Top 25
1-15-1
- Games
- 17
- Win rate
- 8.8%
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Defense-FirstDefense-FirstSteady Profile
Coach Profile
Al Conover
1972-1975 • Rice
One defining program at Rice.
Al Conover coached 4 seasons, won 34.1%, and posted an average SRS of 3.3. Best season: 1972 Rice. The profile was defense-first with a very steady week-to-week shape. One primary stint defined the run.
- Career record
- 14-28-2
- Career win rate
- 34.1%
- Average SRS
- 3.3
- Peak SRS
- 6.7
Career Dossier
One glance at the full arc.
The profile below keeps the headline numbers visible, then moves into tenure shape, school impact, and full season detail.
- Seasons coached
- 4
- Career span
- 4 years
- Best finish
- —
- Consistency
- 94.2
Primary school anchor
Rice
Defense-First profile with 1 program stop and a peak score of 53.1.
Career Arc
Track how the coach's season-to-season performance changed over time, where the peak landed, and where each school stint appears.
Focus on where peaks separate, where floors hold, and how the shape of each career changed over time.
Al Conover
EliteStrongAverageLean
1972Actual season year • SRS range 0.7 to 6.71975
Active comparison point
Al Conover • 1972
1972 Rice
Best season5-5-1 • SRS 6.7 • SP Overall 7.1
Win %
50.0%
YoY SRS
—
SP Off / Def
26.8 / 20.6
Finish
Unranked
Comparison context
Focus a point to inspect how it stacks up against the rest of the field.
Ranked opponent record
Track career record against ranked opponents with switchable poll source and ranking timing.
Using AP Top 25 rankings at the time of each game; week-one games use the week-one ranking release when available.
Top 10
0-8
- Games
- 8
- Win rate
- 0.0%
Top 5
0-1
- Games
- 1
- Win rate
- 0.0%
View ranked game results17
| 1975 Regular Week 11 | Rice | Texas A&M | #3 | L14-33 |
| 1975 Regular Week 8 | Rice | Texas | #8 | L9-41 |
| 1974 Regular Week 13 | Rice | Baylor | #16 | L3-24 |
| 1974 Regular Week 11 | Rice | Texas A&M | #10 | L7-37 |
| 1974 Regular Week 9 | Rice | Texas Tech | #13 | W21-7 |
| 1974 Regular Week 8 | Rice | Texas | #13 | L6-27 |
| 1974 Regular Week 6 | Rice | Notre Dame | #6 | L3-10 |
| 1974 Regular Week 4 | Rice | LSU | #17 | T10-10 |
| 1974 Regular Week 2 | Rice | Houston | #19 | L0-21 |
| 1973 Regular Week 10 | Rice | Texas Tech | #12 | L6-19 |
| 1973 Regular Week 9 | Rice | Texas | #19 | L13-55 |
| 1973 Regular Week 7 | Rice | Notre Dame | #8 | L0-28 |
| 1973 Regular Week 5 | Rice | LSU | #10 | L9-24 |
| 1973 Regular Week 3 | Rice | Houston | #16 | L6-24 |
| 1972 Regular Week 9 | Rice | Texas Tech | #18 | L6-10 |
| 1972 Regular Week 8 | Rice | Texas | #10 | L9-45 |
| 1972 Regular Week 5 | Rice | LSU | #8 | L6-12 |
Tenure map
Each stint expands by seasons coached. Deeper color signals a stronger average SRS over that stretch.
Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint
Rice
1972-1975 • 4 seasons
Avg SRS 3.3 • Win % 34.1%
- Longest tenure
- Rice • 4 seasons
- Best tenure
- Rice • 3.3 SRS
- Best tenure win rate
- Rice • 34.1%
Style and Strength Profile
Compare strength, identity, steadiness, and ceiling through normalized bars with raw SP and SRS context underneath.
These bars are normalized against the full coach dataset. Raw SP and SRS values stay visible so the profile reads as evidence, not decoration.
Overall Strength
Start with total quality before splitting style and variance.
Al Conover sets the reference point in overall strength.
Overall Strength
Decisive edgeAl Conover sets the reference point in overall strength.
Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.
Al Conover
Above average
- Raw avg SP Overall
- 1.5
- Percentile
- 63th pct
Above average
Normalized against the full tracked coach pool.
Impact by school
See how each stint compared with what that program usually looked like outside that same span.
Rice
1972-1975 • 14-28-2
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS 3.3Win % 34.1%
Avg wins
Higher is better
3.5 during vs 3.0 baseline
+0.5
Avg SRS
Higher is better
3.3 during vs 1.5 baseline
+1.9
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
1.5 during vs -0.1 baseline
+1.6
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
0.0% during vs 0.0% baseline
+0.0%
Career highs and lows
High Points
Best Season
Rice 1972
5-5-1 • SRS 6.7
Biggest Improvement
Rice 1975
2-9 • -0.1 SRS
Best Offensive Season
Rice 1972
5-5-1 • SP Off 26.8
Best Defensive Season
Rice 1973
5-6 • SP Def 17.7
Setbacks
Worst Season
Rice 1975
2-9 • SRS 0.7
Biggest Drop
Rice 1974
2-8-1 • -4.3 SRS
Season-by-season results
Full transparency into every season in the coaching record. Positive YoY values indicate improvement from the prior season.
| Rice | 1975 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 18.2% | — | — | 0.7 | -5.7 | 20.7 | 26.4 | -0.1 | -4.5% |
| Rice | 1974 | 11 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 22.7% | — | — | 0.8 | -1.8 | 16.8 | 18.8 | -4.3 | -22.7% |
| Rice | 1973 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 45.5% | — | — | 5.1 | 6.4 | 23.3 | 17.7 | -1.6 | -4.5% |
| Rice | 1972 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 50.0% | — | — | 6.7 | 7.1 | 26.8 | 20.6 | — | — |
Similar coaches
Related profiles are matched by style, strength band, volatility band, peak range, and career length.
Jimmy Sharpe
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.1
Avg SRS 3.2 • Peak SRS 6.4 • 4 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 1.9
Open profile →Fred Taylor
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.0
Avg SRS 3.3 • Peak SRS 5.9 • 4 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 3.6
Open profile →Jon Sumrall
same defense-first identity • volatility within 0.1
Avg SRS 5.4 • Peak SRS 8.7 • 4 seasons
Best finish #19 • Volatility 2.7
Open profile →Monte Kiffin
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.9
Avg SRS 4.2 • Peak SRS 5.9 • 3 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 1.6
Open profile →Donnie Duncan
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.5
Avg SRS 1.9 • Peak SRS 8.3 • 4 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 3.9
Open profile →Sparky Woods
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.3
Avg SRS 3.0 • Peak SRS 11.7 • 5 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 4.7
Open profile →