Bob Higgins

Head coach, Penn State, 1936 to 1948

Now

Career arc

Stats

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.

5-10 against his rivals. Winless in 3 tries against Carl Snavely.

Rivalry record

5-10-1

31.2% · 2 rivals

One-score games

18-13-8

46.2% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

1-3

25.0%

Rivalry ledger

Pittsburgh5-838%

Michigan State0-2-10%

The toughest matchup

vs. Carl Snavely0-3

3 meetings, 1937–1939

’37 L’38 L’39 L

0% win rate across a real, 3-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.

Performance by opponent class

Blue Blood

1-3 25.0%

Power Program

5-3 62.5%

National Program

16-13 55.2%

Regional Program

33-8 80.5%

Building the roster

Two numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.

1Roster ownership
2The NFL pipeline

Roster ownership

This coach's entire tenure (1936-1948) 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

at least6Drafted

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 6 — his 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948 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.

0 roster-verified · 6 estimated

Most recent picks first

Year	Pick	Note
1949	R6.56	Estimated
1948	R3.12	Estimated
1948	R5.23	Estimated
1947	R7.47	Estimated
1946	R4.26	Estimated
1943	R7.53	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.