Danny Hope
Danny Hope went 57–49 as a head coach, 2003–2012, at Eastern Kentucky and Purdue. Share
Five seasons our game records don’t credit to him come from the coach’s Wikipedia article: 2003–07 at Eastern Kentucky. They’re marked in the table.
- Record
- 57–49 career
- Seasons
- 9
- Schools
- 2
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Best season
- 2011 7–6
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Eastern Kentucky * | 7–5 | 2nd | |||
| 2004 | Eastern Kentucky * | 6–5 | T–2nd | |||
| 2005 | Eastern Kentucky * | 7–4 | 2nd | |||
| 2006 | Eastern Kentucky * | 6–5 | T–4th | |||
| 2007 | Eastern Kentucky * | 9–3 | 1st | NCAA Division I First Round L | ||
| 2008: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 2009 | Purdue | 5–7 | T–6th | |||
| 2010 | Purdue | 4–8 | 9th | |||
| 2011 | Purdue | 7–6 | 3rd (Leaders) | Little Caesars Bowl W | ||
| 2012 | Purdue | 6–6 | 4th (Leaders) | Heart of Dallas (not coached) | ||
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table. * A season our game records don’t credit to him; its record is the article’s.
Players he coached
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 9 | 2–7 | 22% |
| Against top-10 teams | 3 | 1–2 | 33% |
| Against rivals | 12 | 6–6 | 50% |
| Conference games | 32 | 13–19 | 41% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 1 | 1–0 | 100% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 21 | 10–11 | 48% |
| At home | 28 | 15–13 | 54% |
| On the road | 20 | 6–14 | 30% |
| At neutral sites | 1 | 1–0 | 100% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 18 | 14–4 | 78% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 31 | 8–23 | 26% |
His own 49 games on file, 2009–2012, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bret Bielema 2009–2012 | 0–4 | Wisconsin | 4 | |
| Ron Zook 2009–2011 | 2–1 | Illinois | 3 | |
| Tim Beckman 2009–2012 | 2–1 | Toledo, Illinois | 3 | |
| Jerry Kill 2009–2012 | 1–2 | Northern Illinois, Minnesota | 3 | |
| Brian Kelly 2010–2012 | 0–3 | Notre Dame | 3 |
Danny Hope’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Indianaseries | 4 | 3–1 |
| Illinoisseries | 4 | 3–1 |
| Minnesotaseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| Ohio Stateseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| Michiganseries | 4 | 1–3 |
| Notre Dameseries | 4 | 0–4 |
| Wisconsinseries | 4 | 0–4 |
| Northwesternseries | 2 | 1–1 |
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981–84 | Manatee HS (FL) high school | Assistant coach | |
| 1985–94 | Louisville | Offensive line coach | |
| 1995 | Oklahoma | Offensive line coach | |
| 1996 | Wyoming | Offensive line coach | |
| 1997–2001 | Purdue | Offensive line coach | |
| 2002 | Louisville | Assistant head coach | |
| 2003–07 | Eastern Kentucky | Head coach | |
| 2008 | Purdue | Assistant head coach and offensive line coach | |
| 2009–12 | Purdue | Head coach | |
| 2015 | South Florida | Co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach | |
| 2019 | Eastern Kentucky | Offensive line coach | |
| 2025 | UCF | Co-offensive line coach and interim head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Howard SchnellenbergerLouisville, Oklahoma
- Joe TillerWyoming, Purdue
- John SmithLouisville
- Willie TaggartSouth Florida
Assistants who became head coaches
- Shawn ClarkApp State
- Brian RockHoly Cross
- Gary NordUTEP
- Patrick HigginsPurdue, William Penn
Worked under (4)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Howard Schnellenberger | Louisville | 1985–94 | Offensive line coach | |
| Howard Schnellenberger | Oklahoma | 1995 | Offensive line coach | |
| Joe Tiller | Wyoming | 1996 | Offensive line coach | |
| Joe Tiller | Purdue | 1997–2008 | 1997–2001: offensive line coach; 2008: assistant head coach and offensive line coach | |
| John Smith | Louisville | 2002 | Assistant head coach | |
| Willie Taggart | South Florida | 2015 | Co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (4)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shawn Clark | Eastern Kentucky, 2003–07: offensive line coach; Purdue, 2009–12: offensive line coach | App State | |
| Brian Rock | Purdue, 2009–10: wide receivers coach | Holy Cross | |
| Gary Nord | Purdue, 2009–12: assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | UTEP | |
| Patrick Higgins | Purdue, 2011–12: wide receivers coach | Purdue, William Penn |
Other assistants under him (5)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Donn Landholm | Purdue, 2009: defensive coordinator | |
| Gary Emanuel | Purdue, 2010–11: defensive coordinator | |
| Phil Elmassian | Purdue, 2011: linebackers coach | |
| Kevin Wolthausen | Purdue, 2012: defensive line coach | |
| Tim Tibesar | Purdue, 2012: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | South Florida | co-offensive coordinator | $250,000 USA Today | |
| 2012 | Purdue | head coachbonuses up to $778,904 | $970,000 USA Today via Leeds | |
| 2011 | Purdue | head coachbonuses up to $725,738 | $925,000 USA Today via Leeds | |
| 2010 | Purdue | head coachbonuses up to $637,250 | $900,000 USA Today via Leeds | |
| 2009 | Purdue | head coachbonuses up to $558,900 | $825,000 USA Today via Leeds |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
The same USA Today database for 2006–16, from Michael Leeds’ replication data on Harvard Dataverse (CC0): the season’s contract pay.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Hope’s teams went for it on 19% of fourth downs and on 34% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 50% of plays and took 22.5 seconds a play, 2009–2012.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 12 g | 18 of 88 20% | 35% | 56% | 23.4 | −0.04 | |
| 2010 12 g | 22 of 110 20% | 37% | 47% | 19.7 | −0.17 | |
| 2011 13 g | 11 of 101 11% | 24% | 45% | 23.0 | −0.02 | |
| 2012 13 g | 27 of 110 25% | 35% | 53% | 23.6 | −0.02 | |
| All 50 g | 78 of 409 19% | 34% | 50% | 22.5 | −0.06 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.