Ken Hatfield

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ken Hatfield
Sport(s) Football
Biographical details
Born (1943-06-06) June 6, 1943
Helena, Arkansas
Playing career
19611964 Arkansas
Position(s) Defensive back
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1968
1969
1970
19711977
1978
19791983
19841989
19901993
19942005
Tennessee (assistant freshmen)
Tennessee (freshmen)
Tennessee (WR)
Florida (assistant)
Air Force (OC)
Air Force
Arkansas
Clemson
Rice
Head coaching record
Overall 1681404
Bowls 46
Statistics
College Football Data Warehouse
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
3 SWC (19881989, 1994)
1 ACC (1991)
Awards
AFCA Coach of the Year (1983)
Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award (1983)

Ken Hatfield (born June 6, 1943) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach for the United States Air Force Academy Falcons (19791983), the University of Arkansas Razorbacks (19841989), Clemson University Tigers (19901993), and Rice University Owls (19942005), compiling a career college football record of 1681404.

Playing career

Hatfield is a graduate of the University of Arkansas, where he starred at defensive back for the 1964 team that won a share of the national championship. Among his teammates were such pro football luminaries as Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones. He is a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.

Coaching career

Hatfield began his college head coaching career at the United States Air Force Academy from 1979 to 1983. He gradually rebuilt a program that had struggled through most of the 1970s and laid the foundation for its success in the 1980s and early 1990s under his offensive coordinator and successor, Fisher DeBerry. By his final year, the Falcons were ranked 13th in the country by the Coaches' Poll and 15th in the AP Poll--their first appearance in a final poll since 1970. Hatfield then moved to his alma mater, Arkansas, where he compiled a 55171 record from 1984 to 1989. His teams won two straight Southwest Conference titles in 1988 and 1989, a feat that the Razorbacks had not accomplished since his playing days. In 1989, Hatfield became the first former player to coach his alma mater in the Cotton Bowl Classic. Arkansas's Southwest Conference championship that season is the program's last conference title to date.

Hatfield had a somewhat frosty relationship with longtime Arkansas athletic director Frank Broyles, even though Broyles had been his coach during his playing days. Broyles had a reputation for being very hands-on with the football program he had built into a national power as head coach from 1958 to 1976. As good as Hatfield's last two Razorback teams had been, he lost several recruits after 1987 when rival coaches claimed he was in Broyles' doghouse. When Broyles signed a new five-year contract in early 1990, Hatfield left for Clemson University without even visiting the campus. Later, when Hatfield was asked if Broyles had been a factor in his abrupt departure from Fayetteville, he replied, "His name is on the (athletics) building down there. Let that be my answer."[1] Ironically, the coach Hatfield succeeded at Clemson, Danny Ford, would eventually become the Razorbacks' coach in 1993.

Hatfield coached at Clemson from 1990 to 1993, compiling a 32131 record. In his second season, 1991, he led the Tigers to their last Atlantic Coast Conference title in the pre-championship game era. He also worked to clean up the program's image; the Tigers had been slapped with probation for NCAA violations under Ford.[2] However, Hatfield was never really accepted by Clemson's fans. A common saying among Tiger fans during this time was "Howard built it. Ford filled it. Hatfield killed it."

Largely due to this discontent, school officials refused to grant him a one-year extension on his contract after the 1993 season, even though the Tigers had rebounded from 56 in 1992 to a solid 83 record that year. Angered at what he saw as a lack of support, Hatfield resigned at the end of the regular season.[3]

Soon afterward, Hatfield was hired at Rice University, where he compiled a 55781 record before resigning on November 30, 2005 following a 110 season.[4] He only had three winning seasons in 12 years. Although the Owls were bowl-eligible in those three winning seasons, they weren't invited to a bowl in part because of the school's small alumni and fan base. Rice is the second-smallest school in Division I FBS and often had to play schools 10 times its size or more (and in some cases, with more freshmen than it has students), a major reason why he wasn't as successful as he had been at his previous stops. In his first year, despite a losing overall record, he managed to lead the Owls to a share of the SWC title.

One of the few remaining proponents of the conservative triple-option offense in college football, Hatfield compiled a 1681404 record as a head coach.

Some of the notable players that he helped coach include

  • RB Barry Foster (1987-1989 at Arkansas)
  • S (Brian Dawkins) (Clemson)
  • DE (ND Kalu) (Rice)
  • LB (Larry Izzo) (Rice) (3 Time Super Bowl Champion w/New England Patriots)

Head coaching record

Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs Coaches# AP°
Air Force Falcons (NCAA Division I-A Independent) (1979)
1979 Air Force 29
Air Force Falcons (Western Athletic Conference) (1980–1983)
1980 Air Force 291 16 T8th
1981 Air Force 47 25 7th
1982 Air Force 85 43 T3rd W Hall of Fame Classic
1983 Air Force 102 52 2nd W Independence 15 13
Air Force: 26321 1216
Arkansas Razorbacks (Southwest Conference) (1984–1989)
1984 Arkansas 741 53 T3rd L Liberty
1985 Arkansas 102 62 T2nd W Holiday 12 12
1986 Arkansas 93 62 T2nd L Orange 16 15
1987 Arkansas 94 52 T2nd L Liberty
1988 Arkansas 102 70 1st L Cotton 13 12
1989 Arkansas 102 71 1st L Cotton 13 13
Arkansas: 55171 3610
Clemson Tigers (Atlantic Coast Conference) (1990–1993)
1990 Clemson 102 52 T2nd W Hall of Fame 9 9
1991 Clemson 921 601 1st L Citrus 17 18
1992 Clemson 56 35 7th
1993 Clemson 83[n 1] 53 T3rd W Peach[n 1] 23[n 1] 24[n 1]
Clemson: 32131 19101
Rice Owls (Southwest Conference) (1994–1995)
1994 Rice 56 43 T1st
1995 Rice 281 16 7th
Rice Owls (Western Athletic Conference) (1996–2004)
1996 Rice 74 62 T2nd
1997 Rice 74 53 T2nd
1998 Rice 56 53 T3rd
1999 Rice 56 43 4th
2000 Rice 38 26 T6th
2001 Rice 84 53 T4th
2002 Rice 47 35 T6th
2003 Rice 57 53 T4th
2004 Rice 38 26 9th
Rice Owls (Conference USA) (2005)
2005 Rice 110 17 T5th (West)
Rice: 55781 4350
Total: 1681404
      National championship         Conference title         Conference division title
#Rankings from final Coaches' Poll.
°Rankings from final AP Poll.

See also

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Hatfield resigned after the regular season. Tommy West coached Clemson in the Peach Bowl. Clemson credits the 1993 regular season to Hatfield and the Peach Bowl to West.

References

  1. Murphy, Austin. Not exactly Hog Heaven. Sports Illustrated, September 21, 1992.
  2. Hanley, Brian. Clemson gets "Real McCoy". Chicago Sun-Times, December 30, 1990.
  3. Clemson coach quits. The New York Times, November 25, 1993.
  4. "Head football coach Ken Hatfield resigns". Rice University. December 1, 2005. Retrieved March 29, 2010. 

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.