Dan Devine
Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 3-1
1977Cotton Bowl ClassicW 38-10
1978Cotton Bowl ClassicW 35-34
1980Sugar BowlL 10-17
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.
2-1 against his rivals at Arizona State. Nobody he faced three or more times there has a winning record against him.
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.
9-4 against his rivals at Missouri. Just 1-5 against Bud Wilkinson.
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.
3-6 against his rivals at Notre Dame. Just 1-4 against John Robinson.
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.
14-11 against his rivals. Just 1-4 against John Robinson.
Building the roster
Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Followed him here
Arizona State→
Missouri1958Players 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 (1975-1980) 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. 5 went in the first round.
At least 17 — his 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | R4.26 | John Scully | Center |  Atlanta Falcons | Estimated |
| 1981 | R7.23 | Pete Holohan | Tight End |  San Diego Chargers | Estimated |
| 1980 | R1.25 | Vagas Ferguson | Running Back |  New England Patriots | Estimated |
| 1980 | R2.13 | Dave Waymer | Defensive Back |  New Orleans Saints | Estimated |
| 1980 | R2.23 | Tim Foley | Offensive Tackle |  Baltimore Colts | Estimated |
| 1980 | R4.06 | Rusty Lisch | Quarterback |  St. Louis Cardinals | Estimated |
| 1979 | R2.15 | Dave Huffman | Center |  Minnesota Vikings | Estimated |
| 1979 | R2.24 | Bob Golic | Defensive Tackle | New England Patriots | Estimated |
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | R3.26 | Joe Montana | Quarterback |  San Francisco 49ers | Estimated |
| 1978 | R1.07 | Ken MacAfee | Tight End | San Francisco 49ers | Estimated |
| 1978 | R1.08 | Ross Browner | Defensive End |  Cincinnati Bengals | Estimated |
| 1978 | R1.11 | Luther Bradley | Defensive Back |  Detroit Lions | Estimated |
| 1978 | R2.21 | Willie Fry | Defensive End |  Pittsburgh Steelers | Estimated |
| 1978 | R3.23 | Ernie Hughes | Offensive Guard | San Francisco 49ers | Estimated |
| 1978 | R5.01 | Ted Burgmeier | Defensive Back |  Miami Dolphins | Estimated |
| 1976 | R1.02 | Steve Niehaus | Defensive Tackle |  Seattle Seahawks | Estimated |
| 1976 | R7.19 | Ed Bauer | Offensive Guard | New Orleans Saints | 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.
Builder meaningfully raised a program that wasn't one · Sustainer inherited a power and held it for five-plus elite seasons
4th-best Notre Dame tenure of 15 by the numbers.
Followed Ara Parseghian (1964–1974) · succeeded by Gerry Faust (1981–1985).
| Season | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||||
| Record | 8-3 | 9-3 | 11-1 | 9-3 | 7-4 | 9-2-1 | |
| Postseason | — | W bowl | W bowl | W 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 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
1st-best Missouri tenure of 12 by the numbers.
Followed Frank Broyles (1957) · succeeded by Al Onofrio (1971–1977).
9th-best Arizona State tenure of 19 by the numbers.
Followed Clyde Smith (1952–1954) · succeeded by Frank Kush (1958–1979).
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.
3rd all-time at Missouri
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
+24.2 pts at Missouri · #44 of 1290 · top quarter