Top 25
4-20-2
- Games
- 26
- Win rate
- 19.2%
Back to Coaches
Program StabilizerDefense-First
Coach Profile
Dave McClain
1975-1985 • Ball State, Wisconsin
2 schools coached, anchored by Wisconsin.
Dave McClain coached 11 seasons, won 59.3%, and posted an average SRS of 2.8. Best season: 1983 Wisconsin. The profile was defense-first with a very steady week-to-week shape. 2 stints shaped the career arc.
- Career record
- 72-49-3
- Career win rate
- 59.3%
- Average SRS
- 2.8
- Peak SRS
- 9.2
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
- 11
- Career span
- 11 years
- Best finish
- —
- Consistency
- 90.9
Primary school anchor
Wisconsin
Defense-First profile with 2 program stops and a peak score of 59.5.
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.
Dave McClain
EliteStrongAverageLean
Dave McClain: 1978 Wisconsin
1975Actual season year • SRS range -0.8 to 9.21985
Active comparison point
Dave McClain • 1983
1983 Wisconsin
Best season7-4 • SRS 9.2 • SP Overall 11.0
Win %
63.6%
YoY SRS
+2.2
SP Off / Def
38.2 / 29.2
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
2-8
- Games
- 10
- Win rate
- 20.0%
Top 5
2-3
- Games
- 5
- Win rate
- 40.0%
View ranked game results26
| 1985 Regular Week 12 | Wisconsin | Ohio State | #3 | W12-7 |
| 1985 Regular Week 7 | Wisconsin | Iowa | #1 | L13-23 |
| 1985 Regular Week 6 | Wisconsin | Michigan | #7 | L6-33 |
| 1984 Regular Week 11 | Wisconsin | Iowa | #18 | T10-10 |
| 1984 Regular Week 10 | Wisconsin | Ohio State | #16 | W16-14 |
| 1984 Regular Week 5 | Wisconsin | Michigan | #14 | L14-20 |
| 1984 Postseason Week 1 | Wisconsin | Kentucky | #19 | L19-20 |
| 1983 Regular Week 11 | Wisconsin | Iowa | #12 | L14-34 |
| 1983 Regular Week 10 | Wisconsin | Ohio State | #14 | L27-45 |
| 1983 Regular Week 7 | Wisconsin | Illinois | #19 | L15-27 |
| 1983 Regular Week 5 | Wisconsin | Michigan | #14 | L21-38 |
| 1982 Regular Week 3 | Wisconsin | UCLA | #14 | L26-51 |
| 1982 Regular Week 2 | Wisconsin | Michigan | #12 | L9-20 |
| 1981 Regular Week 6 | Wisconsin | Ohio State | #18 | W24-21 |
| 1981 Regular Week 3 | Wisconsin | UCLA | #9 | L13-31 |
| 1981 Regular Week 2 | Wisconsin | Michigan | #1 | W21-14 |
| 1980 Regular Week 11 | Wisconsin | Michigan | #11 | L0-24 |
| 1980 Regular Week 9 | Wisconsin | Ohio State | #9 | L0-21 |
| 1980 Regular Week 5 | Wisconsin | UCLA | #11 | L0-35 |
| 1979 Regular Week 10 | Wisconsin | Michigan | #10 | L0-54 |
| 1979 Regular Week 8 | Wisconsin | Ohio State | #4 | L0-59 |
| 1979 Regular Week 4 | Wisconsin | UCLA | #17 | L12-37 |
| 1979 Regular Week 2 | Wisconsin | Purdue | #5 | L20-41 |
| 1978 Regular Week 11 | Wisconsin | Purdue | #15 | T24-24 |
| 1978 Regular Week 9 | Wisconsin | Michigan State | #18 | L2-55 |
| 1978 Regular Week 8 | Wisconsin | Michigan | #8 | L0-42 |
Tenure map
Each stint expands by seasons coached. Deeper color signals a stronger average SRS over that stretch.
Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint
Wisconsin
1978-1985 • 8 seasons
Avg SRS 3.1 • Win % 52.2%
Ball State
1975-1977 • 3 seasons
Avg SRS 1.8 • Win % 78.8%
- Longest tenure
- Wisconsin • 8 seasons
- Best tenure
- Wisconsin • 3.1 SRS
- Best tenure win rate
- Ball State • 78.8%
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.
