Now
Career arc
Bowls and playoffs: 7-2-1
East Carolina’78WAuburn’82W’83W’84W’85L’86W’87T’88L’89W’90W
Show all 10 games
1978Independence BowlW 35-13Auburn
1982Tangerine BowlW 33-26
1983Sugar BowlW 9-7
1984Liberty BowlW 21-15
1985Cotton Bowl ClassicL 16-36
1986Florida Citrus BowlW 16-7
1987Sugar BowlT 16-16
1988Sugar BowlL 7-13
1989Hall of Fame BowlW 31-14
1990Peach BowlW 27-23
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.
2-4 against his rivals at East Carolina. 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.
0-1 against his rivals at Wyoming.
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.
13-11 against his rivals at Auburn. Winless in 3 tries against Gene Stallings.
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.
15-16 against his rivals. Winless in 3 tries against Gene Stallings.
Building the roster
Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.
Followed him here
East Carolina→
Wyoming1980Wyoming→
Auburn1981Players 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 (1981-1992) 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. 3 went in the first round.
At least 34 — the draft class following his 1987 season is missing from this table entirely; and his 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | R5.03 | Fred Baxter | Tight End |  New York Jets | Estimated |
| 1993 | R5.07 | James Willis | Linebacker |  Green Bay Packers | Estimated |
| 1993 | R5.20 | Chris Gray | Offensive Guard |  Miami Dolphins | Estimated |
| 1992 | R2.15 | Eddie Blake | Defensive Tackle | Miami Dolphins | Estimated |
| 1992 | R5.17 | Corey Barlow | Defensive Back |  Philadelphia Eagles | Estimated |
| 1991 | R2.02 | Ed King | Offensive Guard |  Cleveland Browns | Estimated |
| 1991 | R2.25 | Lamar Rogers | Defensive End |  Cincinnati Bengals | Estimated |
| 1991 | R3.20 | Rob SeLBy | Offensive Tackle | Philadelphia Eagles | Estimated |
| Year | Pick | Player | Pos | NFL team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | R4.18 | David Rocker | Defensive Tackle |  Houston Oilers | Estimated |
| 1991 | R7.20 | James Joseph | Running Back | Philadelphia Eagles | Estimated |
| 1990 | R2.01 | Alexander Wright | Wide Receiver |  Dallas Cowboys | Estimated |
| 1990 | R7.12 | Craig Ogletree | Linebacker | Cincinnati Bengals | Estimated |
| 1989 | R2.03 | Lawyer Tillman | Wide Receiver | Cleveland Browns | Estimated |
| 1989 | R2.12 | Walter Reeves | Tight End |  Phoenix Cardinals | Estimated |
| 1989 | R2.20 | Brian Smith | Linebacker |  Los Angeles Rams | Estimated |
| 1989 | R3.10 | Tracy Rocker | Defensive Tackle |  Washington Redskins | Estimated |
| 1989 | R4.14 | Ron Stallworth | Defensive End | New York Jets | Estimated |
| 1989 | R7.24 | Benji Roland | Defensive Tackle |  Minnesota Vikings | Estimated |
| 1987 | R1.04 | Brent Fullwood | Running Back | Green Bay Packers | Estimated |
| 1987 | R3.09 | Ben Tamburello | Center |  Philadelphia Eagles | Estimated |
| 1987 | R5.07 | Tommie Agee | Running Back |  Seattle Seahawks | Estimated |
| 1987 | R7.15 | Bo Jackson | Running Back |  Los Angeles Raiders | Estimated |
| 1986 | R1.01 | Bo Jackson | Running Back |  Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Estimated |
| 1986 | R1.14 | Gerald Robinson | Defensive End | Minnesota Vikings | Estimated |
| 1986 | R2.09 | Gerald Williams | Defensive End |  Pittsburgh Steelers | Estimated |
| 1986 | R4.19 | Steve Wallace | Offensive Tackle |  San Francisco 49ers | Estimated |
| 1986 | R5.04 | Jeff Parks | Tight End | Houston Oilers | Estimated |
| 1985 | R2.28 | Ben Thomas | Defensive End |  New England Patriots | Estimated |
| 1985 | R5.01 | Kevin Greene | Linebacker |  Los Angeles Rams | Estimated |
| 1985 | R6.20 | Gregg Carr | Linebacker | Pittsburgh Steelers | Estimated |
| 1984 | R2.01 | Doug Smith | Defensive End | Houston Oilers | Estimated |
| 1984 | R3.16 | Donnie Humphrey | Defensive Tackle | Green Bay Packers | Estimated |
| 1984 | R5.06 | Lionel James | Running Back |  San Diego Chargers | Estimated |
| 1982 | R7.05 | Edmund Nelson | Defensive Tackle | Pittsburgh Steelers | 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.
Builder meaningfully raised a program that wasn't one · Steady no large move in either direction on our stature ladder
2nd-best Auburn tenure of 16 by the numbers.
Followed Doug Barfield (1976–1980) · succeeded by Terry Bowden (1993–1998).
| Season | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||||||||||
| Record | 5-6 | 9-3 | 11-1 | 9-4 | 8-4 | 10-2 | 9-1-2 | 10-2 | 10-2 | 8-3-1 | 5-6 | 5-5-1 | |
| Postseason | — | W bowl | W bowl | W bowl | L bowl | W bowl | L bowl | L bowl | W 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 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
Followed Bill Lewis (1977–1979) · succeeded by Al Kincaid (1981–1985).
1 NFL Draft pick: Guy Frazier (1981)
1st-best East Carolina tenure of 15 by the numbers.
Followed Sonny Randle (1971–1973) · succeeded by Ed Emory (1980–1984).
| Season | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||||
| Record | 7-4 | 8-3 | 9-2 | 8-3 | 9-3 | 7-3-1 | |
| Postseason | — | — | — | — | 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 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
4 NFL Draft picks: Reggie Pinkney (1977), Harold Randolph (1978), Zack Valentine (1979), Eddie Hicks (1979)
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 East Carolina
Was he good?
Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.
+15.8 pts at Auburn · #105 of 1290 · top quarter