Hal Lahar

Head coach, Houston, 1957 to 1961
Before: Colgate

College career77-63-10

Program liftNo. 881tied · of 1,290 tenures since 1937

Now

Career arc

Stats

Big games

Pick a job to see its years on their own.

Colgate1952–56 · 24-17-4Houston1957–61 · 24-23-2Colgate1962–67 · 29-23-4All jobs77-63-10

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.

Winless in 5 tries against Ben Schwartzwalder.

One-score games

10-8-4

45.5% · margin ≤8

The toughest matchupNemesis

vs. Ben Schwartzwalder0-5

5 meetings, 1952–1956

’52 L’53 L’54 L’55 L’56 L

Performance by opponent class

Power Program

0-2 0.0%

National Program

8-8 50.0%

Regional Program

9-7 56.2%

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.

Winless in 5 tries against John Vaught.

One-score games

9-9-2

45.0% · margin ≤8

The toughest matchup

vs. John Vaught0-5

5 meetings, 1957–1961

’57 L’58 L’59 L’60 L’61 L

0% win rate across a real, 5-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

2-9 18.2%

National Program

13-12 52.0%

Regional Program

5-2 71.4%

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.

Just 1-3 against Dick Offenhamer.

One-score games

10-9-4

43.5% · margin ≤8

The toughest matchup

vs. Dick Offenhamer1-3

4 meetings, 1962–1965

’62 L’63 L’64 W’65 L

25% win rate across a real, 4-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

2-2 50.0%

National Program

2-3 40.0%

Regional Program

14-15 48.3%

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.

Winless in 5 tries against Ben Schwartzwalder.

One-score games

29-26-10

44.6% · margin ≤8

The toughest matchupNemesis

vs. Ben Schwartzwalder0-5

5 meetings, 1952–1956

’52 L’53 L’54 L’55 L’56 L

Performance by opponent class

Power Program

4-13 23.5%

National Program

23-23 50.0%

Regional Program

28-24 53.8%

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 (1957-1961) 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 least4Drafted

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 4 — his 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961 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 · 4 estimated

Most recent picks first

Year	Pick	Note
1962	R5.65	Estimated
1959	R2.19	Estimated
1959	R7.76	Estimated
1958	R4.46	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.

Hal Lahar

Now

Career arc

Stats

Big games

The big-game ledger

The big-game ledger

The big-game ledger

The big-game ledger

Building the roster

Roster ownership

The NFL pipeline

Career

Coaching career

Was he good?