The Zeitgeist List · coaching

Buddy Teevens

Followed Tyrone Willingham. Buddy Teevens slid Stanford from National Program I to National Program II in 3 seasons.

The ascent
20–69
1992–2004 · 2 stints
TulaneStanford
← all coaches

Career arc

His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.

Stature score reached, by season of his head-coaching careerTULANESTANFORDNational Programrespectable, streakyRegional Programthe building-block levelTulane, 1992: 2-9, Regional Program IV1992Tulane, 1993: 3-9, Regional Program V1993Tulane, 1994: 1-10, Regional Program V1994Tulane, 1995: 2-9, Regional Program V1995Tulane, 1996: 2-9, Regional Program V1996-8.3Stanford, 2002: 2-9, National Program II2002Stanford, 2003: 4-7, National Program II2003Stanford, 2004: 4-7, National Program II2004-7.0One point per coached season, in career order; dashed segments are program changes — spacing is not proportional to calendar time

Reached National Program in his 6th career season — faster than 12% of the 675 FBS coaches who have ever reached National Program (rank #580 of 675 by seasons-to-arrival).

Tulane, 5 seasons
−8.3
Regional Program IV → Regional Program V.
Stanford, 3 seasons
−7.0
National Program II → National Program II.

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.

0–10 against his rivals. Winless in 3 tries against Curley Hallman.

Rivalry record
0–10
0.0% · 3 rivals
One-score games
8–20
28.6% · margin ≤8
vs. Blue Blood or better
0–1
0.0%
Rivalry ledger
LSU0–40%
Notre Dame0–30%
California0–30%
The toughest matchup
vs. Curley Hallman0–3
3 meetings, 1992–1994
’92 L’93 L’94 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
Dynasty
0–1 0.0%
Blue Blood
0–4 0.0%
Power Program
2–15 11.8%
National Program
6–29 17.1%
Regional Program
11–20 35.5%

Coaching career

2002–2004
Stanfordcaretaker
National Program I → National Program II
Buddy Teevens slid Stanford from National Program I to National Program II in 3 seasons.

15th-best Stanford tenure of 20 by the numbers.

Followed Tyrone Willingham (1995–2001) · succeeded by Walt Harris (2005–2006).

19 NFL Draft picks: Tank Williams (2002), Coy Wire (2002), Randy Fasani (2002), Brian Allen (2002), Eric Heitmann (2002), Zack Quaccia (2002), Kwame Harris (2003), Teyo Johnson (2003) + 11 more

10–23
1992–1996
Tulanecaretaker
Regional Program III → Regional Program IV
Buddy Teevens slid Tulane from Regional Program III to Regional Program IV in 5 seasons.

21st-best Tulane tenure of 23 by the numbers.

Followed Greg Davis (1988–1991) · succeeded by Tommy Bowden (1997–1998).

2 NFL Draft picks: Ruffin Hamilton (1994), Jerald Sowell (1997)

10–46