Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 6-5
Iowa State’77L’78LOhio State’79L’80L’81W’82W’83W’84L’85W’86WColorado State’90W
Show all 11 games
1977Peach BowlL 14-24
TA&M1978Hall of Fame ClassicL 12-28Ohio State
1979Rose BowlL 16-17PSU1980Fiesta BowlL 19-31
1981Liberty BowlW 31-28
1982Holiday BowlW 47-17
1983Fiesta BowlW 28-23
1984Rose BowlL 17-20
1985Florida Citrus BowlW 10-7
1986Cotton Bowl ClassicW 28-12Colorado State
1990Freedom BowlW 32-31Stats
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.
1-1 against his rivals at Iowa State. Winless in 6 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.
5-5 against his rivals at Ohio State. Just 3-4 against Dave McClain.
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.
1-5 against his rivals at Colorado State. 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.
7-11 against his rivals. Just 1-6 against Barry Switzer.
Building the roster
Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Followed him here
Iowa State→
Ohio State1979Players 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 (1989-1992) 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 1 — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | R7.09 | Selwyn Jones | Defensive Back |  Cleveland Browns | 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 · Steady no large move in either direction on our stature ladder
8th-best Colorado State tenure of 18 by the numbers.
Followed Leon Fuller (1982–1988) · succeeded by Sonny Lubick (1993–2007).
| Season | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||
| Record | 5-5-1 | 9-4 | 3-8 | 5-7 | |
| 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 | — | — | — | — | |
6th-best Ohio State tenure of 12 by the numbers.
Followed Woody Hayes (1951–1978) · succeeded by John Cooper (1988–2000).
| Season | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||||||
| Record | 11-1 | 9-3 | 9-3 | 9-3 | 9-3 | 9-3 | 9-3 | 10-3 | 6-4-1 | |
| Postseason | L bowl | L bowl | W bowl | W bowl | W bowl | 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 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
23 NFL Draft picks: Jim Laughlin (1980), Mike Guess (1980), Doug Donley (1981), Al Washington (1981), Todd Bell (1981), Calvin Murray (1981), Keith Ferguson (1981), Vince Skillings (1981) + 15 more
3rd-best Iowa State tenure of 19 by the numbers.
Followed Johnny Majors (1968–1972) · succeeded by Donnie Duncan (1979–1982).
| Season | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||||
| Record | 4-7 | 4-7 | 4-7 | 8-3 | 8-4 | 8-4 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | — | L 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 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
8 NFL Draft picks: Matt Blair (1974), Ike Harris (1974), Keith Krepfle (1974), Barry Hill (1975), Luther Blue (1977), Al Dixon (1977), Tom Randall (1978), Mike Stensrud (1979)
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
+7.8 pts at Iowa State · #285 of 1290 · top quarter