Red Sanders

Head coach, UCLA, 1949 to 1957
Before: Vanderbilt

College career102-41-3

Titles1national

Program liftNo. 56of 1,290 tenures since 1937

Now

Career arc

Stats

Big games

Pick a job to see its years on their own.

Vanderbilt1940–42 · 17-12-1Vanderbilt1946–48 · 19-10-1UCLA1949–57 · 66-19-1All jobs102-41-3

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.

0-3 against his rivals at Vanderbilt. Just 1-2 against Frank Thomas.

Rivalry record

0-3

0.0% · 1 rival

One-score games

4-5-1

40.0% · margin ≤8

Rivalry ledger

Tennessee0-30%

The toughest matchup

vs. Frank Thomas1-2

3 meetings, 1940–1942

’40 L’41 W’42 L

33% win rate across a real, 3-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

1-8 11.1%

National Program

5-4 55.6%

Regional Program

5-0 100.0%

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.

1-2 against his rivals at Vanderbilt. Just 1-2 against Bear Bryant.

Rivalry record

1-2

33.3% · 1 rival

One-score games

5-5-1

45.5% · margin ≤8

Rivalry ledger

Tennessee1-233%

The toughest matchup

vs. Bear Bryant1-2

3 meetings, 1946–1948

’46 L’47 L’48 W

33% win rate across a real, 3-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

3-6 33.3%

National Program

7-2 77.8%

Regional Program

6-2 75.0%

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.

6-3 against his rivals at UCLA. Just 1-2 against Ray Eliot.

Rivalry record

6-3

66.7% · 1 rival

One-score games

16-9-1

61.5% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

1-3

25.0%

Rivalry ledger

USC6-367%

The toughest matchup

vs. Ray Eliot1-2

3 meetings, 1950–1957

’50 L’51 L’57 W

33% win rate across a real, 3-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

Blue Blood

1-3 25.0%

Power Program

13-9 59.1%

National Program

33-5 86.8%

Regional Program

15-1 93.8%

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.

7-8 against his rivals. Winless in 3 tries against Bernie Moore.

Rivalry record

7-8

46.7% · 2 rivals

One-score games

25-19-3

53.2% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

1-3

25.0%

Rivalry ledger

USC6-367%

Tennessee1-517%

The toughest matchup

vs. Bernie Moore0-3

3 meetings, 1940–1947

’40 L’46 L’47 L

0% win rate across a real, 3-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

Blue Blood

1-3 25.0%

Power Program

17-23 42.5%

National Program

45-11 80.4%

Regional Program

26-3 89.7%

Building the roster

Three numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.

1Who followed him
2Roster ownership
3The NFL pipeline

Followed him here

Vanderbilt→

UCLA1949

No confirmed followers on this move. This move predates this database’s 2021 transfer-portal tracking floor, so real followers may be undercounted here.

Players 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

This coach's entire tenure (1949-1957) 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 least6Drafted

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 6 — his 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957 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 · 6 estimated

Most recent picks first

Year	Pick	Note
1957	R2.20	Estimated
1957	R3.37	Estimated
1955	R2.17	Estimated
1955	R2.23	Estimated
1954	R4.41	Estimated
1953	R1.07	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.

Red Sanders

Now

Career arc

Stats

Big games

The big-game ledger

The big-game ledger

The big-game ledger

The big-game ledger

Building the roster

Followed him here

Roster ownership

The NFL pipeline

Career

Coaching career

Selector agreement

All-time wins

Was he good?