Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 3-6-1
Tulane’79LArizona’85T’86WUSC’87L’88L’89W’90L’92LMissouri’97L’98W
Show all 10 games
1985Sun BowlT 13-13
1986Aloha BowlW 30-21
USC
1987Rose BowlL 17-20
1988Rose BowlL 14-22
1989Rose BowlW 17-101990John Hancock BowlL 16-17
1992Freedom BowlL 7-24Missouri
1997Holiday BowlL 24-35
1998Insight.com BowlW 34-31
Stats
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.
1-3 against his rivals at Tulane. Just 1-3 against Charles McClendon.
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.
5-2 against his rivals at Arizona. Winless in 4 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.
3-8 against his rivals at USC. Winless in 6 tries against Lou Holtz.
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.
2-5 against his rivals at Missouri. Winless in 7 tries against Bill Snyder.
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.
11-18 against his rivals. Winless in 6 tries against Lou Holtz.
Building the roster
Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Followed him here
Tulane→
Arizona1980Arizona→
USC1987Players 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 (1994-2000) 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. 1 went in the first round.
At least 5 — the draft class following his 1995 season is missing from this table entirely.
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | R1.04 | Justin Smith | Defensive End |  Cincinnati Bengals | Estimated |
| 2000 | R5.32 | Jeff Marriott | Defensive Tackle |  New England Patriots | Estimated |
| 1999 | R5.30 | Craig Heimburger | Center |  Green Bay Packers | Estimated |
| 1998 | R7.35 | Ernest Blackwell | Running Back |  Kansas City Chiefs | Estimated |
| 1998 | R7.44 | Ron Janes | Running Back |  Arizona Cardinals | 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.
Inheritor inherited a power and neither built it higher nor let it collapse · Steady no large move in either direction on our stature ladder
12th-best Missouri tenure of 12 by the numbers.
Followed Bob Stull (1989–1993) · succeeded by Gary Pinkel (2001–2015).
| Season | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||||
| Record | 3-8-1 | 3-8 | 5-6 | 7-5 | 8-4 | 4-7 | 3-8 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | L bowl | W 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 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
9th-best USC tenure of 17 by the numbers.
Followed Ted Tollner (1983–1986) · succeeded by John Robinson (1993–1997).
| Season | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||||
| Record | 8-4 | 10-2 | 9-2-1 | 8-4-1 | 3-8 | 6-5-1 | |
| Postseason | L bowl | L bowl | W bowl | L bowl | — | 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 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
20 NFL Draft picks: Erik Affholter (1989), Rodney Peete (1989), Chris Hale (1989), Junior Seau (1990), Mark Carrier (1990), Dan Owens (1990), Tim Ryan (1990), Bill Schultz (1990) + 12 more
3rd-best Arizona tenure of 20 by the numbers.
Followed Tony Mason (1977–1979) · succeeded by Dick Tomey (1987–2000).
| Season | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||||
| Record | 5-6 | 6-5 | 6-4-1 | 7-3-1 | 7-4 | 8-3-1 | 9-3 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | — | — | L bowl | W 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 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
11 NFL Draft picks: Robert Cobb (1981), Mike Robinson (1981), Chris Schultz (1983), Ricky Hunley (1984), Randy Robbins (1984), John Kaiser (1984), Vance Johnson (1985), Max Zendejas (1986) + 3 more
13th-best Tulane tenure of 23 by the numbers.
Followed Bennie Ellender (1971–1975) · succeeded by Vince Gibson (1980–1982).
| Season | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||
| Record | 2-9 | 3-8 | 4-7 | 9-3 | |
| 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 | — | — | — | — | |
3 NFL Draft picks: Martin Mitchell (1977), Eric Laakso (1978), Eddie Murray (1980)
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 Arizona
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
+7.3 pts at Arizona · #301 of 1290 · top quarter