The Zeitgeist List · coaching

LaVell Edwards

Followed Tommy Hudspeth. LaVell Edwards took BYU from Regional Program II to Blue Blood.

257–101
1972–2000 · 1 stint
BYU
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Career arc

His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.

Stature score reached, by season of his head-coaching careerBYUBlue Bloodpermanent top tierPower Programperennial contenderNational Programrespectable, streakyRegional Programthe building-block levelBYU, 1972: 7-4, Regional Program I1972BYU, 1973: 5-6, Regional Program IBYU, 1974: 7-4, National Program IIIBYU, 1975: 6-5, National Program IIBYU, 1976: 9-3, National Program IIBYU, 1977: 9-2, National Program IBYU, 1978: 9-4, National Program IBYU, 1979: 11-1, Power Program IIIBYU, 1980: 12-1, Power Program IIBYU, 1981: 11-2, Power Program IIBYU, 1982: 8-4, Power Program IIBYU, 1983: 11-1, Power Program IIBYU, 1984: 13-0, Blue BloodBYU, 1985: 11-3, Blue BloodBYU, 1986: 8-5, Power Program IBYU, 1987: 9-4, Power Program IBYU, 1988: 9-4, Power Program IIBYU, 1989: 10-3, Power Program IIBYU, 1990: 10-3, Power Program IIBYU, 1991: 8-3, Power Program IIBYU, 1992: 8-5, Power Program IIBYU, 1993: 6-6, Power Program IIIBYU, 1994: 10-3, Power Program IIIBYU, 1995: 7-4, Power Program IIIBYU, 1996: 14-1, Power Program IIIBYU, 1997: 6-5, Power Program IIIBYU, 1998: 9-5, Power Program IIIBYU, 1999: 8-4, Power Program IIIBYU, 2000: 6-6, Power Program III2000+39.5One point per coached season, in career order; dashed segments are program changes — spacing is not proportional to calendar time

Reached Blue Blood in his 13th career season — faster than 11% of the 100 FBS coaches who have ever reached Blue Blood (rank #86 of 100 by seasons-to-arrival).

BYU, 29 seasons
+39.5
Regional Program I → Power Program III.

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.

43–13 against his rivals. Just 1–6 against Terry Donahue.

Rivalry record
43–13
76.8% · 2 rivals
One-score games
66–47–3
56.9% · margin ≤8
vs. Blue Blood or better
5–8
38.5%
Rivalry ledger
Utah22–776%
Utah State21–678%
The toughest matchupNemesis
vs. Terry Donahue1–6
7 meetings, 1983–1995
’83 W’85 L’86 L’91 L’92 L’93 L’95 L
Performance by opponent class
Blue Blood
5–8 38.5%
Power Program
14–25 35.9%
National Program
63–33 65.6%
Regional Program
164–35 82.4%

Coaching career

1972–2000
BYUtransformer
Regional Program II → Blue Blood
LaVell Edwards took BYU from Regional Program II to Blue Blood.

1st-best BYU tenure of 12 by the numbers.

Followed Tommy Hudspeth (1964–1971) · succeeded by Gary Crowton (2001–2004).

56 NFL Draft picks: Gordon Gravelle (1972), Jeff Lyman (1972), Paul Howard (1973), Pete Van Valkenburg (1973), Gary Sheide (1975), Wayne Baker (1975), Paul Linford (1975), Brad Oates (1976) + 48 more

257–101