After graduating from Henderson State University in 1990, Gus Malzahn had big plans. He would land an assistant coaching job at Arkansas high school football powerhouse West Memphis and begin his rise up the coaching ranks.
He didn't get the job. But he did get the job vacated by the man who actually got the West Memphis job, Bobby Crockett at Hughes High School, just 30 minutes down the road from West Memphis.
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"He wasn't a very good teacher in the classroom, because he was always drawing up plays," said then-Hughes athletics director Charlie Patrick of Malzahn, who taught history and was a junior high basketball coach.
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He was named head coach the following year, 1992, and began his rise up on the high school ranks and, eventually, into college when Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt hired him as the Razorbacks' offensive coordinator in 2006.
"I tell you what," Malzahn said of his early coaching days. "First of all, I didn't have a clue what I was doing and I learned a whole lot by making mistakes."
Those mistakes paid off. In 2012, he became head coach at Arkansas State and a year later, replaced Tommy Tuberville at Auburn. Following the Tigers' Week 6 win over Ole Miss, Malzahn is now 40-19 in four-plus seasons and is chasing Auburn's first-ever spot in the College Football Playoff.
The 51-year-old is one of 27 current FBS head coaches whose first job was in high school football, or about 21 percent of all coaches. He is one of 11 such coaches currently at a Power Five program and one of two from Arkansas (Florida International's Butch Jones started at Fayetteville High School).
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Six coaches began at Texas high schools, including Arizona State's Todd Graham (Poteet High School in Mesquite), while three started in Alabama, including Duke's David Cutcliffe (Banks High School). California and Ohio are the only other states with multiple coaches (two apiece).
Here's an interactive map of the locations of the first job for each of those 27 coaches. Scroll down for the full list.
| Head Coach | Team | High School | Location | Year(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barry Odom | Missouri | Ada High School | Ada, OK | 2000 |
| Bill Clark | UAB | Piedmont High School | Piedmont, AL | 1990-91 |
| Bill Snyder | Kansas State | Gallatin High School | Gallatin, MO | 1962 |
| Brent Brennan | San Jose State | Woodside High School | Woodside, CA | 1996 |
| Butch Davis | Florida International | Fayetteville High School | Fayetteville, AR | 1973 |
| Chad Morris | SMU | Eustace High School | Eustace, TX | 1994-97 |
| Dave Doeren | North Carolina State | Shawnee Mission Northwest High School | Shawnee, KS | 1994 |
| David Bailiff | Rice | New Braunfels High School | New Braunfels, TX | 1982-84 |
| David Beaty | Kansas | Naaman Forest High School | Garland, TX | 1994-96 |
| David Cutcliffe | Duke | Banks High School | Banks, TX | 1976-79 |
| Frank Solich | Ohio | Holy Name High School | Omaha, NE | 1966-67 |
| Gus Malzahn | Auburn | Hughes High School | Hughes, AR | 1991 |
| Joe Moglia | Coastal Carolina | Fordham Prep | Bronx, NY | 1968-70 |
| Joey Jones | South Alabama | Briarwood Christian School | Birmingham, AL | 1989-90 |
| John Bonamego | Central Michigan | Mount Pleasant High School | Mount Pleasant, MI | 1987 |
| Lovie Smith | Illinois | Big Sandy High School | Big Sandy, TX | 1980 |
| Matt Viator | UL-Monroe | Sam Houston High School | Moss Bluff, LA | 1986-88 |
| Mike Jinks | Bowling Green | Ellison High School | Killeen, TX | 1996-97 |
| Nick Rolovich | Hawai'i | San Marin High School | Novato, CA | 2002 |
| Paul Haynes | Kent State | St. Francis DeSale High School | Columbus, OH | 1993 |
| Paul Johnson | Georgia Tech | Avery County High School | Newland, NC | 1979-80 |
| Rod Carey | Northern Illinois | Wayzata High School | Plymouth, MN | 1994-97 |
| Tim Lester | Western Michigan | Wheaton Warrenville South High School | Wheaton, IL | 2000 |
| Todd Graham | Arizona State | Poteet High School | Mesquite, TX | 1988-90 |
| Tom Allen | Indiana | Temple Heights High School | Tampa, FL | 1992-94 |
| Tyson Summers | Georgia Southern | Tift County High School | TIfton, GA | 2002 |
| Urban Meyer | Ohio State | St. Xavier High School | Cincinnati, OH | 1985 |
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