Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 1-1
1975Cotton Bowl ClassicW 31-10Stats
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.
0-1 against his rivals at Missouri.
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 Arkansas. Winless in 6 tries against John Vaught.
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. Winless in 6 tries against John Vaught.
Building the roster
Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Followed him here
Missouri→
Arkansas1958Players 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 (1958-1976) 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. 3 went in the first round.
At least 30 — his 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 | R2.08 | R.C. Thielemann | Offensive Guard |  Atlanta Falcons | Estimated |
| 1977 | R2.11 | Greg Koch | Offensive Tackle |  Green Bay Packers | Estimated |
| 1977 | R4.25 | Gerald Skinner | Offensive Tackle |  New England Patriots | Estimated |
| 1977 | R5.20 | Dennis Winston | Linebacker |  Pittsburgh Steelers | Estimated |
| 1976 | R2.07 | Ike Forte | Running Back | New England Patriots | Estimated |
| 1976 | R5.19 | Mike Kirkland | Quarterback |  Baltimore Colts | Estimated |
| 1976 | R6.21 | Scott Bull | Quarterback |  San Francisco 49ers | Estimated |
| 1975 | R6.15 | Rollen Smith | Defensive Back |  Cincinnati Bengals | Estimated |
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | R6.10 | Danny Rhodes | Linebacker | Baltimore Colts | Estimated |
| 1974 | R7.04 | Jack Ettinger | Wide Receiver |  Chicago Bears | Estimated |
| 1973 | R3.05 | Joe Ferguson | Quarterback |  Buffalo Bills | Estimated |
| 1973 | R5.02 | David Reavis | Defensive End | Pittsburgh Steelers | Estimated |
| 1972 | R3.09 | Bill McClard | Place Kicker | San Diego Chargers | Estimated |
| 1971 | R4.11 | Jerry Moore | Defensive Back | Chicago Bears | Estimated |
| 1971 | R7.13 | Chuck Dicus | Wide Receiver | San Diego Chargers | Estimated |
| 1970 | R6.20 | Terry Stewart | Defensive Back |  New York Jets | Estimated |
| 1969 | R5.02 | Jim Barnes | Offensive Guard |  Minnesota Vikings | Estimated |
| 1968 | R2.09 | Ernest Ruple | Offensive Tackle |  Pittsburgh Steelers | Estimated |
| 1968 | R5.04 | Ronnie South | Quarterback |  New Orleans Saints | Estimated |
| 1967 | R1.10 | Loyd Phillips | Defensive End | Chicago Bears | Estimated |
| 1967 | R1.19 | Harry Jones | Running Back |  Philadelphia Eagles | Estimated |
| 1967 | R6.18 | Martine Bercher | Defensive Back | Atlanta Falcons | Estimated |
| 1966 | R2.24 | Estimated | |||
| 1965 | R6.79 | Estimated | |||
| 1964 | R7.82 | Estimated | |||
| 1964 | R7.84 | Estimated | |||
| 1963 | R3.29 | Estimated | |||
| 1962 | R1.08 | Estimated | |||
| 1961 | R4.52 | Estimated | |||
| 1961 | R7.90 | 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 Arkansas tenure of 22 by the numbers.
Followed Jack Mitchell (1955–1957) · succeeded by Lou Holtz (1977–1983).
| Season | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Record | 4-6 | 9-2 | 8-3 | 8-3 | 9-2 | 5-5 | 11-0 | 10-1 | 8-2 | 4-5-1 | 10-1 | 9-2 | 9-2 | 8-3-1 | 6-5 | 5-5-1 | 6-4-1 | 10-2 | 5-5-1 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 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 Don Faurot (1946–1956) · succeeded by Dan Devine (1958–1970).
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.
tied for 2nd-most wins by a Southwest coach
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
+22.9 pts at Arkansas · #50 of 1290 · top quarter