Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 0-2
1981California BowlL 25-27Stanford
1986Gator BowlL 21-27Stats
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.
Nobody he faced three or more times there has a winning record against him.
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.
3-2 against his rivals at Stanford. Winless in 5 tries against Don James.
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.
3-2 against his rivals. Winless in 5 tries against Don James.
Building the roster
Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Followed him here
San José State→
Stanford1984Players 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 (1984-1988) 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.
At least 8 — the draft class following his 1987 season is missing from this table entirely; and his 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | R2.17 | David Wyman | Linebacker |  Seattle Seahawks | Estimated |
| 1987 | R6.12 | Thomas Henley | Wide Receiver |  New Orleans Saints | Estimated |
| 1987 | R7.04 | Tony Leiker | Defensive Tackle |  Green Bay Packers | Estimated |
| 1985 | R2.20 | Garin Veris | Defensive End |  New England Patriots | Estimated |
| 1985 | R4.03 | Tom Briehl | Linebacker |  Houston Oilers | Estimated |
| 1985 | R4.05 | Emile Harry | Wide Receiver |  Atlanta Falcons | Estimated |
| 1985 | R6.11 | Jeff Deaton | Offensive Guard |  New York Jets | Estimated |
| 1985 | R6.17 | Matt Moran | Offensive Guard |  Dallas Cowboys | 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.
Steady no large move in either direction on our stature ladder
14th-best Stanford tenure of 20 by the numbers.
Followed Paul Wiggin (1980–1983) · succeeded by Dennis Green (1989–1991).
| Season | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||
| Record | 5-6 | 4-7 | 8-4 | 5-6 | 3-6-2 | |
| Postseason | — | — | L 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 | — | — | — | — | — | |
2nd-best San José State tenure of 19 by the numbers.
Followed Lynn Stiles (1976–1978) · succeeded by Claude Gilbert (1984–1989).
| Season | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||
| Record | 6-4-1 | 7-4 | 9-3 | 8-3 | 5-6 | |
| Postseason | — | — | L 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 | — | — | — | — | — | |
8 NFL Draft picks: Jewerl Thomas (1980), Ed Luther (1980), Mark Nichols (1981), Gerald Willhite (1982), Stacey Bailey (1982), Gill Byrd (1983), Ken Thomas (1983), Eric Richardson (1984)
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.
2nd all-time at San José State
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
+3.3 pts at San José State · #480 of 1290 · middle half