Fred Thomsen

Head coach, Arkansas, 1936 to 1941

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.

0-1 against his rivals. Just 1-4 against Dutch Meyer.

Rivalry record

0-1

0.0% · 1 rival

One-score games

9-14-4

33.3% · margin ≤8

Rivalry ledger

LSU0-10%

The toughest matchup

vs. Dutch Meyer1-4-1

6 meetings, 1936–1941

’36 L’37 T’38 L’39 W’40 L’41 L

17% win rate across a real, 6-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

Power Program

4-13 23.5%

National Program

15-14 51.7%

Regional Program

1-1 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 (1936-1941) 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 least7Drafted

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. 2 went in the first round.

At least 7 — his 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941 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 · 7 estimated

Most recent picks first

Year	Pick	Note
1941	R6.36	Estimated
1940	R1.03	Estimated
1940	R6.38	Estimated
1939	R7.52	Estimated
1938	R1.05	Estimated
1938	R2.09	Estimated
1938	R6.37	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.