Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 0-1
1987Astro-Bluebonnet BowlL 27-32Stats
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.
3-1 against his rivals at Cincinnati.
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.
5-1 against his rivals at Kansas. Winless in 3 tries against Tom Osborne.
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.
4-3 against his rivals at Pittsburgh. Just 1-3 against Dick MacPherson.
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.
12-5 against his rivals. Winless in 3 tries against Bobby Bowden.
Building the roster
Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Followed him here
Cincinnati→
Kansas1983Kansas→
Pittsburgh1986Players 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 (1986-1989) 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. 3 went in the first round.
At least 11 — the draft class following his 1987 season is missing from this table entirely; and his 1986, 1988, 1989 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | R3.09 | Marc Spindler | Defensive Tackle |  Detroit Lions | Estimated |
| 1990 | R4.11 | Dean Caliguire | Center |  San Francisco 49ers | Estimated |
| 1990 | R4.23 | Alonzo Hampton | Defensive Back |  Minnesota Vikings | Estimated |
| 1990 | R6.15 | Tom Sims | Defensive Tackle |  Kansas City Chiefs | Estimated |
| 1989 | R1.08 | Burt Grossman | Defensive End |  San Diego Chargers | Estimated |
| 1989 | R1.24 | Tom Ricketts | Offensive Guard |  Pittsburgh Steelers | Estimated |
| 1989 | R3.01 | Mark Stepnoski | Center |  Dallas Cowboys | Estimated |
| 1987 | R1.18 | Tony Woods | Linebacker |  Seattle Seahawks | Estimated |
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | R4.02 | Randy Dixon | Offensive Tackle |  Indianapolis Colts | Estimated |
| 1987 | R4.05 | Lorenzo Freeman | Defensive Tackle |  Green Bay Packers | Estimated |
| 1987 | R7.14 | Tom Brown | Running Back |  Miami Dolphins | 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
5th-best Pittsburgh tenure of 23 by the numbers.
Followed Foge Fazio (1982–1985) · succeeded by Paul Hackett (1990–1992).
| Season | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||
| Record | 5-5-1 | 8-4 | 6-5 | 7-3-1 | |
| 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 | — | — | — | — | |
13th-best Kansas tenure of 21 by the numbers.
Followed Don Fambrough (1979–1982) · succeeded by Bob Valesente (1986–1987).
7 NFL Draft picks: Paul Fairchild (1984), Bruce Kallmeyer (1984), Renwick Atkins (1984), Alvin Walton (1986), Lynn Williams (1986), Mike Norseth (1986), Johnny Holloway (1986)
Followed Ralph Staub (1977–1980) · succeeded by Watson Brown (1983).
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
+0.0 pts at Kansas · #684 of 1290 · middle half