Sonny Lubick
Sonny Lubick went 129–93 as a head coach, 1978–2007, at Montana State and Colorado State. Share
Four seasons our game records don’t credit to him come from the coach’s Wikipedia article: 1978–81 at Montana State. They’re marked in the table.
- Record
- 129–93 career
- Seasons
- 19
- Schools
- 2
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Best season
- 2000 10–2, No. 14
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Montana State * | 8–2 | T–2nd | |||
| 1979 | Montana State * | 6–4 | 1st | |||
| 1980 | Montana State * | 4–6 | T–6th | |||
| 1981 | Montana State * | 3–7 | 7th | |||
| 1982–92: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 1993 | Colorado State | 5–6 | T–4th | |||
| 1994 | Colorado State | 10–2 | 1st | Holiday Bowl L | 16 | |
| 1995 | Colorado State | 8–4 | T–1st | Holiday Bowl L | ||
| 1996 | Colorado State | 7–5 | T–2nd (Pacific) | |||
| 1997 | Colorado State | 11–2 | 1st (Pacific) | Western Athletic Championship Game W; Holiday Bowl W | 17 | |
| 1998 | Colorado State | 8–4 | T–3rd (Mountain) | |||
| 1999 | Colorado State | 8–4 | T–1st | Liberty Bowl L | ||
| 2000 | Colorado State | 10–2 | 1st | Liberty Bowl W | 14 | |
| 2001 | Colorado State | 7–5 | 2nd | New Orleans Bowl W | ||
| 2002 | Colorado State | 10–4 | 1st | Liberty Bowl L | ||
| 2003 | Colorado State | 7–6 | 3rd | San Francisco Bowl L | ||
| 2004 | Colorado State | 4–7 | T–4th | |||
| 2005 | Colorado State | 6–6 | T–3rd | Poinsettia Bowl L | ||
| 2006 | Colorado State | 4–8 | T–8th | |||
| 2007 | Colorado State | 3–9 | T–7th | |||
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
Greg Myers1995 Jim Thorpe Award
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 27 | 8–19 | 30% |
| Against top-10 teams | 12 | 2–10 | 17% |
| Against rivals | 43 | 24–19 | 56% |
| Conference games | 114 | 73–41 | 64% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 10 | 4–6 | 40% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 71 | 42–29 | 59% |
| At home | 79 | 53–26 | 67% |
| On the road | 84 | 46–38 | 55% |
| At neutral sites | 19 | 9–10 | 47% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 110 | 83–27 | 75% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 72 | 25–47 | 35% |
His own 182 games on file, 1993–2007, 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fisher DeBerry 1993–2006 | 9–5 | Air Force | 14 | |
| Rocky Long 1999–2007 | 5–4 | New Mexico | 9 | |
| Ron McBride 1993–2002 | 5–2 | Utah | 7 | |
| Ted Tollner 1994–2001 | 5–2 | San Diego State | 7 | |
| Gary Barnett 1999–2005 | 3–4 | Colorado | 7 | |
| John Robinson 1999–2004 | 5–1 | UNLV | 6 | |
| Pat Hill 1997–2006 | 3–3 | Fresno State | 6 | |
| Dennis Franchione 1993–1998 | 4–1 | New Mexico, TCU | 5 | |
| John Smith 1995–2002 | 4–1 | Utah State, Louisville | 5 | |
| Joe Glenn 2003–2007 | 3–2 | Wyoming | 5 |
Sonny Lubick’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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wyomingseries | 15 | 11–4 |
| Air Forceseries | 15 | 9–6 |
| San Diego Stateseries | 14 | 8–6 |
| New Mexicoseries | 13 | 8–5 |
| Coloradoseries | 13 | 4–9 |
| UNLVseries | 12 | 11–1 |
| Utahseries | 12 | 6–6 |
| BYUseries | 12 | 4–8 |
National title staffs
Every title staff- Won a national title on Miami’s 1991 staff (defensive coordinator, defensive backs) · the staff · source
The champions’ staffs from 1990 on, as the schools listed them that season: Staff lists: Drew Hoover’s how-many-rings (MIT), from the schools’ media guides and staff pages. Roles as the source words them.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1962–67 | Butte HS (MT) high school | Line coach | |
| 1968–69 | Butte HS (MT) high school | Head coach | |
| 1970 | Montana State | Backfield coach | |
| 1971–77 | Montana State | Defensive coordinator | |
| 1978–81 | Montana State | Head coach | |
| 1982–84 | Colorado State | Offensive coordinator | |
| 1985 | Stanford | Outside linebackers coach | |
| 1986–88 | Stanford | Defensive backs coach | |
| 1989–92 | Miami (FL) | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 1993–2007 | Colorado State | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Leon FullerColorado State
- Jack ElwayStanford
- Dennis EricksonMiami
Assistants who became head coaches
- Mick DennehyUtah State, Montana Western, Montana
- Steve FairchildColorado State
- Todd FitchVanderbilt
- Urban MeyerBowling Green, Utah, Florida, Ohio State, Jacksonville Jaguars
- Lane KiffinTennessee, USC, Florida Atlantic, Ole Miss, LSU, Oakland Raiders
- Steve StanardNebraska Wesleyan
Worked under (3)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leon Fuller | Colorado State | 1982–84 | Offensive coordinator | |
| Jack Elway | Stanford | 1985–88 | 1985: outside linebackers coach; 1986–88: defensive backs coach | |
| Dennis Erickson | Miami | 1989–92 | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (6)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mick Dennehy | Montana State, 1980–81: assistant coach | Utah State, Montana Western, Montana | |
| Steve Fairchild | Colorado State, 1993–96: quarterbacks coach; 1997–2000: offensive coordinator | Colorado State | |
| Todd Fitch | Colorado State, 1993: running backs and special teams coach | Vanderbilt | |
| Urban Meyer | Colorado State, 1993–95: wide receivers coach | Bowling Green, Utah, Florida, Ohio State, Jacksonville Jaguars | |
| Lane Kiffin | Colorado State, 1999: graduate assistant | Tennessee, USC, Florida Atlantic, Ole Miss, LSU, Oakland Raiders | |
| Steve Stanard | Colorado State, 2003–07: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | Nebraska Wesleyan |
Other assistants under him (7)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Dave Lay | Colorado State, 1993–96: offensive coordinator; 2007: co-offensive coordinator | |
| John Skladany | Colorado State, 1993–95: defensive line coach | |
| Larry Kerr | Colorado State, 1993–2002: defensive coordinator | |
| John Benton | Colorado State, 1995–99: offensive line coach; 2000–03: co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach | |
| Matt Lubick | Colorado State, 1995: graduate assistant; 2001–04: wide receivers coach | |
| Dan Hammerschmidt | Colorado State, 2001–02, 2007: co-offensive coordinator; 2003–06: offensive coordinator | |
| Marvin Sanders | Colorado State, 2001–02: defensive backs 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.
How he coached
Lubick’s teams went for it on 19% of fourth downs and on 35% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 52% of plays and took 26.7 seconds a play, 2004–2007.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 4 g | 5 of 26 19% | 24% | 53% | 24.9 | −0.11 | |
| 2005 11 g | 19 of 87 22% | 40% | 53% | 26.2 | +0.02 | |
| 2006 11 g | 14 of 90 16% | 35% | 56% | 28.9 | −0.09 | |
| 2007 8 g | 13 of 63 21% | 33% | 45% | 25.3 | −0.07 | |
| All 34 g | 51 of 266 19% | 35% | 52% | 26.7 | −0.05 |
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.
Books
Books: Open Library (CC0); most-reissued first, each linked to its page there.