Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 1-3
1984Rose BowlW 20-17
1985Aloha BowlL 3-24
1986Florida Citrus BowlL 7-16
San Diego State
1998Las Vegas BowlL 13-20Stats
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.
1-7 against his rivals at USC. Winless in 3 tries against Gerry Faust.
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.
4-1 against his rivals at San Diego State. Just 1-5 against Fisher DeBerry.
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.
5-8 against his rivals. Just 1-5 against Fisher DeBerry.
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 (1994-2001) 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 14 — the draft class following his 1995 season is missing from this table entirely.
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | R2.18 | Chester Pitts | Offensive Tackle |  Houston Texans | Estimated |
| 2002 | R6.25 | Larry Ned | Running Back |  Oakland Raiders | Estimated |
| 2002 | R6.28 | Michael Houghton | Offensive Guard |  Green Bay Packers | Estimated |
| 2000 | R5.20 | Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila | Defensive End | Green Bay Packers | Estimated |
| 2000 | R7.14 | Andrew Kline | Offensive Guard |  St. Louis Rams | Estimated |
| 2000 | R7.34 | Mike Malano | Center |  Minnesota Vikings | Estimated |
| 1998 | R1.07 | Kyle Turley | Offensive Tackle |  New Orleans Saints | Estimated |
| 1998 | R4.04 | Az-zahir Hakim | Wide Receiver |  St. Louis Rams | Estimated |
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | R7.10 | Ephraim Salaam | Offensive Tackle |  Atlanta Falcons | Estimated |
| 1997 | R2.23 | Will Blackwell | Wide Receiver |  Pittsburgh Steelers | Estimated |
| 1997 | R5.20 | Nate Jacquet | Wide Receiver |  Indianapolis Colts | Estimated |
| 1997 | R5.24 | George Jones | Running Back | Pittsburgh Steelers | Estimated |
| 1997 | R6.38 | Ricky Parker | Defensive Back |  Chicago Bears | Estimated |
| 1995 | R6.33 | Jamal Duff | Defensive End |  New York Giants | 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
6th-best San Diego State tenure of 11 by the numbers.
Followed Al Luginbill (1989–1993) · succeeded by Tom Craft (2002–2005).
| Season | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||||||
| Record | 4-7 | 8-4 | 8-3 | 5-7 | 7-5 | 5-6 | 3-8 | 3-8 | |
| 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 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
6th-best USC tenure of 17 by the numbers.
Followed John Robinson (1976–1982) · succeeded by Larry Smith (1987–1992).
| Season | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||
| Record | 4-6-1 | 9-3 | 6-6 | 7-5 | |
| 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 | — | — | — | — | |
14 NFL Draft picks: Keith Browner (1984), Fred Cornwell (1984), Tony Slaton (1984), Duane Bickett (1985), Ken Ruettgers (1985), Jack Del Rio (1985), Brian Luft (1985), James Fitzpatrick (1986) + 6 more
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.
3rd all-time at San Diego State
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
+1.7 pts at San Diego State · #562 of 1290 · middle half