Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 2-5
1988All-American BowlL 10-14
1989Florida Citrus BowlW 31-21
1990Hall of Fame BowlL 0-30
Texas
1994Sun BowlW 35-31
1995Sugar BowlL 10-28
1996Fiesta BowlL 15-38
Stats
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 Jim Carlen.
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.
3-1 against his rivals at Illinois. Just 1-2 against Hayden Fry.
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.
8-9 against his rivals at Texas. Just 2-4 against R.C. Slocum.
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.
1-2 against his rivals at Arizona. Winless in 3 tries against Mike Bellotti.
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.
12-12 against his rivals. Winless in 4 tries against Rick Neuheisel.
Building the roster
Four numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Followed him here
Illinois→
Texas1992Players 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 (2001-2003) 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.
Where he recruits
is his biggest recruiting state: 17 of 35 signees (49%) across his 2001–2003 tenure, drawn from 5 states in all. Next: TX (10).
63% of his signees come from CA and its 3 border states (AZ 4, OR 1).
The map counts signed recruits across his tenure; the distance figures cover his current roster, transfers and walk-ons included. Two different groups, kept separate on purpose.
The NFL pipeline
The NFL pipeline
players drafted into the NFL off his teams here. None can be traced to who brought them in — there’s no roster record for these players here.
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | R3.04 | Lance Briggs | Linebacker |  Chicago Bears | Estimated |
| 2003 | R5.04 | Bobby Wade | Wide Receiver | Chicago Bears | Estimated |
| 2003 | R6.35 | Makoa Freitas | Offensive Tackle |  Indianapolis Colts | 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
2nd-best Arizona tenure of 20 by the numbers.
Followed Dick Tomey (1987–2000) · succeeded by Mike Stoops (2004–2011).
11th-best Texas tenure of 12 by the numbers.
Followed David McWilliams (1987–1991) · succeeded by Mack Brown (1998–2013).
| Season | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||||
| Record | 6-5 | 5-5-1 | 8-4 | 10-2-1 | 8-5 | 4-7 | |
| Postseason | — | — | W bowl | 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 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
12 NFL Draft picks: Lance Gunn (1993), Van Malone (1994), Winfred Tubbs (1994), Blake Brockermeyer (1995), Lovell Pinkney (1995), Bryant Westbrook (1997), Dan Neil (1997), Chris Carter (1997) + 4 more
5th-best Illinois tenure of 16 by the numbers.
Followed Mike White (1980–1987) · succeeded by Lou Tepper (1992–1996).
| Season | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||
| Record | 6-5-1 | 10-2 | 8-4 | 6-5 | |
| Postseason | L bowl | W 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 | — | — | — | — | |
9 NFL Draft picks: Keith Jones (1989), Jeff George (1990), Mike Bellamy (1990), Henry Jones (1991), Moe Gardner (1991), Darrick Brownlow (1991), Mel Agee (1991), Chris Green (1991) + 1 more
12th-best Wake Forest tenure of 16 by the numbers.
Followed Chuck Mills (1973–1977) · succeeded by Al Groh (1981–1986).
| Season | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||
| Record | 1-10 | 8-4 | 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 | — | — | — | |
1 NFL Draft pick: Syd Kitson (1980)
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
+8.6 pts at Illinois · #251 of 1290 · top quarter