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Coach Profile

Mike Cavan

1997-2001SMU

One defining program at SMU.

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
58.8

Primary school anchor

SMU

Defense-First profile with 1 program stop and a peak score of 30.6.

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 Cavan1997

Selected

1997 SMU

Best season

6-5 • 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.

Poll source
Ranking timing

Top 25

0-4

Games
4
Win rate
0.0%

Top 10

0-0

Games
0
Win rate

Top 5

0-0

Games
0
Win rate
View ranked game results4
2000 Regular Week 14SMUTCU#13L7-62
1999 Regular Week 2SMUArkansas#18L0-26
1998 Regular Week 10SMUAir Force#25L7-31
1997 Regular Week 6SMUBYU#23L16-19

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

1997-20015 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 edge

Mike 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

1997-200122-34

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

6-5SRS -2.1

Biggest Improvement

SMU 2001

4-74.2 SRS

Best Offensive Season

SMU 1997

6-5SP Off 27.2

Best Defensive Season

SMU 1998

5-7SP Def 25.0

Setbacks

Worst Season

SMU 2000

3-9SRS -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.

SMU20011147036.4%-12.8-14.522.734.8+4.2+11.4%
SMU20001239025.0%-17.0-19.017.835.3-2.9-15.0%
SMU19991046040.0%-14.1-15.016.530.7-11.2-1.7%
SMU19981257041.7%-2.9-2.222.625.0-0.8-12.9%
SMU19971165054.5%-2.11.227.226.7

Similar coaches

Related profiles are matched by style, strength band, volatility band, peak range, and career length.

Thomas Hammock

same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.7

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Avg SRS -10.4 • Peak SRS -1.17 seasons

Best finish Unranked • Volatility 5.7

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Darrell Hazell

same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.5

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Avg SRS -9.3 • Peak SRS -0.56 seasons

Best finish Unranked • Volatility 4.8

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Mike Working

same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.3

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Avg SRS -9.4 • Peak SRS -2.72 seasons

Best finish Unranked • Volatility 6.8

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John Bonamego

same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.3

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Avg SRS -8.4 • Peak SRS -0.24 seasons

Best finish Unranked • Volatility 6.8

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Bryant Vincent

same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.5

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Avg SRS -10.3 • Peak SRS -1.13 seasons

Best finish Unranked • Volatility 7.7

Open profile →

Ted Roof

same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.2

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Avg SRS -11.0 • Peak SRS -5.15 seasons

Best finish Unranked • Volatility 4.4

Open profile →