Chuck Fairbanks

Head coach, Colorado, 1979 to 1981
Before: Oklahoma

College career59-41-1

Program liftNo. 1,284of 1,290 tenures since 1937

Now

Career arc

Bowls and playoffs: 2-0-1

OklahomaALA1970Bluebonnet BowlT 24-24

1971Sugar BowlW 40-22

1972Sugar BowlW 14-0

Stats

Big games

Pick a job to see its years on their own.

Oklahoma1967–72 · 52-15-1Colorado1979–81 · 7-26All jobs59-41-1

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.

8-4 against his rivals at Oklahoma. Just 2-4 against Darrell Royal.

Rivalry record

8-4

66.7% · 2 rivals

One-score games

10-7-1

55.6% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

4-7

36.4%

Rivalry ledger

Texas2-433%

Oklahoma State6-0100%

The toughest matchup

vs. Darrell Royal2-4

6 meetings, 1967–1972

’67 L’68 L’69 L’70 L’71 W’72 W

33% win rate across a real, 6-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

1-1 50.0%

Blue Blood

3-6 33.3%

Power Program

10-3 76.9%

National Program

17-3 85.0%

Regional Program

21-2 91.3%

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.

0-3 against his rivals at Colorado. Winless in 3 tries against Barry Switzer.

Rivalry record

0-3

0.0% · 1 rival

One-score games

4-7

36.4% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

0-6

0.0%

Rivalry ledger

Nebraska0-30%

The toughest matchup

vs. Barry Switzer0-3

3 meetings, 1979–1981

’79 L’80 L’81 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

0-6 0.0%

Power Program

0-8 0.0%

National Program

4-5 44.4%

Regional Program

3-7 30.0%

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.

8-7 against his rivals. Winless in 3 tries against Barry Switzer.

Rivalry record

8-7

53.3% · 3 rivals

One-score games

14-14-1

48.3% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

4-13

23.5%

Rivalry ledger

Texas2-433%

Oklahoma State6-0100%

Nebraska0-30%

The toughest matchup

vs. Barry Switzer0-3

3 meetings, 1979–1981

’79 L’80 L’81 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

1-1 50.0%

Blue Blood

3-12 20.0%

Power Program

10-11 47.6%

National Program

21-8 72.4%

Regional Program

24-9 72.7%

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 (1979-1981) 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 least10Drafted

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 10 — his 1979, 1980, 1981 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 · 10 estimated

Most recent picks first

Year	Pick	Player	Pos	NFL team	Note
1982	R5.18	Rich Umphrey	Center	New York Giants	Estimated
1982	R7.11	Bob Sebro	Center	St. Louis Cardinals	Estimated
1981	R7.22	Steve Doolittle	Linebacker	Buffalo Bills	Estimated
1980	R1.08	Mark Haynes	Defensive Back	New York Giants	Estimated
1980	R1.12	Stan Brock	Offensive Tackle	New Orleans Saints	Estimated
1980	R3.22	Bill Roe	Linebacker	Dallas Cowboys	Estimated
1980	R4.12	Jesse Johnson	Defensive Back	New York Jets	Estimated
1980	R5.26	Laval Short	Defensive Tackle	Denver Broncos	Estimated

Year	Pick	Player	Pos	NFL team	Note
1980	R6.08	Mike Davis	Defensive Back	Atlanta Falcons	Estimated
1980	R6.11	George Visger	Defensive End	New York Jets	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

NFL head coach: Patriots 1973–78 · 46-39, 0-2 in the playoffs source

See Colorado’s full coaching history →

The arc of his career is on Now.

Inheritor inherited a power and neither built it higher nor let it collapse · Decliner the program's standing fell materially during the tenure

1979–1981

Colorado Decliner≈

Power Program III → Power Program III (left at National Program II)

Closest comparable run: Greg Robinson’s Syracuse run (2005–2008)

Colorado fell from Power Program III to National Program II under Chuck Fairbanks.

−16.8 pts over 3 seasons · bottom 1% of 3-5-season tenures (717 in sample)

8th-best Colorado tenure of 20 by the numbers.

Followed Bill Mallory (1974–1978) · succeeded by Bill McCartney (1982–1994).

7-26

1967–1972

Oklahoma Inheritor

Blue Blood → Power Program I

Closest comparable run: Jeff Brohm’s Purdue run (2017–2022)

Chuck Fairbanks inherited Oklahoma at Blue Blood and won with it.

+6.6 pts over 6 seasons · top 28% of 6-9-season tenures (368 in sample)

6th-best Oklahoma tenure of 15 by the numbers.

Followed Jim MacKenzie (1966) · succeeded by Barry Switzer (1973–1988).

Season	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972
Record & result
Record	10-1	7-4	6-4	7-4-1	11-1	11-1
Postseason	—	—	—	L bowl	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	—	—	—	—	—	—

Postseason detail1970: Tied Alabama 24-24 Bowl1971: Beat Auburn 40-22 Bowl1972: Beat Penn State 14-0 Bowl

14 NFL Draft picks: Eddie Hinton (1969), Steve Zabel (1970), Jim Files (1970), Steve Owens (1970), Ken Mendenhall (1970), John Watson (1971), Jack Mildren (1972), Derland Moore (1973) + 6 more

52-15-1

Was he good?

Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.

Raised the program

+6.6 pts at Oklahoma · #326 of 1290 · middle half

Also coached: Colorado (-16.8).