Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 3-1
1970Cotton Bowl ClassicW 24-11
1972Orange BowlL 6-40
1973Sugar BowlW 24-23
1974Orange BowlW 13-11Stats
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.
4-4 against his rivals at Northwestern. Winless in 5 tries against Duffy Daugherty.
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.
4-6 against his rivals at Notre Dame. Just 3-6 against John McKay.
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.
8-10 against his rivals. Just 1-3 against Forest Evashevski.
Building the roster
Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Followed him here
Northwestern→
Notre Dame1964Players 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 (1964-1974) 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. 12 went in the first round.
At least 50 — his 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | R1.09 | Mike Fanning | Defensive Tackle |  Los Angeles Rams | Estimated |
| 1975 | R2.09 | Greg Collins | Linebacker |  San Francisco 49ers | Estimated |
| 1975 | R3.17 | Drew Mahalic | Linebacker |  Denver Broncos | Estimated |
| 1975 | R5.07 | Kevin Nosbusch | Defensive Tackle |  San Diego Chargers | Estimated |
| 1975 | R5.10 | Wayne Bullock | Running Back | San Francisco 49ers | Estimated |
| 1974 | R2.19 | Dave Casper | Tight End |  Oakland Raiders | Estimated |
| 1974 | R4.08 | Mike Townsend | Defensive Back |  Minnesota Vikings | Estimated |
| 1973 | R2.13 | Greg Marx | Defensive Tackle |  Atlanta Falcons | Estimated |
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | R6.08 | Mike Creaney | Center |  Chicago Bears | Estimated |
| 1972 | R1.01 | Walt Patulski | Defensive End |  Buffalo Bills | Estimated |
| 1972 | R1.15 | Clarence Ellis | Defensive Back | Atlanta Falcons | Estimated |
| 1972 | R1.25 | Mike Kadish | Defensive Tackle |  Miami Dolphins | Estimated |
| 1972 | R3.01 | Fred Swendsen | Defensive End | Buffalo Bills | Estimated |
| 1972 | R4.08 | Eric Patton | Linebacker |  Green Bay Packers | Estimated |
| 1972 | R5.03 | Tom Gatewood | Wide Receiver |  New York Giants | Estimated |
| 1972 | R7.01 | Ralph Stepaniak | Defensive Back | Buffalo Bills | Estimated |
| 1972 | R7.21 | Mike Zikas | Defensive Tackle | New York Giants | Estimated |
| 1971 | R4.21 | Joe Theismann | Quarterback | Miami Dolphins | Estimated |
| 1971 | R5.01 | Tim Kelly | Linebacker | New England Patriots | Estimated |
| 1971 | R7.02 | Larry DiNardo | Offensive Guard |  New Orleans Saints | Estimated |
| 1970 | R1.02 | Mike McCoy | Defensive Tackle | Green Bay Packers | Estimated |
| 1970 | R3.05 | Jim Reilly | Offensive Guard | Buffalo Bills | Estimated |
| 1970 | R5.03 | Bob Olson | Linebacker | Boston Patriots | Estimated |
| 1970 | R5.26 | Mike Oriard | Center |  Kansas City Chiefs | Estimated |
| 1970 | R7.02 | Terry Brennan | Offensive Tackle |  Philadelphia Eagles | Estimated |
| 1969 | R1.02 | George Kunz | Offensive Tackle | Atlanta Falcons | Estimated |
| 1969 | R1.10 | Jim Seymour | Wide Receiver | Los Angeles Rams | Estimated |
| 1969 | R2.04 | Terry Hanratty | Quarterback |  Pittsburgh Steelers | Estimated |
| 1969 | R4.02 | Bob Kuechenberg | Offensive Guard | Philadelphia Eagles | Estimated |
| 1969 | R5.15 | Jim Winegardner | Tight End | Chicago Bears | Estimated |
| 1969 | R6.11 | Ed Tuck | Offensive Guard | Miami Dolphins | Estimated |
| 1968 | R1.07 | Kevin Hardy | Defensive Tackle | New Orleans Saints | Estimated |
| 1968 | R3.21 | Mike McGill | Linebacker | Minnesota Vikings | Estimated |
| 1968 | R5.05 | Jim Smithberger | Defensive Back | Boston Patriots | Estimated |
| 1968 | R6.19 | Dave Martin | Defensive Back | Philadelphia Eagles | Estimated |
| 1967 | R1.12 | Paul Seiler | Offensive Tackle |  New York Jets | Estimated |
| 1967 | R1.15 | Alan Page | Defensive Tackle | Minnesota Vikings | Estimated |
| 1967 | R1.23 | Tom Regner | Offensive Guard | Houston Oilers | Estimated |
| 1967 | R2.20 | Larry Conjar | Running Back |  Cleveland Browns | Estimated |
| 1967 | R2.21 | Jim Lynch | Linebacker | Kansas City Chiefs | Estimated |
| 1967 | R3.06 | George Goeddeke | Center | Denver Broncos | Estimated |
| 1967 | R3.17 | Tom Rhoads | Defensive End | Buffalo Bills | Estimated |
| 1966 | R2.15 | Estimated | |||
| 1966 | R2.22 | Estimated | |||
| 1966 | R3.45 | Estimated | |||
| 1966 | R4.58 | Estimated | |||
| 1966 | R5.62 | Estimated | |||
| 1965 | R1.08 | Estimated | |||
| 1965 | R6.71 | Estimated | |||
| 1965 | R6.74 | 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.
Transformer raised the program into the sport's top tier, or higher within it · Steady no large move in either direction on our stature ladder
3rd-best Notre Dame tenure of 15 by the numbers.
Followed Hugh Devore (1963) · succeeded by Dan Devine (1975–1980).
| Season | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||||||||
| Record | 9-1 | 7-2-1 | 9-0-1 | 8-2 | 7-2-1 | 8-2-1 | 10-1 | 8-2 | 8-3 | 11-0 | 10-2 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | — | — | — | W bowl | — | L bowl | W bowl | W 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 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
3rd-best Northwestern tenure of 13 by the numbers.
Followed Lou Saban (1955) · succeeded by Alex Agase (1964–1972).
Selector agreement
The AP and Coaches’ polls split on the national champion in 1 season of this coach’s career — shown as each selector’s own pick, not a single consensus title.
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 Notre Dame
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
+29.0 pts at Notre Dame · #25 of 1290 · top quarter