Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 3-2
1979Hall of Fame ClassicW 24-14
1980Liberty BowlL 25-28USM1981Tangerine BowlW 19-17
1983Holiday BowlL 17-21
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 Washington 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.
4-3 against his rivals at Missouri. Just 1-6 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.
4-4 against his rivals. Just 2-6 against Tom Osborne.
Building the roster
Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Followed him here
Washington State→
Missouri1978Players 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 (1978-1984) 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. 2 went in the first round.
At least 18 — his 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | R4.25 | Tony Davis | Tight End |  Seattle Seahawks | Estimated |
| 1985 | R6.05 | George Shorthose | Wide Receiver |  Miami Dolphins | Estimated |
| 1984 | R4.03 | Conrad Goode | Offensive Tackle |  New York Giants | Estimated |
| 1984 | R4.07 | Bobby Bell | Linebacker |  New York Jets | Estimated |
| 1983 | R5.03 | Demetrious Johnson | Defensive Back |  Detroit Lions | Estimated |
| 1982 | R2.03 | Brad Edelman | Center |  New Orleans Saints | Estimated |
| 1982 | R4.05 | Jeff Gaylord | Linebacker |  Los Angeles Rams | Estimated |
| 1981 | R1.26 | Howard Richards | Offensive Tackle |  Dallas Cowboys | Estimated |
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | R2.06 | James Wilder | Running Back |  Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Estimated |
| 1981 | R2.12 | Eric Wright | Defensive Back |  San Francisco 49ers | Estimated |
| 1981 | R5.12 | Wendell Ray | Defensive End |  Minnesota Vikings | Estimated |
| 1981 | R6.06 | Johnnie Poe | Defensive Back | New Orleans Saints | Estimated |
| 1981 | R7.06 | Bill Whitaker | Defensive Back |  Green Bay Packers | Estimated |
| 1981 | R7.07 | Ron Fellows | Defensive Back | Dallas Cowboys | Estimated |
| 1980 | R4.22 | Kurt Petersen | Defensive End | Dallas Cowboys | Estimated |
| 1980 | R7.27 | Gerry Ellis | Running Back | Los Angeles Rams | Estimated |
| 1979 | R1.13 | Kellen Winslow | Tight End |  San Diego Chargers | Estimated |
| 1979 | R5.02 | Earl Gant | Running Back |  Kansas City Chiefs | 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
2nd-best Missouri tenure of 12 by the numbers.
Followed Al Onofrio (1971–1977) · succeeded by Woody Widenhofer (1985–1988).
| Season | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||||
| Record | 8-4 | 7-5 | 8-4 | 8-4 | 5-4-2 | 7-5 | 3-7-1 | |
| Postseason | W bowl | W bowl | L bowl | W 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 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
Followed Jackie Sherrill (1976) · succeeded by Jim Walden (1978–1986).
4 NFL Draft picks: Ken Greene (1978), Don Schwartz (1978), Mike Levenseller (1978), Dan Doornink (1978)
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
+3.5 pts at Missouri · #468 of 1290 · middle half