Jim Grobe Resigns from Wake Forest

ESPN reports that Jim Grobe has resigned as the head football coach for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Grobe has been the head football coach at Wake Forest since the 2001 season.  Unfortunately, the data that I use to rank NCAA FBS teams only goes back to 2008, so I will be only looking at the last few years of Grobe's tenure at Wake Forest. This does not include Wake Forest's best season (2006) under Grobe, in which Wake Forest played in the Orange Bowl.  Thus the trend that I have done the analysis for is the downward part, but I will continue on - with that caveat admitted to up front.  The analysis below is based on the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.

Below is a chart of Wake Forest's total rank, offensive rank and defensive rank since 2008, along with the worst team's rank for each year.

2013
At the time of Grobe's resignation, the Demon Deacon's finished the regular season at 4-8, while playing against an "average" strength of schedule as compared to the "league" as a whole.  Wake Forest's best victory (over highest ranked opponent using the model linked above) was a 34-10 win over currently ranked #62 Maryland.  Their worst loss was to currently ranked #101 Louisana-Monroe.  Wake Forest is currently the #85 ranked team in overall production and the #111 ranked offense and the #44 ranked defense.  Thus Wake's strength is on the defensive side of the ball, not the offensive side.  As you will notice this is a small improvement from the 2012 season.

2012
Wake Forest finished 5-7 playing against an average strength of schedule.  The Demon Deacon's best win was a 28-27 victory over #26 ranked North Carolina and their worst loss was to #94 ranked Maryland.  Wake finished as the #97 ranked team overall, with the #104 ranked offense and the #61 ranked defense.

2011
Wake Forest finished the season at 6-7 with a bowl loss to #43 ranked Mississippi State.  Wake was the #68 ranked team in overall production and the #74 ranked offense and the #63 ranked defense, all played against a strength of schedule that is average for the league as a whole.

2010
This season was not as productive in the won-loss column or in terms of overall productivity, with Wake Forest finishing bowl ineligible at 3-9.  All three of their victories were against teams that finished ranked #106 or higher for this season.  Wake Forest again played an average strength of schedule as compared to the league as a whole and finished as the #100 ranked team in overall production.  Wake Forest had the #95 ranked offense and the #92 ranked defense.

2009
Wake Forest just missed being bowl eligible with a regular season record of 5-7 again against an average strength of schedule.  That said the 2009 Demon Deacons were more productive (in terms of relative rank) than any of the following four seasons, finishing their overall production rank at #66, with the #63 ranked offense and the #65 ranked defense.  This was the season that Wake Forest defeated #48 ranked Stanford 24-17.

2008
Finally (in terms of the data and analysis that I have done), the Demon Deacons finished the regular season at 7-5 and won their bowl game against #41 ranked Navy 29-19 to finish 8-5 overall.  Wake Forest played against a "tougher" strength of schedule than the "league" as a whole - meaning that their schedule was more than one standard deviation lower than the "league" average strength of schedule.  Wake Forest had marquis victories over #18 ranked Mississippi and #30 ranked Florida State that season. Wake Forest was the #33 ranked team overall with the #74 ranked offense and the #10 ranked defense.

2013 NCAA FBS Head Coach Changes
Wyoming and Dave Christensen
Eastern Michigan and Ron English
Florida Atlantic and Carl Pelini
Miami of Ohio and Don Treadwell
UConn and Paul Pasqualoni
USC and Lane Kiffen