Now
Career arc
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.
0-1 against his rivals at Mississippi State.
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.
18-16 against his rivals at Minnesota. Winless in 7 tries against Bob Devaney.
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.
18-17 against his rivals. Winless in 7 tries against Bob Devaney.
Building the roster
Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Followed him here
Mississippi State→
Minnesota1954Players 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 (1954-1971) 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 26 — his 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | R3.07 | Bart Buetow | Offensive Tackle | Minnesota Vikings | Estimated |
| 1972 | R6.10 | Mike Perfetti | Defensive Back | Atlanta Falcons | Estimated |
| 1972 | R6.14 | Vern Winfield | Offensive Guard | Philadelphia Eagles | Estimated |
| 1970 | R2.19 | Ray Parson | Defensive Tackle | Detroit Lions | Estimated |
| 1970 | R3.16 | Jim Carter | Linebacker | Green Bay Packers | Estimated |
| 1969 | R4.07 | Dennis Hale | Defensive Back | New Orleans Saints | Estimated |
| 1969 | R4.26 | Ezell Jones | Offensive Tackle | New York Jets | Estimated |
| 1969 | R5.22 | Bob Stein | Linebacker | Kansas City Chiefs | Estimated |
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | R7.02 | Richard Enderle | Offensive Guard | Atlanta Falcons | Estimated |
| 1968 | R1.23 | John Williams | Offensive Tackle | Baltimore Colts | Estimated |
| 1968 | R3.19 | Charles Sanders | Tight End | Detroit Lions | Estimated |
| 1967 | R5.08 | Ken Last | Wide Receiver | Minnesota Vikings | Estimated |
| 1966 | R1.13 | Estimated | |||
| 1965 | R5.59 | Estimated | |||
| 1964 | R1.06 | Estimated | |||
| 1963 | R2.16 | Estimated | |||
| 1963 | R4.49 | Estimated | |||
| 1962 | R2.24 | Estimated | |||
| 1962 | R7.91 | Estimated | |||
| 1961 | R6.76 | Estimated | |||
| 1960 | R4.38 | Estimated | |||
| 1960 | R6.59 | Estimated | |||
| 1958 | R2.22 | Estimated | |||
| 1958 | R7.71 | Estimated | |||
| 1957 | R4.38 | Estimated | |||
| 1957 | R6.69 | 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.
Builder meaningfully raised a program that wasn't one · Steady no large move in either direction on our stature ladder
3rd-best Minnesota tenure of 15 by the numbers.
Followed Wesley Fesler (1951–1953) · succeeded by Cal Stoll (1972–1978).
Followed Slick Morton (1949–1951) · succeeded by Darrell Royal (1954–1955).
All-time wins
Wins at programs this site tracks, 1936–present — one consistent count for every coach, not each program’s own historically reported total.
1st all-time at Minnesota
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
+13.3 pts at Minnesota · #148 of 1290 · top quarter
Minnesota Vikings
Atlanta Falcons
Philadelphia Eagles
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
New Orleans Saints
New York Jets
Kansas City Chiefs
Baltimore Colts
Detroit Lions