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.
3-6 against his rivals at Northwestern. Winless in 7 tries against Ara Parseghian.
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 Purdue. Just 1-3 against Bo Schembechler.
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.
6-7 against his rivals. Just 1-5 against Bob Blackman.
Building the roster
Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Followed him here
Northwestern→
Purdue1973Players 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 (1973-1976) 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 10 — his 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | R4.06 | Scott Dierking | Running Back |  New York Jets | Estimated |
| 1977 | R5.06 | Dave Lafary | Offensive Tackle |  New Orleans Saints | Estimated |
| 1977 | R7.17 | Blane Smith | Tight End |  Cleveland Browns | Estimated |
| 1976 | R1.07 | Mike Pruitt | Running Back | Cleveland Browns | Estimated |
| 1976 | R1.20 | Ken Novak | Defensive Tackle |  Baltimore Colts | Estimated |
| 1976 | R2.16 | Ken Long | Offensive Guard |  Detroit Lions | Estimated |
| 1975 | R1.07 | Larry Burton | Wide Receiver | New Orleans Saints | Estimated |
| 1975 | R6.08 | Fred Cooper | Defensive Back | Detroit Lions | Estimated |
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | R5.13 | Carl Capria | Defensive Back | Detroit Lions | Estimated |
| 1974 | R7.07 | Bob Herrick | Wide Receiver |  Cleveland Browns | 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
3rd-best Purdue tenure of 21 by the numbers.
Followed Bob DeMoss (1970–1972) · succeeded by Jim Young (1977–1981).
4th-best Northwestern tenure of 13 by the numbers.
Followed Ara Parseghian (1956–1963) · succeeded by John Pont (1973–1977).
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
-8.7 pts at Purdue · #1171 of 1290 · bottom quarter