Team Sports Analysis: Arizona Fires Rich Rodriguez

Recently, the University of Arizona has fired head football coach Rich Rodriguez amid a complaint filed by a workplace employee. Arizona was 43-34 during Rodriguez's tenure as head football coach and as can be seen in the chart below, the Wildcats were generally an above average offense and a below average defense, leading to a team that waffled back and forth around mediocrity.

Below is a chart of offense, defense and total production of the Arizona Wildcats football program during Rodriguez'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). All rankings in this blog come from my Complex Invasion College Football Production Model. More details about the program under Rodriguez including a link to his most recent contract extension are after the chart below.

Rich Rodriguez [2012 - 2017]

2012
At the end of the regular season the Wildcats were 7-5 (and were bowl eligible) and won their bowl game over #55 ranked Nevada (49-48) to finish the season at 8-5 overall. Arizona played against a "tougher" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS, meaning that the Wildcats SOS was between one and two standard deviations lower than the "league's" average SOS. The Wildcats best win was over #21 ranked Oklahoma State (59-38) and their worst loss was to #36 ranked UCLA by a score of (10-66). Arizona had the #61 ranked team in total production with the #13 ranked offense and the #119 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.

2013
At the end of the regular season the Wildcats were 7-5 (and were bowl eligible) and defeated #73 ranked Boston College (42-19) to finish the season at 8-5 overall. Arizona played against an "average" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS, meaning that the Wildcats SOS was plus or minus one standard deviation of the "league" SOS. The Wildcats best victory was against #3 ranked Oregon (42-16) and their worst loss was to #81 ranked Washington State by a score of (17-24). Arizona had the #42 ranked team in total production with the #44 ranked offense and the #60 ranked defense from the Complex Invasi on College Football Production Model.

2014
The Wildcats finished the regular season at 10-2 and were again bowl eligible. The Wildcats lost the Pac 12 conference championship game to #2 Oregon (13-51) and then were defeated by #13 ranked Boise State in their bowl game by a score of (30-38) to finish at 10-4 overall. Arizona played against an "average" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS. The Wildcats best regular season game was a victory (31-24) over #2 ranked Oregon and their worst loss was to #44 ranked UCLA by a score of (7-17). Overall, the Wildcats had the #46 ranked team with the #15 ranked offense and the #110 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.

2015
Arizona finished the regular season overall at 6-6 (bowl eligible), and defeated #78 New Mexico by a score of (45-37) to finish with a winning overall record of 7-6. Arizona played against an "average" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS. The Wildcats best game was their victory over #49 ranked Utah (37-30) and their worst loss was to in state rival #81 ranked Arizona State (37-52). Arizona had the #70 ranked team in total production with the #30 ranked offense and the #110 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.

2016
At the end of the regular season the Wildcats were 3-9 (and were bowl ineligible), while playing against an "average" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS. The Wildcats best win was over #104 ranked Hawaii (47-28) and their worst loss was to #95 ranked Oregon State by a score of (17-42). Arizona had the #107 ranked team in total production with the #84 ranked offense and the #109 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.

2017

The Wildcats finished the regular season at 7-5, while playing against an "easier" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average SOS, meaning that Arizona's SOS was between one and two standard deviations higher than the "league's" average SOS. For this season the Wildcats' best victory was over #39 ranked Washington State by a score of (58-37); their only victory over a team currently ranked in the top half of the FBS. The Wildcats' worst loss was to in-state rival #78 ranked Arizona State by a score of (30-42). Arizona has the #49 ranked team in total production with the #12 ranked offense and the #105 ranked defense from the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model. They played the #44 ranked Purdue Boilermakers in the Foster Farms Bowl, where they lost by a score of 38-35 to finish 7-6 overall for the season.