Back before Fresno State played Colorado State in football, I wrote a column about how there were only three mid-major football coaches in Division I who had been at their schools at least 10 seasons and won 60% of their games.
Fisher DeBerry at Air Force. Sonny Lubick at Colorado State. And Pat Hill at Fresno State.
With the news that DeBerry is retiring, the list is technically down to one -- Lubick.
What about Hill? Well, his winning percentage dropped to 59.84% after this 4-8 season. After a couple wins next year, his percentage should climb back up and he'll again have the distinguished honor of being on a list some schlep columnist in Fresno made up.
Still, it shows how rare it is for a winning coach to stay at a smaller program. The bigger money and better facilities are tempting. Not that Hill and his seven-figure salary are digging through recycle bins at 4 a.m. for lunch money -- the school has more than made up for those first years when he was underpaid -- but it still shows loyalty.
Considering that Coach Hill's compensation package comes out to somewhere between $250,000 and $300,000 per win this season, I'd say a little bit of loyalty to the university and the community that supports him would only be fitting.