Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 3-2
1980Independence BowlW 16-14
1981Tangerine BowlL 17-19SMU
1982Cotton Bowl ClassicW 7-3
1983Sun BowlL 7-28
1984Aloha BowlW 27-20Stats
Big games
Pick a job to see its years on their own.
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.
2-2 against his rivals at Southern Miss. Just 1-4 against Bobby Bowden.
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.
10-0 against his rivals at SMU. Just 1-2 against Ken Hatfield.
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.
12-2 against his rivals. Just 1-4 against Bobby Bowden.
Building the roster
Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Followed him here
Southern Miss→
SMU1982Players who transferred from his old program to his new one through the portal in the same year he made the move. Name-matching across data sources misses some, so every count is a floor, not an exact number.
Roster ownership
Roster ownership
This coach's entire tenure (1982-1986) 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
The NFL pipeline
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. 4 went in the first round.
At least 15 — his 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 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.
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | R2.26 | Ron Morris | Wide Receiver |  Chicago Bears | Estimated |
| 1987 | R3.07 | Jerry Ball | Defensive Tackle |  Detroit Lions | Estimated |
| 1986 | R1.25 | Roderick Jones | Defensive Back |  Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Estimated |
| 1986 | R1.26 | Reggie Dupard | Running Back |  New England Patriots | Estimated |
| 1986 | R4.11 | Joe Phillips | Defensive Tackle |  Minnesota Vikings | Estimated |
| 1985 | R2.21 | Reggie Phillips | Defensive Back | Chicago Bears | Estimated |
| 1985 | R4.28 | Dale Hellestrae | Offensive Tackle |  Buffalo Bills | Estimated |
| 1984 | R1.10 | Russell Carter | Defensive Back |  New York Jets | Estimated |
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | R4.12 | Rickey Bolden | Tight End |  Cleveland Browns | Estimated |
| 1984 | R5.09 | Michael Carter | Defensive Tackle |  San Francisco 49ers | Estimated |
| 1984 | R7.15 | Mitch Willis | Defensive End |  Los Angeles Raiders | Estimated |
| 1983 | R1.02 | Eric Dickerson | Running Back |  Los Angeles Rams | Estimated |
| 1983 | R2.07 | Wes Hopkins | Defensive Back |  Philadelphia Eagles | Estimated |
| 1983 | R7.07 | Gary Moten | Linebacker | San Francisco 49ers | Estimated |
| 1983 | R7.19 | Craig James | Running Back | New England Patriots | 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.
Career
Coaching career
The arc of his career is on Now.
Builder meaningfully raised a program that wasn't one · Steady no large move in either direction on our stature ladder
1st-best SMU tenure of 18 by the numbers.
Followed Ron Meyer (1976–1981) · succeeded by Forrest Gregg (1989–1990).
| Season | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||
| Record | 11-0-1 | 10-2 | 10-2 | 6-5 | 6-5 | |
| Postseason | W bowl | L bowl | W bowl | — | — | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | ||||||
| Offense | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Defense | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script | ||||||
| 1st-down pass% | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Red-zone pass% | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | — | — | — | — | — | |
3rd-best Southern Miss tenure of 16 by the numbers.
Followed P.W. Underwood (1969–1974) · succeeded by Jim Carmody (1982–1987).
| Season | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||||
| Record | 7-4 | 2-9 | 6-6 | 7-4 | 6-4-1 | 9-3 | 9-2-1 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | — | — | W bowl | L bowl | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | ||||||||
| Offense | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Defense | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script | ||||||||
| 1st-down pass% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Red-zone pass% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
6 NFL Draft picks: Amos Fowler (1978), Eric Smith (1978), Ben Garry (1978), Hanford Dixon (1981), Marvin Harvey (1981), Sammy Winder (1982)
All-time wins
Wins at programs this site tracks, 1936–present — one consistent count for every coach, not each program’s own historically reported total.
2nd all-time at Southern Miss
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
+13.6 pts at SMU · #144 of 1290 · top quarter