2007 FOOTBALL HEAD COACH David Bailiff HEAD FOOTBALL COACH | FIRST SEASON David Bailiff, no stranger to those who Houston. cover or follow football in the state of Bailiff and the Bobcats made a point Texas, was introduced on January 19, 2007 of getting out in the community to meet as the 18th head football coach in the his- with area business leaders and personally tory of Rice University by Rice Director fo deliver schedule posters for the coming Athletics, Chris Del Conte. seasons. Bailiff, 49, came to Rice after three sea- Beyond that, team members were in- sons as the head coach at Texas State Uni- volved in projects throughout the commu- versity in San Marcos, TX where he posted nity from making appearances at San a 21-15 record while leading the Bobcats Marcos elementary schools’ Citizenship to their first Southland Conference cham- Days to lending a hand for Habitat for Hu- pionship and the semifinals of the NCAA manity projects. Division 1AA playoffs in 2005. The Owls have made numerous ap- In the Southland Conference, Bailiff led pearances at schools in the area surround- the Bobcats to one their most successful ing the Rice campus and members of the three-year stints, posting a 10-6 mark. team spent time during the summer con- In his last two seasons at Texas State, ducting walks through the neighborhoods, Bailiff produced standouts both on the field meeting and greeting the residents. and in the classroom. He produced both Bailiff will also have the Owls take a THE BAILIFF FILE the Southland Offensive and Defensive break from preseason drills to assist in- Birthdate May 26, 1958 Players of the Year in 2005 (Barrick Nealy coming students with their moves into one Hometown San Antonio and Fred Evans) and the league’s Student of Rice’s residential colleges. High School McArthur, 1976 Athlete of the Year for football in 2006 His efforts in the community at Texas College Texas State, 1981 (Walter Musgrove). State resulted in the Bobcats setting a Family wife, Angie Overall, he produced a total of 14 All school record for total attendance as well daughter, Brooke Southland Conference first team selec- as attendance average during the 2005 sons, Grayson and Gregory tions, and 13 players who were named to season and then bettered that mark in the academic all conference squad in his 2006. COACHING HISTORY last two years. The 2005 season was truly a magical At the same time, Bailiff proved to be one. The Bobcats went 9-2 during the 1982-84 New Braunfelsl HS regular season with their lone losses com- assistant coach a tireless and accessible promoter of the 1988 Texas State Bobcat program, both with the news me- ing on the road at Division 1-AA Texas A&M graduate assistant/defense dia and the high school coaches through- as well as at Nicholls State, the 2005 SLC 1989-92 Texas State out the state. co-champion. asst. coach/defensive line It is a philosophy he has continued In the team’s first Division I-AA playoff 1992-97 New Mexico since his arrival on South Main to take over game, the Bobcats stormed back from a asst. coach/defensive line/recruiting coord. the helm of Rice’s football program. 35-16 deficit against Division I-AA national 1997-99 Texas State While his own background has been power Georgia Southern to score 34 un- defensive coordinator answered points and beat the Eagles 50- 1999-2000 Texas State as a defensive coach, Bailiff’s squads led Assistant Head Coach/defensive coordinator the league in total offense in each of his 35. The Cats then defeated Cal Poly 14-7 2001 TCU last two seasons at Texas State. to move on to the national semifinals. Only Assistant Head Coach/defensive line Faced with a rebuilding season after a 40-37 overtime loss to Northern Iowa 2002-03 TCU his 2005 Southland title, Bailiff’s 2006 Bob- stood between Texas State and an appear- defensive coordinator/defensive line cats closed with a rush, winning four of ance in the Division IAA National Champi- 2004-06 Texas State their last six and wrapping up with a 28- onship Game. Head Coach 21 win at Sam Houston State. That vic- Bailiff was named the American Foot- 2007 Rice tory knocked the Bearkats out of conten- ball Coaches Association’s Region 5 Coach Head Coach tion for the league title and gave the Bob- of the Year and finished third in the voting POSTSEASON/COACH (4) cats their first win in Huntsville since 2000. for the Eddie Robinson Award presented In addition to re-energizing the Bob- annually to the top coach in Division 1- 2001 Galleryfurniture.com TCU AA. 2002 Liberty TCU cats fortunes on the field, Bailiff also engi- 2003 Fort Worth TCU neered a program that was embraced by In 