Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 2-0-1
1971Sugar BowlW 40-22
1972Sugar BowlW 14-0Stats
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.
8-4 against his rivals at Oklahoma. Just 2-4 against Darrell Royal.
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.
0-3 against his rivals at Colorado. Winless in 3 tries against Barry Switzer.
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.
8-7 against his rivals. Winless in 3 tries against Barry Switzer.
Building the roster
Two numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Roster ownership
Roster ownership
This coach's entire tenure (1979-1981) 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. 2 went in the first round.
At least 10 — his 1979, 1980, 1981 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | R5.18 | Rich Umphrey | Center |  New York Giants | Estimated |
| 1982 | R7.11 | Bob Sebro | Center |  St. Louis Cardinals | Estimated |
| 1981 | R7.22 | Steve Doolittle | Linebacker |  Buffalo Bills | Estimated |
| 1980 | R1.08 | Mark Haynes | Defensive Back | New York Giants | Estimated |
| 1980 | R1.12 | Stan Brock | Offensive Tackle |  New Orleans Saints | Estimated |
| 1980 | R3.22 | Bill Roe | Linebacker |  Dallas Cowboys | Estimated |
| 1980 | R4.12 | Jesse Johnson | Defensive Back |  New York Jets | Estimated |
| 1980 | R5.26 | Laval Short | Defensive Tackle |  Denver Broncos | Estimated |
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | R6.08 | Mike Davis | Defensive Back |  Atlanta Falcons | Estimated |
| 1980 | R6.11 | George Visger | Defensive End | New York Jets | 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.
Inheritor inherited a power and neither built it higher nor let it collapse · Decliner the program's standing fell materially during the tenure
8th-best Colorado tenure of 20 by the numbers.
Followed Bill Mallory (1974–1978) · succeeded by Bill McCartney (1982–1994).
6th-best Oklahoma tenure of 15 by the numbers.
Followed Jim MacKenzie (1966) · succeeded by Barry Switzer (1973–1988).
| Season | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||||
| Record | 10-1 | 7-4 | 6-4 | 7-4-1 | 11-1 | 11-1 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | L bowl | W 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 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
14 NFL Draft picks: Eddie Hinton (1969), Steve Zabel (1970), Jim Files (1970), Steve Owens (1970), Ken Mendenhall (1970), John Watson (1971), Jack Mildren (1972), Derland Moore (1973) + 6 more
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
+6.6 pts at Oklahoma · #326 of 1290 · middle half