Top 25
3-24
- Games
- 27
- Win rate
- 11.1%
Back to Coaches
Longevity CoachDefense-First
Coach Profile
Don Fambrough
1971-1982 • Kansas
One defining program at Kansas.
Don Fambrough's coaching record is 36-49-5, highlighted by seasons at Kansas from 1971 to 1982.
Don Fambrough coached 8 seasons, won 42.8%, and posted an average SRS of 3.8. Best season: 1973 Kansas. The profile was defense-first with a swing-heavy profile. 2 stints shaped the career arc.
- Career record
- 36-49-5
- Career win rate
- 42.8%
- Average SRS
- 3.8
- Peak SRS
- 17.2
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
- 8
- Career span
- 12 years
- Best finish
- #18
- Consistency
- 37.5
Primary school anchor
Kansas
Defense-First profile with 1 program stop and a peak score of 78.7.
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
- 36-49-5
- Kansas record
- 17-24-4
- Full-season record
- 36-49-5
- Vs AP Top 10
- 1-14
- Vs AP Top 5
- 1-7
- Vs Kansas State
- 6-2
- Postseason / bowl record
- 0-2
- CFP record
- 0-0
- National titles
- 0
90 countable games, 42.8% win rate.
4 countable seasons at Kansas.
8 full season rows; partial and backfilled current rows are separated.
15 games using AP ranking at game time.
8 games using AP ranking at game time.
Sunflower Showdown games in this dataset.
2 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 20, 1982. 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.
Don Fambrough
EliteStrongAverageLean
1971Actual season year • SRS range -9.1 to 17.21982
Active comparison point
Don Fambrough • 1973
1973 Kansas
Best season7-4-1 • SRS 17.2 • SP Overall 14.5
Win %
62.5%
YoY SRS
+13.5
SP Off / Def
30.4 / 17.0
Finish
#18
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
1-14
- Games
- 15
- Win rate
- 6.7%
Top 5
1-7
- Games
- 8
- Win rate
- 12.5%
View ranked game results27
| 1982 Regular Week 9 | Kansas | Nebraska | #6 | L0-52 |
| 1981 Regular Week 9 | Kansas | Nebraska | #12 | L15-31 |
| 1980 Regular Week 11 | Kansas | Oklahoma | #10 | L19-21 |
| 1980 Regular Week 7 | Kansas | Nebraska | #10 | L0-54 |
| 1980 Regular Week 4 | Kansas | Pittsburgh | #6 | L3-18 |
| 1979 Regular Week 11 | Kansas | Oklahoma | #7 | L0-38 |
| 1979 Regular Week 7 | Kansas | Nebraska | #3 | L0-42 |
| 1979 Regular Week 4 | Kansas | Michigan | #11 | L7-28 |
| 1979 Regular Week 3 | Kansas | Pittsburgh | #13 | L0-24 |
| 1974 Regular Week 11 | Kansas | Oklahoma | #1 | L14-45 |
| 1974 Regular Week 7 | Kansas | Nebraska | #12 | L0-56 |
| 1974 Regular Week 5 | Kansas | Texas A&M | #5 | W28-10 |
| 1974 Regular Week 3 | Kansas | Tennessee | #17 | L3-17 |
| 1973 Regular Week 13 | Kansas | Missouri | #20 | W14-13 |
| 1973 Regular Week 12 | Kansas | Oklahoma | #3 | L20-48 |
| 1973 Regular Week 8 | Kansas | Nebraska | #10 | L9-10 |
| 1973 Regular Week 6 | Kansas | Tennessee | #8 | L27-28 |
| 1973 Postseason Week 1 | Kansas | NC State | #16 | L18-31 |
| 1972 Regular Week 12 | Kansas | Missouri | #16 | W28-17 |
| 1972 Regular Week 11 | Kansas | Oklahoma | #4 | L7-31 |
| 1972 Regular Week 10 | Kansas | Colorado | #16 | L8-33 |
| 1972 Regular Week 8 | Kansas | Iowa State | #15 | L8-34 |
| 1972 Regular Week 7 | Kansas | Nebraska | #5 | L0-56 |
| 1972 Regular Week 4 | Kansas | Florida State | #16 | L22-44 |
| 1971 Regular Week 10 | Kansas | Oklahoma | #2 | L10-56 |
| 1971 Regular Week 9 | Kansas | Colorado | #13 | L14-35 |
| 1971 Regular Week 6 | Kansas | Nebraska | #1 | L0-55 |
Tenure map
Each stint expands by seasons coached. Deeper color signals a stronger average SRS over that stretch.
Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint
Kansas
1979-1982 • 4 seasons
Avg SRS -0.2 • Win % 42.2%
Kansas
1971-1974 • 4 seasons
Avg SRS 7.8 • Win % 43.3%
- Longest tenure
- Kansas • 4 seasons
- Best tenure
- Kansas • 7.8 SRS
- Best tenure win rate
- Kansas • 43.3%
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.
Don Fambrough sets the reference point in overall strength.
Overall Strength
Decisive edgeDon Fambrough sets the reference point in overall strength.
Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.
Don Fambrough
Above average
- Raw avg SP Overall
- 3.1
- Percentile
- 68th pct
Above average
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.
Kansas
1979-1982 • 17-24-4
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS -0.2Win % 42.2%
Avg wins
Higher is better
4.3 during vs 4.2 baseline
+0.1
Avg SRS
Higher is better
-0.2 during vs 5.4 baseline
-5.6
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
0.3 during vs 3.1 baseline
-2.8
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
0.0% during vs 0.0% baseline
+0.0%
Kansas
1971-1974 • 19-25-1
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS 7.8Win % 43.3%
Avg wins
Higher is better
4.8 during vs 4.4 baseline
+0.3
Avg SRS
Higher is better
7.8 during vs 7.4 baseline
+0.4
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
6.0 during vs 7.7 baseline
-1.8
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
25.0% during vs 20.0% baseline
+5.0%
Career highs and lows
High Points
Best Season
Kansas 1973
7-4-1 • SRS 17.2
Biggest Improvement
Kansas 1980
4-5-2 • 13.6 SRS
Best Offensive Season
Kansas 1973
7-4-1 • SP Off 30.4
Best Defensive Season
Kansas 1980
4-5-2 • SP Def 15.9
Setbacks
Lowest SRS Season
Kansas 1982
2-7-2 • SRS -9.1
Biggest Drop
Kansas 1982
2-7-2 • -13.8 SRS
Season-by-season results
Full transparency into every season in the coaching record. Positive YoY values indicate improvement from the prior season.
| Kansas | 1982 | 11 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 27.3% | — | — | -9.1 | -8.1 | 19.5 | 27.4 | -13.8 | -39.4% | Season summary |
| Kansas | 1981 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 66.7% | — | — | 4.7 | 4.4 | 20.3 | 17.2 | -3.9 | +21.2% | Season summary |
| Kansas | 1980 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 45.5% | — | — | 8.6 | 9.8 | 25.1 | 15.9 | +13.6 | +18.2% | Season summary |
| Kansas | 1979 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 27.3% | — | — | -5.0 | -5.1 | 26.6 | 31.6 | -10.2 | -9.1% | Season summary |
| Kansas | 1974 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 36.4% | — | — | 5.2 | 5.0 | 24.0 | 19.8 | -12.0 | -26.1% | Season summary |
| Kansas | 1973 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 62.5% | — | #18 | 17.2 | 14.5 | 30.4 | 17.0 | +13.5 | +26.1% | Season summary |
| Kansas | 1972 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 36.4% | — | — | 3.7 | 2.4 | 29.4 | 28.0 | -1.2 | 0.0% | Season summary |
| Kansas | 1971 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 36.4% | — | — | 4.9 | 1.9 | 27.0 | 25.7 | — | — | 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
Matt Rhule
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.0
Avg SRS 2.8 • Peak SRS 14.7 • 10 seasons
Best finish #13 • Volatility 6.7
Open profile →Alex Agase
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.5
Avg SRS 2.3 • Peak SRS 17.7 • 13 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 7.0
Open profile →PJ Fleck
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.3
Avg SRS 3.5 • Peak SRS 15.2 • 13 seasons
Best finish #10 • Volatility 9.3
Open profile →Randy Shannon
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.6
Avg SRS 5.4 • Peak SRS 15.3 • 5 seasons
Best finish #19 • Volatility 6.8
Open profile →Luke Fickell
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.9
Avg SRS 4.7 • Peak SRS 16.9 • 11 seasons
Best finish #4 • Volatility 6.9
Open profile →Dee Andros
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.6
Avg SRS 3.1 • Peak SRS 20.0 • 14 seasons
Best finish #7 • Volatility 9.2
Open profile →