his willingness to always answer his phone to help anyone who needs it. I hope you enjoyed this article and I will update it every season to see how it changes. I am very interested to see how Jacob Cobb and George Yost climb the list and how some newer ADs like Ryan Moreland and Cory Mucci climb into the top 10 as they continue to win early on in their career. Daniel Gunn is another AD that I feel will push his way into the top 10 by next season.

Until Next Time, Keep your Game Face On and Your Spirits High