Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 1-1
1992Holiday BowlL 17-27
1994Liberty BowlW 30-0
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.
2-3 against his rivals. Just 1-3 against Barry Alvarez.
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 (1992-1996) 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. 1 went in the first round.
At least 7 — the draft class following his 1995 season is missing from this table entirely; and his 1992 season predates the modern 7-round draft, so this table’s pre-1994 pick counts are a floor, not a full count, for that season.
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | R6.18 | Dennis Stallings | Linebacker |  Tennessee Oilers | Estimated |
| 1995 | R2.16 | Ken Dilger | Tight End |  Indianapolis Colts | Estimated |
| 1995 | R5.10 | John Holecek | Linebacker |  Buffalo Bills | Estimated |
| 1995 | R5.34 | Dana Howard | Linebacker |  Dallas Cowboys | Estimated |
| 1995 | R7.18 | Scott Turner | Defensive Back |  Washington Redskins | Estimated |
| 1994 | R7.27 | Filmel Johnson | Defensive Back | Buffalo Bills | Estimated |
| 1993 | R1.13 | Brad Hopkins | Offensive Tackle |  Houston Oilers | 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
4th-best Illinois tenure of 16 by the numbers.
Followed John Mackovic (1988–1991) · succeeded by Ron Turner (1997–2004).
| Season | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||
| Record | 6-5-1 | 5-6 | 7-5 | 5-5-1 | 2-9 | |
| Postseason | L 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 | — | — | — | — | — | |
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
+0.6 pts at Illinois · #647 of 1290 · middle half