Chicago Tribune writer ranks Big Ten coaches most likely to survive going 0-12

Going undefeated is an honor that only a few teams — across sports as a whole — can claim that they have attained.

Going winless? That’s also pretty tough to do, but that hasn’t stopped several teams throughout history — especially in football — from becoming famous for exactly the wrong reason.

It’s not something you want to be known for, and in most cases, it should lead to disaster for the head coach in regard to his employment situation.

You would think, though the Browns’ Hue Jackson would disagree, but Jackson isn’t the first coach in recent memory to not pick up a win yet retain his job. As Teddy Greensteen of the Chicago Tribune reminds us, Ron Turner infamously went 0-11 at Illinois yet coached for the Illini for many more years.

So is it possible for any Big Ten teams to go winless this season?

Nebraska, currently at 0-6, is closest to infamy, but one would imagine even a winless year would keep Scott Frost from being fired in year one. And that’s where Greensteen, mentioned above, comes back into this story, because he seems to feel the way about Frost. Regarding Nebraska’s terrible start and Frost’s “safeness” from being fired if he were to go winless in Lincoln, Greensteen wrote a list detailing the Big Ten coaches who could feasibly survive going 0-12.

Scott is the obvious choice because of how much he means to the Nebraska program and his potential as a big-time football coach, but the Huskers head coach actually didn’t come in at No. 1 on Greensteen’s list.

That honor, believe it or not, was reserved for Northwestern head man Pat Fitzgerald. Scott checked in at No. 2. Here’s Greensteen on Fitz:

Fitzgerald endured 5-7 seasons in 2013 and 2014 and still retained more job security than a Supreme Court justice. The star linebacker of the ’95 Rose Bowl team isNorthwestern football, and the team headquarters is now a $270 million lakefront facility dubbed the Fitz Carlton. Wins and losses (51-51 Big Ten record at a one-time graveyard for coaches) explain only part of it. Fitzgerald is the ideal representative of the brainy, image-conscious school.

Checking in at No. 3 on the list of the Big Ten’s most fire-proof coaches in a winless situation is Kirk Ferentz, who is under contract at Iowa until 2026 and is synonymous with Hawkeye football.

Suspended Maryland coach D.J. Durkin is not surprisingly No. 14.