James Phelan

Head coach, Washington, 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.

8-3 against his rivals. Winless in 4 tries against Bernie Bierman.

Rivalry record

8-3-1

66.7% · 2 rivals

One-score games

11-15-4

36.7% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

0-5

0.0%

Rivalry ledger

Oregon4-267%

Washington State4-1-167%

The toughest matchup

vs. Bernie Bierman0-4

4 meetings, 1936–1941

’36 L’38 L’40 L’41 L

0% 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

Dynasty

0-1 0.0%

Blue Blood

0-4 0.0%

Power Program

11-6 64.7%

National Program

13-9 59.1%

Regional Program

7-0 100.0%

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 least12Drafted

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 12 — 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 · 12 estimated

Most recent picks first

Year	Pick	Note
1942	R3.22	Estimated
1942	R6.39	Estimated
1941	R1.04	Estimated
1941	R1.08	Estimated
1941	R3.18	Estimated
1939	R2.13	Estimated
1938	R4.22	Estimated
1937	R3.19	Estimated

Year	Pick	Note
1937	R5.31	Estimated
1937	R5.36	Estimated
1937	R6.45	Estimated
1937	R7.54	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.