Top 25
0-10-1
- Games
- 11
- Win rate
- 4.5%
Back to Coaches
Longevity CoachDefense-First
Coach Profile
Ron Dowhower
1979-1996 • Stanford, Vanderbilt
2 schools coached, anchored by Vanderbilt.
Ron Dowhower's coaching record is 9-23-1, highlighted by seasons at Vanderbilt from 1979 to 1996.
Ron Dowhower coached 3 seasons, won 28.8%, and posted an average SRS of -2.7. Best season: 1979 Stanford. The profile was defense-first with a swing-heavy profile. 2 stints shaped the career arc.
- Career record
- 9-23-1
- Career win rate
- 28.8%
- Average SRS
- -2.7
- Peak SRS
- 6.7
Career Dossier
One glance at the full arc.
The profile below keeps the headline numbers visible, then moves into tenure shape, school impact, and full season detail.
- Seasons coached
- 3
- Career span
- 18 years
- Best finish
- —
- Consistency
- 49.5
Primary school anchor
Vanderbilt
Defense-First profile with 2 program stops and a peak score of 53.1.
Quick Answers
Records fans search first
Headline records use countable season rows after completed-game fallback. Partial seasons and provisional placeholders are called out separately.
- Overall record
- 9-23-1
- Vanderbilt record
- 4-18
- Full-season record
- 9-23-1
- Vs AP Top 10
- 0-5-1
- Vs AP Top 5
- 0-3-1
- Vs Tennessee
- 0-2
- Postseason / bowl record
- 0-0
- CFP record
- 0-0
- National titles
- 0
33 countable games, 28.8% win rate.
2 countable seasons at Vanderbilt.
3 full season rows; partial and backfilled current rows are separated.
6 games using AP ranking at game time.
4 games using AP ranking at game time.
Tennessee-Vanderbilt games in this dataset.
0 scored postseason games in this dataset.
0 College Football Playoff-labeled games since 2014.
Matched by coach team-season against the national championship dataset.
Record definition and data status
Career records use countable coach-season rows. Zero-game placeholders are excluded from aggregates until a completed-game fallback can verify the record.
Completed-game fallback uses scored games joined by coach, team, and season; advanced ratings are left blank when the season summary has not supplied them.
Latest completed coached game in this dataset: Nov 30, 1996. Current and future zero-game placeholders are kept visible but excluded from headline records.
Career Arc
Track how the coach's season-to-season performance changed over time, where the peak landed, and where each school stint appears.
Focus on where peaks separate, where floors hold, and how the shape of each career changed over time.
Ron Dowhower
EliteStrongAverageLean
Ron Dowhower: 1995 Vanderbilt
1979Actual season year • SRS range -8.5 to 6.71996
Active comparison point
Ron Dowhower • 1979
1979 Stanford
Best season5-5-1 • SRS 6.7 • SP Overall 4.4
Win %
50.0%
YoY SRS
—
SP Off / Def
29.3 / 26.3
Finish
Unranked
Comparison context
Focus a point to inspect how it stacks up against the rest of the field.
Ranked opponent record
Track career record against ranked opponents with switchable poll source and ranking timing.
Using AP Top 25 rankings at the time of each game; week-one games use the week-one ranking release when available.
Top 10
0-5-1
- Games
- 6
- Win rate
- 8.3%
Top 5
0-3-1
- Games
- 4
- Win rate
- 12.5%
View ranked game results11
| 1996 Regular Week 15 | Vanderbilt | Tennessee | #9 | L7-14 |
| 1996 Regular Week 12 | Vanderbilt | Florida | #1 | L21-28 |
| 1996 Regular Week 7 | Vanderbilt | LSU | #14 | L0-35 |
| 1996 Regular Week 4 | Vanderbilt | Alabama | #13 | L26-36 |
| 1996 Regular Week 3 | Vanderbilt | Notre Dame | #6 | L7-14 |
| 1995 Regular Week 14 | Vanderbilt | Tennessee | #5 | L7-12 |
| 1995 Regular Week 13 | Vanderbilt | Florida | #3 | L7-38 |
| 1995 Regular Week 6 | Vanderbilt | Arkansas | #23 | L7-35 |
| 1995 Regular Week 4 | Vanderbilt | Notre Dame | #24 | L0-41 |
| 1995 Regular Week 2 | Vanderbilt | Alabama | #11 | L25-33 |
| 1979 Regular Week 7 | Stanford | USC | #4 | T21-21 |
Tenure map
Each stint expands by seasons coached. Deeper color signals a stronger average SRS over that stretch.
Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint
Vanderbilt
1995-1996 • 2 seasons
Avg SRS -7.5 • Win % 18.2%
Stanford
1979-1979 • 1 seasons
Avg SRS 6.7 • Win % 50.0%
- Longest tenure
- Vanderbilt • 2 seasons
- Best tenure
- Stanford • 6.7 SRS
- Best tenure win rate
- Stanford • 50.0%
Style and Strength Profile
Compare strength, identity, steadiness, and ceiling through normalized bars with raw SP and SRS context underneath.
These bars are normalized against the full coach dataset. Raw SP and SRS values stay visible so the profile reads as evidence, not decoration.
Overall Strength
Start with total quality before splitting style and variance.
Ron Dowhower sets the reference point in overall strength.
Overall Strength
Decisive edgeRon Dowhower sets the reference point in overall strength.
Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.
Ron Dowhower
Mixed
- Raw avg SP Overall
- -3.4
- Percentile
- 46th pct
Mixed
Normalized against the full tracked coach pool.
Impact by school
See how each stint compared with what that program usually looked like outside that same span.
Vanderbilt
1995-1996 • 4-18
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS -7.5Win % 18.2%
Avg wins
Higher is better
2.0 during vs 3.8 baseline
-1.8
Avg SRS
Higher is better
-7.5 during vs -6.5 baseline
-1.0
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
-7.3 during vs -7.3 baseline
-0.1
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
0.0% during vs 0.0% baseline
+0.0%
Stanford
1979-1979 • 5-5-1
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS 6.7Win % 50.0%
Avg wins
Higher is better
5.0 during vs 6.8 baseline
-1.8
Avg SRS
Higher is better
6.7 during vs 8.8 baseline
-2.1
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
4.4 during vs 10.2 baseline
-5.8
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
0.0% during vs 40.0% baseline
-40.0%
Career highs and lows
High Points
Best Season
Stanford 1979
5-5-1 • SRS 6.7
Biggest Improvement
Vanderbilt 1996
2-9 • 2.1 SRS
Best Offensive Season
Stanford 1979
5-5-1 • SP Off 29.3
Best Defensive Season
Vanderbilt 1996
2-9 • SP Def 21.8
Setbacks
Lowest SRS Season
Vanderbilt 1995
2-9 • SRS -8.5
Biggest Drop
Vanderbilt 1995
2-9 • -15.2 SRS
Season-by-season results
Full transparency into every season in the coaching record. Positive YoY values indicate improvement from the prior season.
| Vanderbilt | 1996 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 18.2% | — | — | -6.4 | -6.2 | 16.0 | 21.8 | +2.1 | 0.0% | Season summary |
| Vanderbilt | 1995 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 18.2% | — | — | -8.5 | -8.5 | 17.9 | 25.8 | -15.2 | -31.8% | Season summary |
| Stanford | 1979 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 50.0% | #13 | — | 6.7 | 4.4 | 29.3 | 26.3 | — | — | Season summary |
Similar coaches
Popular comparisons are fan-facing matchups. Statistical comps are matched by style, strength band, volatility band, peak range, and career length.
Statistical comps
John Pont
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.1
Avg SRS -2.7 • Peak SRS 7.0 • 16 seasons
Best finish #4 • Volatility 6.1
Open profile →Dennis Stolz
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.2
Avg SRS -2.6 • Peak SRS 14.1 • 15 seasons
Best finish #12 • Volatility 8.1
Open profile →Lee Corso
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.4
Avg SRS -1.3 • Peak SRS 10.7 • 15 seasons
Best finish #18 • Volatility 7.5
Open profile →Jerry Kill
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.0
Avg SRS -1.7 • Peak SRS 8.0 • 11 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 5.6
Open profile →Bob Weber
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.6
Avg SRS -4.4 • Peak SRS 4.5 • 9 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 6.0
Open profile →Chuck Stobart
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.4
Avg SRS -4.2 • Peak SRS 7.9 • 14 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 8.8
Open profile →