Top 25
0-4
- Games
- 4
- Win rate
- 0.0%
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Defense-FirstDefense-First
Coach Profile
Mike Cavan
1997-2001 • SMU
One defining program at SMU.
Mike Cavan's coaching record is 22-34, highlighted by seasons at SMU from 1997 to 2001.
Mike Cavan coached 5 seasons, won 39.3%, and posted an average SRS of -9.8. Best season: 1997 SMU. The profile was defense-first with a mostly steady profile. One primary stint defined the run.
- Career record
- 22-34
- Career win rate
- 39.3%
- Average SRS
- -9.8
- Peak SRS
- -2.1
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
- 5
- Career span
- 5 years
- Best finish
- —
- Consistency
- 58.7
Primary school anchor
SMU
Defense-First profile with 1 program stop and a peak score of 30.6.
Quick Answers
Records fans search first
Headline records use countable season rows after completed-game fallback. Partial seasons and provisional placeholders are called out separately.
- Overall record
- 22-34
- SMU record
- 22-34
- Full-season record
- 22-34
- Vs AP Top 10
- 0-0
- Vs AP Top 5
- 0-0
- Vs TCU
- 1-4
- Postseason / bowl record
- 0-0
- CFP record
- 0-0
- National titles
- 0
56 countable games, 39.3% win rate.
5 countable seasons at SMU.
5 full season rows; partial and backfilled current rows are separated.
0 games using AP ranking at game time.
0 games using AP ranking at game time.
Battle for the Iron Skillet games in this dataset.
0 scored postseason games in this dataset.
0 College Football Playoff-labeled games since 2014.
Matched by coach team-season against the national championship dataset.
Record definition and data status
Career records use countable coach-season rows. Zero-game placeholders are excluded from aggregates until a completed-game fallback can verify the record.
Completed-game fallback uses scored games joined by coach, team, and season; advanced ratings are left blank when the season summary has not supplied them.
Latest completed coached game in this dataset: Dec 1, 2001. Current and future zero-game placeholders are kept visible but excluded from headline records.
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.
Mike Cavan
EliteStrongAverageLean
1997Actual season year • SRS range -17.0 to -2.12001
Active comparison point
Mike Cavan • 1997
1997 SMU
Best season6-5 • SRS -2.1 • SP Overall 1.2
Win %
54.5%
YoY SRS
—
SP Off / Def
27.2 / 26.7
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
0-0
- Games
- 0
- Win rate
- —
Top 5
0-0
- Games
- 0
- Win rate
- —
Tenure map
Each stint expands by seasons coached. Deeper color signals a stronger average SRS over that stretch.
Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint
SMU
1997-2001 • 5 seasons
Avg SRS -9.8 • Win % 39.3%
- Longest tenure
- SMU • 5 seasons
- Best tenure
- SMU • -9.8 SRS
- Best tenure win rate
- SMU • 39.3%
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.
Mike Cavan sets the reference point in overall strength.
Overall Strength
Decisive edgeMike Cavan sets the reference point in overall strength.
Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.
Mike Cavan
Lower end
- Raw avg SP Overall
- -9.9
- Percentile
- 28th pct
Lower end
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.
SMU
1997-2001 • 22-34
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS -9.8Win % 39.3%
Avg wins
Higher is better
4.4 during vs 2.8 baseline
+1.6
Avg SRS
Higher is better
-9.8 during vs -9.0 baseline
-0.7
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
-9.9 during vs -11.2 baseline
+1.3
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
0.0% during vs 0.0% baseline
+0.0%
Career highs and lows
High Points
Best Season
SMU 1997
6-5 • SRS -2.1
Biggest Improvement
SMU 2001
4-7 • 4.2 SRS
Best Offensive Season
SMU 1997
6-5 • SP Off 27.2
Best Defensive Season
SMU 1998
5-7 • SP Def 25.0
Setbacks
Lowest SRS Season
SMU 2000
3-9 • SRS -17.0
Biggest Drop
SMU 1999
4-6 • -11.2 SRS
Season-by-season results
Full transparency into every season in the coaching record. Positive YoY values indicate improvement from the prior season.
| SMU | 2001 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 36.4% | — | — | -12.8 | -14.5 | 22.7 | 34.8 | +4.2 | +11.4% | Season summary |
| SMU | 2000 | 12 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 25.0% | — | — | -17.0 | -19.0 | 17.8 | 35.3 | -2.9 | -15.0% | Season summary |
| SMU | 1999 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 40.0% | — | — | -14.1 | -15.0 | 16.5 | 30.7 | -11.2 | -1.7% | Season summary |
| SMU | 1998 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 41.7% | — | — | -2.9 | -2.2 | 22.6 | 25.0 | -0.8 | -12.9% | Season summary |
| SMU | 1997 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 54.5% | — | — | -2.1 | 1.2 | 27.2 | 26.7 | — | — | Season summary |
Similar coaches
Popular comparisons are fan-facing matchups. Statistical comps are matched by style, strength band, volatility band, peak range, and career length.
Statistical comps
Thomas Hammock
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.7
Avg SRS -10.4 • Peak SRS -1.1 • 7 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 5.7
Open profile →Darrell Hazell
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.5
Avg SRS -9.3 • Peak SRS -0.5 • 6 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 4.8
Open profile →Mike Working
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.3
Avg SRS -9.4 • Peak SRS -2.7 • 2 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 6.8
Open profile →John Bonamego
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.3
Avg SRS -8.4 • Peak SRS -0.2 • 4 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 6.8
Open profile →Bryant Vincent
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.5
Avg SRS -10.3 • Peak SRS -1.1 • 3 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 7.7
Open profile →Ted Roof
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.2
Avg SRS -11.0 • Peak SRS -5.1 • 5 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 4.4
Open profile →