Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 1-0
1976Peach BowlW 21-0
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.
0-2 against his rivals at Miami.
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 Kentucky. Winless in 3 tries against Bear Bryant.
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.
3-8 against his rivals. Winless in 4 tries against Bear Bryant.
Building the roster
Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Followed him here
Miami→
Kentucky1973Players 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 (1973-1981) 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
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. 3 went in the first round.
At least 16 — his 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 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.
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | R3.18 | Larry Carter | Defensive Back |  Denver Broncos | Estimated |
| 1980 | R6.12 | Lester Boyd | Linebacker |  New Orleans Saints | Estimated |
| 1980 | R7.15 | Tom Kearns | Offensive Guard |  New England Patriots | Estimated |
| 1979 | R3.14 | James Ramey | Defensive End |  Cleveland Browns | Estimated |
| 1979 | R4.11 | Jim Kovach | Linebacker | New Orleans Saints | Estimated |
| 1979 | R5.13 | Kelly Kirchbaum | Linebacker |  New York Jets | Estimated |
| 1979 | R7.16 | Bob Winkel | Defensive Tackle |  Minnesota Vikings | Estimated |
| 1978 | R1.02 | Art Still | Defensive End |  Kansas City Chiefs | Estimated |
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | R5.26 | Derrick Ramsey | Tight End |  Oakland Raiders | Estimated |
| 1977 | R1.06 | Warren Bryant | Offensive Tackle |  Atlanta Falcons | Estimated |
| 1977 | R1.26 | Randy Burke | Wide Receiver |  Baltimore Colts | Estimated |
| 1976 | R2.08 | Sonny Collins | Running Back | Atlanta Falcons | Estimated |
| 1976 | R5.27 | Wally Pesuit | Offensive Tackle |  Dallas Cowboys | Estimated |
| 1975 | R2.08 | Elmore Stephens | Tight End | Kansas City Chiefs | Estimated |
| 1975 | R5.22 | Rick Nuzum | Center |  Los Angeles Rams | Estimated |
| 1974 | R4.11 | Frank LeMaster | Linebacker |  Philadelphia Eagles | 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 · Steady no large move in either direction on our stature ladder
4th-best Kentucky tenure of 16 by the numbers.
Followed John Ray (1969–1972) · succeeded by Jerry Claiborne (1982–1989).
| Season | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||||||
| Record | 5-6 | 6-5 | 2-8-1 | 8-4 | 10-1 | 4-6-1 | 5-6 | 3-8 | 3-8 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | 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 Walter Kichefski (1970) · succeeded by Pete Elliott (1973–1974).
4 NFL Draft picks: Chuck Foreman (1973), Burgess Owens (1973), Mike Barnes (1973), Tom Smith (1973)
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 Kentucky
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
+20.6 pts at Kentucky · #62 of 1290 · top quarter