Paul Davis

Head coach, Mississippi State, 1962 to 1966

College career20-28-2

Program liftNo. 530tied · 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.

1-3 against his rivals. Winless in 5 tries against Bear Bryant.

Rivalry record

1-3-1

20.0% · 1 rival

One-score games

10-11-2

43.5% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

1-9

10.0%

Rivalry ledger

Ole Miss1-3-120%

The toughest matchup

vs. Bear Bryant0-5

5 meetings, 1962–1966

’62 L’63 L’64 L’65 L’66 L

0% win rate across a real, 5-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

0-2 0.0%

Blue Blood

1-7 12.5%

Power Program

5-11 31.2%

National Program

7-7 50.0%

Regional Program

5-1 83.3%

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 (1962-1966) 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 least4Drafted

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 4 — his 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 · 4 estimated

Most recent picks first

Year	Pick	Note
1966	R3.38	Estimated
1966	R4.60	Estimated
1964	R3.35	Estimated
1963	R3.36	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.