Ron Blackledge

Head coach, Kent State, 1978 to 1980

College career8-25

Program liftNo. 1,205tied · 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.

0-1 against his rivals. Winless in 3 tries against Dennis Stolz.

Rivalry record

0-1

0.0% · 1 rival

One-score games

5-6

45.5% · margin ≤8

Rivalry ledger

Akron0-10%

The toughest matchup

vs. Dennis Stolz0-3

3 meetings, 1978–1980

’78 L’79 L’80 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

National Program

0-10 0.0%

Regional Program

8-13 38.1%

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 (1978-1980) 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 least1Drafted

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 1 — his 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 · 1 estimated

Most recent picks first

Year	Pick	Player	Pos	NFL team	Note
1979	R5.17	Mike Zele	Defensive Tackle	Atlanta Falcons	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.