Jim LaRue

Head coach, Arizona, 1959 to 1966

College career41-37-2

Program liftNo. 225tied · 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.

4-4 against his rivals. Winless in 4 tries against Ben Martin.

Rivalry record

4-4

50.0% · 1 rival

One-score games

22-15-2

56.4% · margin ≤8

Rivalry ledger

Arizona State4-450%

The toughest matchup

vs. Ben Martin0-4

4 meetings, 1959–1965

’59 L’62 L’64 L’65 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

Power Program

1-3 25.0%

National Program

13-20 39.4%

Regional Program

27-14 65.9%

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 (1959-1966) 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 least3Drafted

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 3 — his 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966 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 · 3 estimated

Most recent picks first

Year	Pick	Note
1962	R2.15	Estimated
1962	R2.23	Estimated
1962	R3.37	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.