Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 2-3
1985All-American BowlW 17-14Alabama
1987Hall of Fame BowlL 24-28
1988Sun BowlW 29-28
1989Sugar BowlL 25-33
Kentucky
1993Peach BowlL 13-14
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.
2-5 against his rivals at Georgia Tech. Winless in 6 tries against Pat Dye.
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.
5-4 against his rivals at Alabama. Winless in 3 tries against Pat Dye.
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.
1-9 against his rivals at Kentucky. Just 1-5 against Gerry DiNardo.
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.
8-18 against his rivals. Just 1-5 against Gerry DiNardo.
Building the roster
Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Followed him here
Georgia Tech→
Alabama1987Alabama→
Kentucky1990Players 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 (1990-1996) 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.
At least 9 — the draft class following his 1995 season is missing from this table entirely; and his 1990, 1991, 1992 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | R5.11 | Van Hiles | Defensive Back |  Chicago Bears | Estimated |
| 1997 | R7.04 | Chris Ward | Defensive End |  Baltimore Ravens | Estimated |
| 1995 | R2.11 | Melvin Johnson | Defensive Back |  Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Estimated |
| 1994 | R6.11 | Terry Samuels | Tight End |  Arizona Cardinals | Estimated |
| 1994 | R7.13 | Zane Beehn | Linebacker |  San Diego Chargers | Estimated |
| 1994 | R7.28 | Marty Moore | Linebacker |  New England Patriots | Estimated |
| 1993 | R4.01 | Dean Wells | Linebacker |  Seattle Seahawks | Estimated |
| 1993 | R4.13 | Todd Perry | Offensive Guard |  Chicago Bears | Estimated |
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | R6.18 | Chuck Bradley | Offensive Tackle |  Houston Oilers | 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
11th-best Kentucky tenure of 16 by the numbers.
Followed Jerry Claiborne (1982–1989) · succeeded by Hal Mumme (1997–2000).
| Season | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||||
| Record | 4-7 | 3-8 | 4-7 | 6-6 | 1-10 | 4-7 | 4-7 | |
| 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 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
7th-best Alabama tenure of 12 by the numbers.
Followed Ray Perkins (1983–1986) · succeeded by Gene Stallings (1990–1996).
| Season | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||
| Record | 7-5 | 9-3 | 10-2 | |
| Postseason | 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 | — | — | — | |
7 NFL Draft picks: Derrick Thomas (1989), Greg Gilbert (1989), Chris Mohr (1989), Howard Cross (1989), George Bethune (1989), Keith McCants (1990), John Mangum (1990)
14th-best Georgia Tech tenure of 14 by the numbers.
Followed Pepper Rodgers (1974–1979) · succeeded by Bobby Ross (1987–1991).
| Season | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||||
| Record | 1-9-1 | 1-10 | 6-5 | 3-8 | 6-4-1 | 9-2-1 | 5-5-1 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | — | — | 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 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
7 NFL Draft picks: Mike Kelley (1982), Dave Lutz (1983), Ellis Gardner (1983), Robert Lavette (1985), Pat Swilling (1986), Mark Pike (1986), Reggie Rutland (1987)
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
-4.6 pts at Alabama · #981 of 1290 · bottom quarter