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Interactive Map: FBS Head Coaches Who Started in High School

HERO Sports by HERO Sports
October 11, 2017
Interactive Map: FBS Head Coaches Who Started in High School

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). 

MORE: FBS Head Coaches Who Began in the FCS

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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