Bernard Mertes

Head coach, Kansas State, 1955 to 1959

College career15-34-1

Program liftNo. 594tied · of 1,290 tenures since 1937

Now

Career arc

Stats

Big games

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

1-4 against his rivals. Winless in 5 tries against Bud Wilkinson.

Rivalry record

1-4

20.0% · 1 rival

One-score games

6-8-1

40.0% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

0-8

0.0%

Rivalry ledger

Kansas1-420%

The toughest matchup

vs. Bud Wilkinson0-5

5 meetings, 1955–1959

’55 L’56 L’57 L’58 L’59 L

0% win rate across a real, 5-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.

Performance by opponent class

Dynasty

0-2 0.0%

Blue Blood

0-6 0.0%

Power Program

0-2 0.0%

National Program

1-13 7.1%

Regional Program

11-10 52.4%

Building the roster

Two numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.

1Roster ownership
2The NFL pipeline

Roster ownership

This coach's entire tenure (1955-1959) predates 2021, when transfer-portal tracking begins in this database. Portal usage cannot be measured for this tenure at all -- this is not the same as '0% portal'.

“His own” means the player arrived while he was head coach; “inherited” means a predecessor brought him in.

The NFL pipeline

at least2Drafted

players drafted into the NFL off his teams here (a floor — see the note below). None can be traced to who brought them in — there’s no roster record for these players here.

At least 2 — his 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 seasons predate the modern 7-round draft, so this table’s pre-1994 pick counts are a floor, not a full count, for those seasons.

0 roster-verified · 2 estimated

Most recent picks first

Year	Pick	Player	Pos	NFL team	Note
1958	R7.77				Estimated
1956	R7.74				Estimated

A pick counts toward his tenure when the player’s final college season was one he coached, a checkable rule rather than a claim about who developed the player. A blank note means the player is on a verified roster and arrived on his watch. “Estimated” means no roster record, so the final season is assumed to be the year before the draft.