Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 2-0
1977Peach BowlW 24-14
1978Tangerine BowlW 30-17Stats
Big games
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. Winless in 4 tries against Joe Paterno.
Building the roster
Two numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Roster ownership
Roster ownership
This coach's entire tenure (1976-1979) 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 5 — his 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | R1.16 | Jim Ritcher | Center |  Buffalo Bills | Estimated |
| 1980 | R6.02 | Chris Dieterich | Offensive Tackle |  Detroit Lions | Estimated |
| 1979 | R1.16 | Ted Brown | Running Back |  Minnesota Vikings | Estimated |
| 1978 | R2.11 | Johnny Evans | Punter |  Cleveland Browns | Estimated |
| 1978 | R6.24 | Elijah Marshall | Wide Receiver |  Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 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
1st-best NC State tenure of 15 by the numbers.
Followed Lou Holtz (1972–1975) · succeeded by Monte Kiffin (1980–1982).
| Season | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||
| Record | 3-7-1 | 8-4 | 9-3 | 7-4 | |
| Postseason | — | 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 | — | — | — | — | |
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
+4.4 pts at NC State · #411 of 1290 · middle half