Dave McClain sets the reference point in overall strength.
Overall Strength
Decisive edgeDave McClain sets the reference point in overall strength.
Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.
Dave McClain
Strong
- Raw avg SP Overall
- 4.6
- Percentile
- 71th pct
Strong
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.
Wisconsin
1978-1985 • 46-42-3
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS 3.1Win % 52.2%
Avg wins
Higher is better
5.8 during vs 5.0 baseline
+0.8
Avg SRS
Higher is better
3.1 during vs 5.6 baseline
-2.5
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
2.1 during vs -1.0 baseline
+3.1
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
0.0% during vs 0.0% baseline
+0.0%
Ball State
1975-1977 • 26-7
Baseline comparison is omitted when there are not enough outside-stint seasons for this program.
Avg SRS 1.8Win % 78.8%
No school baseline data available for this tenure.
Career highs and lows
High Points
Best Season
Wisconsin 1983
7-4 • SRS 9.2
Biggest Improvement
Wisconsin 1981
7-5 • 4.6 SRS
Best Offensive Season
Wisconsin 1983
7-4 • SP Off 38.2
Best Defensive Season
Ball State 1975
9-2 • SP Def 15.1
Setbacks
Worst Season
Wisconsin 1985
5-6 • SRS -0.8
Biggest Drop
Wisconsin 1985
5-6 • -5.3 SRS
Season-by-season results
Full transparency into every season in the coaching record. Positive YoY values indicate improvement from the prior season.
| Wisconsin | 1985 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 45.5% | — | — | -0.8 | 0.8 | 27.8 | 27.4 | -5.3 | -17.1% |
| Wisconsin | 1984 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 62.5% | — | — | 4.5 | 6.2 | 25.1 | 19.6 | -4.7 | -1.1% |
| Wisconsin | 1983 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 63.6% | — | — | 9.2 | 11.0 | 38.2 | 29.2 | +2.2 | +5.3% |
| Wisconsin | 1982 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 58.3% | — | — | 7.0 | 7.6 | 30.4 | 24.3 | +2.4 | 0.0% |
| Wisconsin | 1981 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 58.3% | — | — | 4.6 | 4.8 | 26.6 | 22.8 | +4.6 | +22.0% |
| Wisconsin | 1980 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 36.4% | — | — | 0.0 | -1.7 | 17.8 | 19.4 | -0.3 | 0.0% |
| Wisconsin | 1979 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 36.4% | — | — | 0.3 | -4.5 | 27.0 | 31.4 | +0.3 | -18.2% |
| Wisconsin | 1978 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 54.5% | — | — | 0.0 | -7.4 | 24.5 | 31.6 | -3.2 | -27.3% |
| Ball State | 1977 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 81.8% | — | — | 3.2 | 10.7 | 33.2 | 24.1 | +3.6 | +9.1% |
| Ball State | 1976 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 72.7% | — | — | -0.4 | 7.6 | 25.9 | 19.2 | -3.0 | -9.1% |
| Ball State | 1975 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 81.8% | — | — | 2.6 | 15.7 | 29.9 | 15.1 | — | — |
Similar coaches
Related profiles are matched by style, strength band, volatility band, peak range, and career length.
Justin Wilcox
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.4
Avg SRS 1.3 • Peak SRS 4.3 • 9 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 2.7
Open profile →Mark Stoops
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Best finish #18 • Volatility 5.1
Open profile →Darrell Mudra
same defense-first identity • volatility within 0.4
Avg SRS 0.1 • Peak SRS 5.9 • 4 seasons
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Open profile →Bill Pace
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.6
Avg SRS 1.1 • Peak SRS 5.4 • 6 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 3.3
Open profile →Fred Taylor
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.5
Avg SRS 3.3 • Peak SRS 5.9 • 4 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 3.6
Open profile →Matt Rhule
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.0
Avg SRS 2.8 • Peak SRS 14.7 • 10 seasons
Best finish #13 • Volatility 6.7
Open profile →