Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 0-1
1977Hall of Fame ClassicL 7-17Stats
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.
Winless in 3 tries against Paul Dietzel.
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.
9-5 against his rivals at Minnesota. Winless in 7 tries against Woody Hayes.
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.
9-5 against his rivals. Winless in 7 tries against Woody Hayes.
Building the roster
Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Followed him here
Wake Forest→
Minnesota1972Players 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 (1972-1978) 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.
At least 13 — his 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | R6.26 | Jim Ronan | Defensive Tackle |  Cleveland Browns | Estimated |
| 1979 | R7.11 | Stan Sytsma | Linebacker |  New Orleans Saints | Estimated |
| 1979 | R7.22 | Keith Brown | Defensive Back |  New York Jets | Estimated |
| 1978 | R2.03 | Mark Merrill | Linebacker | New York Jets | Estimated |
| 1978 | R2.06 | Mike Hunt | Linebacker |  Green Bay Packers | Estimated |
| 1978 | R2.15 | Steve Stewart | Linebacker |  Atlanta Falcons | Estimated |
| 1976 | R3.03 | Keith Simons | Defensive Tackle |  Kansas City Chiefs | Estimated |
| 1975 | R4.17 | Rick Upchurch | Wide Receiver |  Denver Broncos | Estimated |
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | R2.09 | Keith Fahnhorst | Tight End |  San Francisco 49ers | Estimated |
| 1974 | R4.16 | Matt Herkenhoff | Offensive Tackle | Kansas City Chiefs | Estimated |
| 1974 | R5.07 | Steve Neils | Linebacker |  St. Louis Cardinals | Estimated |
| 1973 | R3.22 | Tom MacLeod | Linebacker | Green Bay Packers | Estimated |
| 1973 | R6.09 | Doug Kingsriter | Tight End |  Minnesota Vikings | 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.
Steady no large move in either direction on our stature ladder
7th-best Minnesota tenure of 15 by the numbers.
Followed Murray Warmath (1954–1971) · succeeded by Joe Salem (1979–1983).
| Season | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||||
| Record | 4-7 | 7-4 | 4-7 | 6-5 | 6-5 | 7-5 | 5-6 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | — | — | 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 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
10th-best Wake Forest tenure of 16 by the numbers.
Followed William Tate (1964–1968) · succeeded by Tom Harper (1972).
2 NFL Draft picks: Ed George (1970), Ed Bradley (1972)
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
+2.8 pts at Wake Forest · #506 of 1290 · middle half