Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 2-4
1973Cotton Bowl ClassicL 3-19
1974Gator BowlL 3-27
1975Astro-Bluebonnet BowlW 38-21Stats
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.
0-2 against his rivals at Mississippi State.
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.
2-0 against his rivals at Washington.
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.
43-14 against his rivals at Texas. Winless in 4 tries against Barry Switzer.
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.
45-16 against his rivals. Winless in 4 tries against Barry Switzer.
Building the roster
Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Followed him here
Mississippi State→
Washington1956Washington→
Texas1957Players 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 (1957-1976) 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 34 — his 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | R1.16 | Raymond Clayborn | Defensive Back |  New England Patriots | Estimated |
| 1977 | R5.19 | Ernest Lee | Defensive Tackle |  St. Louis Cardinals | Estimated |
| 1977 | R6.11 | Rick Burleson | Defensive End |  Kansas City Chiefs | Estimated |
| 1976 | R3.17 | Bob Simmons | Offensive Tackle |  New Orleans Saints | Estimated |
| 1975 | R2.12 | Doug English | Defensive Tackle |  Detroit Lions | Estimated |
| 1975 | R5.01 | Roosevelt Leaks | Running Back |  Baltimore Colts | Estimated |
| 1974 | R6.05 | Bill Wyman | Center |  New York Jets | Estimated |
| 1973 | R1.03 | Jerry Sisemore | Offensive Tackle |  Philadelphia Eagles | Estimated |
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | R6.14 | Travis Roach | Offensive Guard | New York Jets | Estimated |
| 1972 | R2.04 | Jim Bertelsen | Running Back |  Los Angeles Rams | Estimated |
| 1972 | R4.17 | Eddie Phillips | Defensive Back | Los Angeles Rams | Estimated |
| 1971 | R2.12 | Cotton Speyrer | Wide Receiver |  Washington Redskins | Estimated |
| 1971 | R2.26 | Bill Atessis | Defensive End | Baltimore Colts | Estimated |
| 1971 | R4.05 | Happy Feller | Place Kicker | Philadelphia Eagles | Estimated |
| 1971 | R4.06 | Bill Zapalac | Linebacker | New York Jets | Estimated |
| 1971 | R4.12 | Steve Worster | Running Back | Los Angeles Rams | Estimated |
| 1971 | R7.06 | Scott Palmer | Defensive Tackle | New York Jets | Estimated |
| 1970 | R1.21 | Bob McKay | Offensive Tackle |  Cleveland Browns | Estimated |
| 1970 | R2.05 | Leo Brooks | Defensive Tackle | Houston Oilers | Estimated |
| 1970 | R2.24 | Ted Koy | Running Back |  Oakland Raiders | Estimated |
| 1969 | R3.17 | Bill Bradley | Defensive Back | Philadelphia Eagles | Estimated |
| 1969 | R5.26 | Chris Gilbert | Running Back | New York Jets | Estimated |
| 1968 | R6.01 | Howard Fest | Offensive Tackle |  Cincinnati Bengals | Estimated |
| 1967 | R7.12 | John Elliott | Offensive Guard | New York Jets | Estimated |
| 1967 | R7.14 | David Conway | Place Kicker | San Diego Chargers | Estimated |
| 1966 | R1.01 | Estimated | |||
| 1966 | R5.63 | Estimated | |||
| 1966 | R7.97 | Estimated | |||
| 1964 | R1.04 | Estimated | |||
| 1964 | R5.56 | Estimated | |||
| 1963 | R3.30 | Estimated | |||
| 1963 | R6.73 | Estimated | |||
| 1962 | R7.86 | Estimated | |||
| 1960 | R2.18 | 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.
Transformer raised the program into the sport's top tier, or higher within it · Steady no large move in either direction on our stature ladder
1st-best Texas tenure of 12 by the numbers.
Followed Edwin Price (1951–1956) · succeeded by Fred Akers (1977–1986).
| Season | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Record | 6-4-1 | 7-3 | 9-2 | 7-3-1 | 10-1 | 9-1-1 | 11-0 | 10-1 | 6-4 | 7-4 | 6-4 | 9-1-1 | 11-0 | 10-1 | 8-3 | 10-1 | 8-3 | 8-4 | 10-2 | 5-5-1 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | L bowl | L bowl | W bowl | L bowl | L 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 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
Followed John Cherberg (1953–1955) · succeeded by Jim Owens (1957–1974).
Followed Murray Warmath (1952–1953) · succeeded by Wade Walker (1956–1961).
Selector agreement
The AP and Coaches’ polls split on the national champion in 1 season of this coach’s career — shown as each selector’s own pick, not a single consensus title.
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.
most wins by a Southwest coach
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
+27.6 pts at Texas · #33 of 1290 · top quarter