Francis Peay

Head coach, Northwestern, 1986 to 1991

College career13-51-2

Program liftNo. 667tied · of 1,290 tenures since 1937

Now

Career arc

Stats

Big games

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.

3-3 against his rivals. Winless in 6 tries against Bill Mallory.

Rivalry record

3-3

50.0% · 1 rival

One-score games

6-12-2

30.0% · margin ≤8

Rivalry ledger

Illinois3-350%

The toughest matchup

vs. Bill Mallory0-6

6 meetings, 1986–1991

’86 L’87 L’88 L’89 L’90 L’91 L

0% win rate across a real, 6-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.

Performance by opponent class

Power Program

1-17 5.6%

National Program

5-10 33.3%

Regional Program

6-24 20.0%

Building the roster

Two numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.

1Roster ownership
2The NFL pipeline

Roster ownership

This coach's entire tenure (1986-1991) 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

at least2Drafted

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 2 — the draft class following his 1987 season is missing from this table entirely; and his 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 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.

0 roster-verified · 2 estimated

Most recent picks first

Year	Pick	Player	Pos	NFL team	Note
1992	R7.03	Darryl Ashmore	Offensive Tackle	Los Angeles Rams	Estimated
1989	R7.01	Kevin Peterson	Linebacker	Dallas Cowboys	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.