2004, Bailiff inherited a team which 2005 NCAA 1-AA Playoff (Semifinals) Texas State the community in San Marcos and has was picked to finish last in the Southland brought the same approach with him to Conference. But the Bobcats posted a 5-6 82 2007 FOOTBALL HEAD COACH record and headed into the final week of the season still with tant coach in 1988 before being elevated to the Bobcats’ de- conference championship aspirations. Texas State would end up fensive line coach in 1989. He worked under the late John O’Hara going 3-2 in the Southland Conference and finished third in the for one year and with Dennis Franchione for two years during league, the team’s highest ranking in the SLC since 2000. his first coaching stint in San Marcos. Bailiff’s roots with Texas State already ran deep when he was Bailiff left Texas State in 1992 for an assistant coaching named the Bobcats’ 14th head coach Feb. 5, 2004. He was a position at New Mexico where he handled the defensive line team captain during his playing career at what was then South- and recruiting. He returned to Texas Statein 1997 as defensive west Texas State University. He would return to coach at Texas coordinator and added assistant head coach responsibilities to State during two separate stints, serving as defensive coordina- his role in 1999. tor and assistant head coach in the late 1990s. Prior to being It was in 1999 that Bailiff was selected the NCAA Division I- named head coach, Bailiff spent three seasons on the staff at AA Assistant Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches TCU. He served as the Horned Frogs’ defensive coordinator in Association. While at TCU Bailiff was also honored as the Top both 2002 and 2003 while working with the team’s defensive Assistant Football Coach by the All-American Football Founda- lineman. tion following the Horned Frogs’ 2002 season. The 2003 Horned Frogs posted an 11-2 record and were As a player, Bailiff was named All-Lone Star Conference as ranked 25th in the final Associated Press poll and 24th in the well as All-America honorable mention while playing at Texas ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. State from 1977-80. He served as a team captain in 1980 and Bailiff was part of a staff which built quite a tradition on de- was named honorable mention to the Lone Star Team of the fense at TCU. During his three seasons in Fort Worth, the Horned Decade. Frogs were ranked 24th, 1st and 38th in the country in total Bailiff is married to the former Angie Daniels of Versailles, defense and 10th, 1st and 9th against the run. Mo. He has a daughter, Brooke (22), and the couple has twin In 2002, TCU allowed just 240.2 yards of total offense per nine-year-old sons, Grayson and Gregory. game which led the country. The Horned Frogs surrendered an average 64.8 yards on the ground. During the year, the Frogs held Tulane to a school-record -53 yards rushing. TCU also ranked second in the country in pass efficiency defense, allowing oppo- nents to complete less than 39 percent of their passes. Six TCU defensive players earned all-conference accolades in 2002 including Conference USA Defensive Player of the year and Second-Team All-Ameri- can LaMarcus MacDonald. While at TCU, Bailiff coached in a bowl game every season: galleryfurniture.com bowl (2001), AXA Liberty Bowl (2002) and the Plains Capital Fort Worth Bowl (2003). Bailiff, who is known as one of the premiere re- cruiters in the state of Texas, joined the TCU staff after serving as as- sistant head coach at Texas State University. He began his coach- ing career as the defen- sive line coach at New Braunfels High School (1982-84). He went into private business from 1984-88 before returning to the coaching ranks. His first collegiate coaching position was at Texas State, serving as a defensive graduate assis- 83 2007 FOOTBALL HEAD COACH WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT DAVID BAILIFF Mack Brown, Head Football Coach, University RICE ALL-TIME of Texas: FOOTBALL COACHING RECORDS “David is a bright rising star in our business. He is Overall Conf. Only a great communicator and a tremendous football Years W-L-T W-L-T Phil Arbuckle (Southwestern) 1912-17, 19-23 52-30-8 9-8-2 coach. He had success at Texas State and he’ll do the John Anderson 1918 1-5-0 1-1-0 same at Rice. David is a perfect fit in the state of John W. Heisman (Pennsylvania) 1924-27 14-18-3 4-11-1 Claude Rothgreb 1928 2-7-0 0-5-0 Texas and I think Rice hit a home run in hiring him.” Jack Meagher (Notre Dame) 1929-33 26-26-0 9-20-0 Jimmy Kitts (SMU) 1934-39 33-29-4 16-18-2 Jess Neely (Vanderbilt) 1940-66 144-124-10 86-75-6 Denise M.