Thursday, December 7, 2017

Mark Hudspeth Fired by Louisiana-Lafayette

Louisiana (i.e. Louisiana-Lafayette) has fired their head football coach Mark Hudspeth after seven seasons at the helm of the Ragin' Cajun football program.  The two reasons given were inconsistent performance and declining interest (attendance and financial support) in the program.  The Ragin' Cajuns were 51-38 on the field, but due to NCAA rules violations the Ragin' Cajuns vacated 22 victories.

Below is a chart of offense, defense and total production of the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football program during Hudspeth's tenure as head football coach, along with who would be the lowest ranked team during this time period (in purple) and the average team (sky blue).   Louisiana (or Louisiana-Lafayette) has been below average during the last three seasons with Hudspeth at the helm of the Ragin' Cajuns.  All rankings in this blog come from my Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.  More details about the program under Hudspeth including a link to his most recent contract extension are after the chart below.


Mark Hudspeth [2011 - 2017]

2011 (8 wins vacated)
Louisiana-Lafayette finished the regular season overall at 8-4 (bowl eligible) and defeated #41 ranked San Diego State in their post-season bowl game by a score of (32-30) to finish the season at 9-4.  Louisiana-Lafayette played against an "easier" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS, meaning that the Ragin' Cajuns SOS was between one and two standard deviations greater than the average SOS of the "league".  The Ragin' Cajuns best game was their victory over #37 ranked Florida International (36-31) and their worst loss was to #89 ranked Western Kentucky (23-42).  Louisiana-Lafayette had the #57 ranked team in total production with the #34 ranked offense and the #73 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.

2012 (4 wins vacated)
At the end of the regular season the Ragin' Cajuns were 8-4 (and were bowl eligible) and won the  won their bowl game over #75 ranked East Carolina (43-34) to finish the season at 9-4 overall.  Louisiana-Lafayette played against an "average" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS, meaning that the Ragin' Cajuns SOS was plus or minus one standard deviaiton of the "league" SOS.  The Ragin' Cajuns best win was over #56 ranked Western Kentucky (31-27) and their worst loss was to #95 ranked North Texas by a score of (23-30).  Louisiana-Lafayette had the #51 ranked team in total production with the #33 ranked offense and the #71 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.

2013 (8 wins vacated)
At the end of the regular season the Ragin' Cajuns were 8-4 (and were bowl eligible) and defeated #68 ranked Tulane (24-21) to finish the season at 9-4 overall.  Louisiana-Lafayette played against an "easier" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS.  The Ragin' Cajuns best victory was against #36 ranked Western Kentucky (37-20) and their worst loss was to #102 ranked Arkansas by a score of (14-34).  Louisiana-Lafayette had the #52 ranked team in total production with the #39 ranked offense and the #72 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.

2014 (2 wins vacated)
The Ragin' Cajuns again finished the regular season at 8-4 and were again bowl eligible, defeating #70 ranked Nevada by a score of (16-3) to finish at 9-4 overall for the fourth straight season.  Louisiana-Lafayette played against an "average" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS.  The Ragin' Cajuns best regular season game was a victory (55-40) over #50 ranked Arkansas State and their worst loss was to #34 ranked Appalachian State by a score of (16-35).  Overall, the Ragin' Cajuns had the #57 ranked team with the #53 ranked offense and the #65 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.

2015
Louisiana-Lafayette finished the regular season overall at 4-8 (bowl ineligible).  Louisiana-Lafayette played against an "easier" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS.  The Ragin' Cajuns best game again was their victory over #53 ranked Georgia State (23-21) and their worst loss was to #119 ranked New Mexico State (34-37).  Louisiana-Lafayette had the #104 ranked team in total production with the #111 ranked offense and the #83 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.

2016
At the end of the regular season the Ragin' Cajuns were 6-6 (and were bowl eligible) and were defeated by #52 ranked Southern Mississippi (21-28) to finish 6-7 overall, while playing against an "average" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS.  The Ragin' Cajuns best win was over #29 ranked Arkansas State (24-19) and their worst loss was to #120 ranked New Mexico State by a score of (31-37).  Louisiana-Lafayette had the #75 ranked team in total production with the #115 ranked offense and the #22 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.

2017
At the time of Hudspeth's firing, the Ragin' Cajuns were 5-7 (and bowl ineligible) while playing against an "average" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS.  The Ragin' Cajuns best win was over currently ranked #50 ranked New Mexico State (47-34) and their worst loss was to currently ranked #108 ranked Georgia Southern by a score of (24-34).  Louisiana-Lafayette had the #123 ranked team in total production with the #54 ranked offense and the #130 ranked defense (i.e. the worst in all of the FBS) from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.

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