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- Fell down a Wikipedia rabbit hole about College Football coaches with Zero Wins...
Fell down a Wikipedia rabbit hole about College Football coaches with Zero Wins...
Hey Commish here, honestly don’t know why I am writing this but one of our Discord members posted this Wikipedia article with a List of college football coaches with 0 wins and I fell into this article. I looked over a few of the coaches with the most losses without a win before they were fired or resigned. I saw coaches with Prairie View A&M, Morehead State and Arkansas-Monticello but then I became stuck a on Wikipedia page for the 1960-61 Hardin-Simmons football team for about two days.
Something drew me to this team and coach, maybe it was was knowing Hardin-Simmons was in the Border Conference for the final two years of the conference’s existence. I became ridicuously curious about how these two years for Hardin-Simmons went so wrong.
The 1960 & 1961 Hardin-Simmons Cowboys were coached by Howard McChesney. Here’s a quote from the Hardin-Simmons Hall of Fame “McChesney anchored the great offensive lines at center during the glory days of HSU football. A four year letterman, he started last two years and was co-captain, senior year. Played on great 1946 team with record of 11-0. Played in 5 bowl games which HSU earned 4 wins and 1 tie. During his playing days, HSU posted a record of 29 wins, 9 losses, and 3 ties. Assistant coach with Sammy Baugh from 1955-59, and was head coach in 1960 and 1961.” McChesney was inducted into the Hardin-Simmons Hall of Fame in 1996. (McChesney below) He clearly was a legendary player but the line in the bio kind of minimized his 0-20 Head Coaching career. Hall of Fame - Howard McChesney
Sammy Baugh had won the Border Conference title in 1958 with the Cowboys, went 3-7 in 1959 but then left Hardin-Simmons. He left to become the first coach of the New York Titans (which eventually became the New York Jets) of the American Football League (AFL) in 1960 and 1961 compiling a record of 14–14. This gave McChesney’s first and seemingly only opportunity as a Head Coach. It all went horribly wrong and finished two seasons as Head Coach with a record of 0-20.
Well, then I just had to know how bad was this 0-20? Were there some heartbreakers that just didn’t go McChesney and Hardin-Simmons’ way?
The 1960 season…
McChesney’s first game was at Nippert Stadium against Cincinnati. (Program for this game below)
Hardin-Simmons was leading the entire way of the game and maintained a 14-7 lead late into the 4th Quarter. Cincinnati connected on four straight passes and got a touchdown. Instead of kicking the extra point, the Bearcats went for the win and the 2 point conversion. The first attempt was denied but a penalty by Hardin-Simmons, gave them a second chance. The Bearcats connected and held on to win 15-14. A heartbreaking loss in McChesney’s debut and denied a tie too!
The Cowboys wouldn’t get close to another win in their next six games. Their next one possession game was when they traveled to Denton to take on North Texas State for their Homecoming Game. (picture of the game below)
The game in Denton, the Cowboys and Mean Green aka Eagles went back and forth all throughout the game. North Texas took an 18-16 lead in the fourth quarter but the Cowboys then raced down to get a field goal to lead 19-18 with 8:35 left in the game. The Cowboys then placed the Mean Green down on the 1 yard line with a perfect punt and left the Mean Green 99 yards to go with 3:35 left on the clock. McChesney was so close to his first win as Head Coach. However, the North Texas 2nd-String QB (who was only in the game since the First String QB was ejected for protesting a Hardin-Simmons touchdown in the first half) hit two long passes and got a touchdown with 1:44 left in the game and held on to win 26-19. (Article excerpt from the Ableiene Reporter News)
Hardin-Simmons didn’t get close in their final two games of the year. The team compiled a 0–10 record (0–4 against conference opponents), finished in last place in the conference, and was outscored by a total of 308 to 68.
The 1961 Season…
Blown out 27-0 in their first game of the season by Tulsa, Hardin-Simmons then welcomed North Texas State to Public Schools Stadium in Abliene, TX. (Couldn’t find a picture of Public Schools Stadium but here was Hardin-Simmons’ Parramore Stadium in the 1940s and now a park in Abliene)
McChesney’s Cowboys hoped to get revenge on North Texas State for their close loss last year and held a late lead 7-6 deep into the 4th Quarter. However, North Texas drove down into Cowboys territory and a tackle by the name of Big Bobby Price, a 245 Pound Tackle (the original Thiccer Kicker?), hit a field goal from the 19 yard line to give North Texas the 9-7 lead with 3:33 remaining. McChesney’s men couldn’t find any points and fell again in heartbreaking fashion to North Texas State. Hardin-Simmons didn’t come within one possession of winning a game for the rest of 1961. In its second and final season under McChesney, the team compiled a 0–10 record (0–4 against conference opponents), finished in last place in the conference, and was outscored by a total of 377 to 43.
After the 1961 Season…
The Border Conference essentially was ceasing operations and Hardin-Simmons had decided to go Independent in Football and reorganize their athletic department seemingly to a lower level of play in a cost cutting measure. On December 14th, 1961, the Athletic Director, McChesney and his assistant coach all turned in their resignations. I attempted to find if there were any rumors or rumblings about potentially firing McChesney since he was 0-20 but couldn’t uncover any newspaper articles on it.
Again, I really am not sure why I wrote about this but I did since I felt it was a little compelling. Thanks again for following our substack and all of our accounts!