Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 1-0
1981California BowlW 27-25Stats
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.
5-5 against his rivals at Toledo. Just 1-4 against Dennis Stolz.
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 Utah. Winless in 3 tries against LaVell Edwards.
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.
2-4 against his rivals at Memphis. Just 1-5 against Howard Schnellenberger.
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.
7-12 against his rivals. Just 1-5 against Howard Schnellenberger.
Building the roster
Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Followed him here
Toledo→
Utah1982Players 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 (1989-1994) 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 9 — his 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | R4.11 | Ken Irvin | Defensive Back |  Buffalo Bills | Estimated |
| 1994 | R2.04 | Isaac Bruce | Wide Receiver |  Los Angeles Rams | Estimated |
| 1994 | R5.23 | Tony Semple | Offensive Tackle |  Detroit Lions | Estimated |
| 1994 | R7.05 | Steve Matthews | Quarterback |  Kansas City Chiefs | Estimated |
| 1993 | R4.27 | Russell Copeland | Wide Receiver | Buffalo Bills | Estimated |
| 1991 | R5.15 | Reginald Jones | Defensive Back |  New Orleans Saints | Estimated |
| 1991 | R5.24 | Jeff Fite | Punter |  Green Bay Packers | Estimated |
| 1991 | R6.05 | Eduardo Vega | Offensive Tackle |  Phoenix Cardinals | Estimated |
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | R5.23 | Charles Wilson | Wide Receiver | Green Bay Packers | 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
8th-best Memphis tenure of 15 by the numbers.
Followed Charlie Bailey (1986–1988) · succeeded by Rip Scherer (1995–2000).
11th-best Utah tenure of 13 by the numbers.
Followed Wayne Howard (1977–1981) · succeeded by Jim Fassel (1985–1989).
1 NFL Draft pick: Andy Parker (1984)
11th-best Toledo tenure of 13 by the numbers.
Followed Jack Murphy (1971–1976) · succeeded by Dan Simrell (1982–1989).
| Season | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||
| Record | 2-9 | 2-9 | 7-3-1 | 4-7 | 9-3 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | — | 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 | — | — | — | — | — | |
1 NFL Draft pick: Jeff Jackson (1982)
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
+4.3 pts at Memphis · #419 of 1290 · middle half