Red Dawson

Head coach, Pittsburgh, 1952 to 1954
Before: Tulane

College career45-30-5

Program liftNo. 481tied · of 1,290 tenures since 1937

Now

Career arc

Stats

Big games

Pick a job to see its years on their own.

Tulane1936–41 · 36-19-4Pittsburgh1952–54 · 9-11-1All jobs45-30-5

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.

2-4 against his rivals at Tulane. Just 1-5 against Frank Thomas.

Rivalry record

2-4

33.3% · 1 rival

One-score games

9-11-4

37.5% · margin ≤8

Rivalry ledger

LSU2-433%

The toughest matchupNemesis

vs. Frank Thomas1-5

6 meetings, 1936–1941

’36 L’37 L’38 L’39 W’40 L’41 L

Performance by opponent class

Power Program

8-13 38.1%

National Program

16-6 72.7%

Regional Program

6-0 100.0%

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.

0-4 against his rivals at Pittsburgh.

Rivalry record

0-4

0.0% · 2 rivals

One-score games

4-1-1

66.7% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

2-2

50.0%

Rivalry ledger

West Virginia0-20%

Penn State0-20%

Performance by opponent class

Dynasty

1-0 100.0%

Blue Blood

1-2 33.3%

Power Program

1-0 100.0%

National Program

2-4 33.3%

Regional Program

4-2 66.7%

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.

2-8 against his rivals. Just 1-5 against Frank Thomas.

Rivalry record

2-8

20.0% · 3 rivals

One-score games

13-12-5

43.3% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

2-2

50.0%

Rivalry ledger

LSU2-433%

West Virginia0-20%

Penn State0-20%

The toughest matchupNemesis

vs. Frank Thomas1-5

6 meetings, 1936–1941

’36 L’37 L’38 L’39 W’40 L’41 L

Performance by opponent class

Dynasty

1-0 100.0%

Blue Blood

1-2 33.3%

Power Program

9-13 40.9%

National Program

18-10 64.3%

Regional Program

10-2 83.3%

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 (1952-1954) 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 — his 1952, 1953, 1954 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
1953	R2.21				Estimated
1953	R7.81				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.

Red Dawson

Now

Career arc

Stats

Big games

The big-game ledger

The big-game ledger

The big-game ledger

Building the roster

Roster ownership

The NFL pipeline

Career

Coaching career

All-time wins

Was he good?