Frank Waters

Head coach, Michigan State, 1980 to 1982

College career10-23

Program liftNo. 1,222tied · of 1,290 tenures since 1937

Now

Career arc

Stats

Big games

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 3 tries against Bo Schembechler.

Rivalry record

0-3

0.0% · 1 rival

One-score games

3-11

21.4% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

0-3

0.0%

Rivalry ledger

Michigan0-30%

The toughest matchup

vs. Bo Schembechler0-3

3 meetings, 1980–1982

’80 L’81 L’82 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

0-3 0.0%

Power Program

0-7 0.0%

National Program

2-5 28.6%

Regional Program

8-8 50.0%

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 (1980-1982) 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 least8Drafted

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.

At least 8 — his 1980, 1981, 1982 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 · 8 estimated

Most recent picks first

Year	Pick	Player	Pos	NFL team	Note
1983	R4.25	Steve Maidlow	Linebacker	Cincinnati Bengals	Estimated
1983	R5.06	Smiley Creswell	Defensive End	New England Patriots	Estimated
1983	R5.22	Otis Grant	Wide Receiver	Los Angeles Rams	Estimated
1982	R3.02	James Burroughs	Defensive Back	Baltimore Colts	Estimated
1982	R4.03	Morten Andersen	Place Kicker	New Orleans Saints	Estimated
1982	R7.18	Tom Morris	Defensive Back	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Estimated
1982	R7.19	Jeff Wiska	Offensive Guard	New York Giants	Estimated
1981	R3.06	Ray Stachowicz	Punter	Green Bay Packers	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.