Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 3-7
North Carolina’70L’71L’72W’74L’76L’77LVirginia Tech’80L’84L’86WWake Forest’92W
Show all 10 games
1970Peach BowlL 26-48
1971Gator BowlL 3-7
1972Sun BowlW 32-28
1974Sun BowlL 24-26
1976Peach BowlL 0-21
1977Liberty BowlL 17-21Virginia Tech1980Peach BowlL 10-20
1984Independence BowlL 7-23
1986Peach BowlW 25-24
Wake Forest
1992Independence BowlW 39-35
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.
13-8 against his rivals at North Carolina. Winless in 5 tries against Paul Dietzel.
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.
6-6 against his rivals at Virginia Tech. Winless in 3 tries against Bobby Bowden.
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.
Winless in 6 tries against George Welsh.
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.
19-14 against his rivals. Winless in 5 tries against Paul Dietzel.
Building the roster
Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Followed him here
North Carolina→
Virginia Tech1978Virginia Tech→
Wake Forest1987Players 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 (1987-1992) 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 7 — the draft class following his 1987 season is missing from this table entirely; and his 1988, 1989, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | R2.03 | Ben Coleman | Offensive Tackle |  Phoenix Cardinals | Estimated |
| 1993 | R5.19 | John Henry Mills | Tight End |  Houston Oilers | Estimated |
| 1993 | R7.02 | Mike McCrary | Defensive End |  Seattle Seahawks | Estimated |
| 1990 | R3.05 | Ricky Proehl | Wide Receiver | Phoenix Cardinals | Estimated |
| 1990 | R4.27 | Tony Mayberry | Center |  Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Estimated |
| 1989 | R2.04 | Mike Elkins | Quarterback |  Kansas City Chiefs | Estimated |
| 1989 | R2.24 | David Braxton | Linebacker |  Minnesota Vikings | 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
8th-best Wake Forest tenure of 16 by the numbers.
Followed Al Groh (1981–1986) · succeeded by Jim Caldwell (1993–2000).
| Season | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||||
| Record | 7-4 | 6-4-1 | 2-8-1 | 3-8 | 3-8 | 8-4 | |
| 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 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
7th-best Virginia Tech tenure of 16 by the numbers.
Followed Jimmy Sharpe (1974–1977) · succeeded by Frank Beamer (1987–2015).
| Season | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||||||
| Record | 4-7 | 5-6 | 8-4 | 7-4 | 7-4 | 9-2 | 8-4 | 6-5 | 9-2-1 | |
| Postseason | — | — | L bowl | — | — | — | L 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 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
6 NFL Draft picks: Doug McDougald (1980), Kenny Lewis (1980), Robert Brown (1982), Tony Paige (1984), Bruce Smith (1985), Jesse Penn (1985)
16th-best North Carolina tenure of 17 by the numbers.
Followed James Hickey (1959–1966) · succeeded by Dick Crum (1978–1987).
| Season | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||||||||
| Record | 2-8 | 3-7 | 5-5 | 8-4 | 9-3 | 11-1 | 4-7 | 7-5 | 3-7-1 | 9-3 | 8-3-1 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | L bowl | L bowl | W bowl | — | L 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 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
9 NFL Draft picks: Mike Richey (1969), Don McCauley (1971), Lewis Jolley (1972), Robert Pratt (1974), Sammy Johnson (1974), Ken Huff (1975), Charles Waddell (1975), Mike Voight (1977) + 1 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.
2nd all-time at Virginia Tech
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
+6.0 pts at Virginia Tech · #347 of 1290 · middle half