Richard Williamson

Head coach, Memphis, 1975 to 1980

College career31-35

Program liftNo. 773tied · 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.

1-4 against his rivals. Just 1-4 against Bobby Collins.

Rivalry record

1-4

20.0% · 1 rival

One-score games

17-13

56.7% · margin ≤8

Rivalry ledger

Ole Miss1-420%

The toughest matchupNemesis

vs. Bobby Collins1-4

5 meetings, 1975–1979

’75 L’76 L’77 W’78 L’79 L

Performance by opponent class

Power Program

5-6 45.5%

National Program

8-18 30.8%

Regional Program

12-11 52.2%

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 (1975-1980) 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 least11Drafted

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. 2 went in the first round.

At least 11 — his 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980 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 · 11 estimated

Most recent picks first

Year	Pick	Player	Pos	NFL team	Note
1979	R2.08	Earnest Gray	Wide Receiver	New York Giants	Estimated
1979	R2.26	Eddie Hill	Running Back	Los Angeles Rams	Estimated
1979	R7.12	Judson Flint	Defensive Back	New England Patriots	Estimated
1978	R1.09	Keith Simpson	Defensive Back	Seattle Seahawks	Estimated
1978	R2.08	Keith Butler	Linebacker	Seattle Seahawks	Estimated
1978	R5.12	Keith Wright	Wide Receiver	Cleveland Browns	Estimated
1977	R1.24	Bob Rush	Center	San Diego Chargers	Estimated
1977	R3.24	Terdell Middleton	Running Back	St. Louis Cardinals	Estimated

Year	Pick	Player	Pos	NFL team	Note
1977	R4.20	Eric Harris	Defensive Back	Kansas City Chiefs	Estimated
1977	R4.23	Eary Jones	Defensive End	Los Angeles Rams	Estimated
1977	R6.04	Bob Jordan	Offensive Tackle	New York Giants	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.