Top 25
0-10
- Games
- 10
- Win rate
- 0.0%
Back to Coaches
Longevity CoachOffense-First
Coach Profile
Gary Darnell
1989-2004 • Florida, Western Michigan
2 schools coached, anchored by Western Michigan.
Gary Darnell's coaching record is 49-50, highlighted by seasons at Western Michigan from 1989 to 2004.
Gary Darnell coached 9 seasons, won 49.5%, and posted an average SRS of -5.2. Best season: 1989 Florida. The profile was offense-first with a highly volatile profile. 2 stints shaped the career arc.
- Career record
- 49-50
- Career win rate
- 49.5%
- Average SRS
- -5.2
- Peak SRS
- 10.2
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
- 9
- Career span
- 16 years
- Best finish
- —
- Consistency
- 13.5
Primary school anchor
Western Michigan
Offense-First profile with 2 program stops and a peak score of 62.2.
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
- 49-50
- Western Michigan record
- 46-46
- Full-season record
- 46-46
- Partial-season record
- 3-4
- Vs AP Top 10
- 0-6
- Vs AP Top 5
- 0-3
- Vs Central Michigan
- 5-3
- Postseason / bowl record
- 0-2
- CFP record
- 0-0
- National titles
- 0
99 countable games, 49.5% win rate.
8 countable seasons at Western Michigan.
8 full season rows; partial and backfilled current rows are separated.
Rows where the coach-season record covers fewer games than the team's completed season.
6 games using AP ranking at game time.
3 games using AP ranking at game time.
Central Michigan-Western Michigan games in this dataset.
2 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: Nov 20, 2004. 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.
Gary Darnell
EliteStrongAverageLean
Gary Darnell: 1997 Western Michigan
1989Actual season year • SRS range -24.3 to 10.22004
Active comparison point
Gary Darnell • 1989
1989 Florida
Best season3-4 • SRS 10.2 • SP Overall 12.2
Win %
42.9%
YoY SRS
—
SP Off / Def
29.2 / 17.7
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
0-6
- Games
- 6
- Win rate
- 0.0%
Top 5
0-3
- Games
- 3
- Win rate
- 0.0%
View ranked game results10
| 2003 Regular Week 9 | Western Michigan | Northern Illinois | #12 | L10-37 |
| 2002 Regular Week 9 | Western Michigan | Bowling Green | #25 | L45-48 |
| 2002 Regular Week 6 | Western Michigan | Virginia Tech | #5 | L0-30 |
| 2002 Regular Week 3 | Western Michigan | Michigan | #7 | L12-35 |
| 2001 Regular Week 3 | Western Michigan | Virginia Tech | #9 | L0-31 |
| 2000 Regular Week 2 | Western Michigan | Wisconsin | #4 | L7-19 |
| 1999 Regular Week 12 | Western Michigan | Marshall | #12 | L17-31 |
| 1999 Regular Week 2 | Western Michigan | Florida | #4 | L26-55 |
| 1999 Postseason Week 1 | Western Michigan | Marshall | #10 | L30-34 |
| 1997 Regular Week 3 | Western Michigan | Michigan State | #25 | L10-42 |
Tenure map
Each stint expands by seasons coached. Deeper color signals a stronger average SRS over that stretch.
Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint
Western Michigan
1997-2004 • 8 seasons
Avg SRS -7.1 • Win % 50.0%
Florida
1989-1989 • 1 seasons
Avg SRS 10.2 • Win % 42.9%
- Longest tenure
- Western Michigan • 8 seasons
- Best tenure
- Florida • 10.2 SRS
- Best tenure win rate
- Western Michigan • 50.0%
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.
Gary Darnell sets the reference point in overall strength.
Overall Strength
Decisive edgeGary Darnell sets the reference point in overall strength.
Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.
Gary Darnell
Mixed
- Raw avg SP Overall
- -3.4
- Percentile
- 46th pct
Mixed
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.
Western Michigan
1997-2004 • 46-46
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS -7.1Win % 50.0%
Avg wins
Higher is better
5.8 during vs 6.0 baseline
-0.3
Avg SRS
Higher is better
-7.1 during vs -11.6 baseline
+4.5
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
-5.4 during vs -6.0 baseline
+0.6
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
0.0% during vs 0.0% baseline
+0.0%
Florida
1989-1989 • 3-4
Baseline comparison is omitted when there are not enough outside-stint seasons for this program.
Avg SRS 10.2Win % 42.9%
No school baseline data available for this tenure.
Career highs and lows
High Points
Best Season
Florida 1989
3-4 • SRS 10.2
Biggest Improvement
Western Michigan 2000
9-3 • 15.2 SRS
Best Offensive Season
Western Michigan 1999
7-5 • SP Off 35.2
Best Defensive Season
Western Michigan 2000
9-3 • SP Def 17.5
Setbacks
Lowest SRS Season
Western Michigan 2004
1-10 • SRS -24.3
Biggest Drop
Western Michigan 2004
1-10 • -15.9 SRS
Season-by-season results
Full transparency into every season in the coaching record. Positive YoY values indicate improvement from the prior season.
| Western Michigan | 2004 | 11 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 9.1% | — | — | -24.3 | -21.7 | 29.9 | 44.8 | -15.9 | -32.6% | Season summary |
| Western Michigan | 2003 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 41.7% | — | — | -8.4 | -10.2 | 30.1 | 38.0 | +0.1 | +8.3% | Season summary |
| Western Michigan | 2002 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 33.3% | — | — | -8.5 | -6.8 | 28.8 | 34.4 | -3.3 | -12.1% | Season summary |
| Western Michigan | 2001 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 45.5% | — | — | -5.2 | -1.4 | 29.2 | 30.9 | -15.3 | -29.5% | Season summary |
| Western Michigan | 2000 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 75.0% | — | — | 10.1 | 13.4 | 30.3 | 17.5 | +15.2 | +16.7% | Season summary |
| Western Michigan | 1999 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 58.3% | — | — | -5.1 | -1.2 | 35.2 | 35.9 | +5.2 | -5.3% | Season summary |
| Western Michigan | 1998 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 63.6% | — | — | -10.3 | -11.3 | 32.7 | 40.6 | -5.3 | -9.1% | Season summary |
| Western Michigan | 1997 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 72.7% | — | — | -5.0 | -4.0 | 29.6 | 33.5 | -15.2 | +29.9% | Season summary |
| Florida | 1989 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 42.9% | — | — | 10.2 | 12.2 | 29.2 | 17.7 | — | — | Partial season |
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
Mike MacIntyre
same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.7
Avg SRS -5.8 • Peak SRS 15.3 • 12 seasons
Best finish #17 • Volatility 10.1
Open profile →June Jones
same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.9
Avg SRS -4.3 • Peak SRS 13.8 • 16 seasons
Best finish #19 • Volatility 8.4
Open profile →Dan McCarney
same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.1
Avg SRS -5.1 • Peak SRS 11.5 • 17 seasons
Best finish #25 • Volatility 9.4
Open profile →Randy Walker
same offense-first identity • volatility within 0.8
Avg SRS -2.8 • Peak SRS 9.8 • 16 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 9.1
Open profile →Kevin Wilson
same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.9
Avg SRS -7.0 • Peak SRS 3.6 • 8 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 8.8
Open profile →Walt Harris
same offense-first identity • volatility within 0.6
Avg SRS -2.1 • Peak SRS 10.5 • 13 seasons
Best finish #19 • Volatility 9.4
Open profile →