Top 25
5-21-2
- Games
- 28
- Win rate
- 21.4%
Back to Coaches
Longevity CoachDefense-First
Coach Profile
Dick MacPherson
1981-1990 • Syracuse
One defining program at Syracuse.
Dick MacPherson's coaching record is 66-46-4, highlighted by seasons at Syracuse from 1981 to 1990.
Dick MacPherson coached 10 seasons, won 58.6%, and posted an average SRS of 7.1. Best season: 1987 Syracuse. The profile was defense-first with a mostly steady profile. One primary stint defined the run.
- Career record
- 66-46-4
- Career win rate
- 58.6%
- Average SRS
- 7.1
- Peak SRS
- 18.1
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
- 10
- Career span
- 10 years
- Best finish
- #4
- Consistency
- 57.0
Primary school anchor
Syracuse
Defense-First profile with 1 program stop and a peak score of 80.6.
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
- 66-46-4
- Syracuse record
- 66-46-4
- Full-season record
- 66-46-4
- Vs AP Top 10
- 1-11-1
- Vs AP Top 5
- 0-6
- Vs Pittsburgh
- 5-4-1
- Postseason / bowl record
- 3-1-1
- CFP record
- 0-0
- National titles
- 0
116 countable games, 58.6% win rate.
10 countable seasons at Syracuse.
10 full season rows; partial and backfilled current rows are separated.
13 games using AP ranking at game time.
6 games using AP ranking at game time.
Pittsburgh-Syracuse games in this dataset.
5 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: Dec 25, 1990. 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.
Dick MacPherson
EliteStrongAverageLean
1981Actual season year • SRS range -1.2 to 18.11990
Active comparison point
Dick MacPherson • 1987
1987 Syracuse
Best seasonBiggest improvement11-0-1 • SRS 18.1 • SP Overall 22.2
Win %
95.8%
YoY SRS
+18.4
SP Off / Def
37.4 / 16.3
Finish
#4
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
1-11-1
- Games
- 13
- Win rate
- 11.5%
Top 5
0-6
- Games
- 6
- Win rate
- 0.0%
View ranked game results28
| 1990 Regular Week 14 | Syracuse | Miami | #3 | L7-33 |
| 1990 Regular Week 4 | Syracuse | Michigan State | #24 | T23-23 |
| 1990 Regular Week 2 | Syracuse | USC | #7 | L16-34 |
| 1989 Regular Week 13 | Syracuse | West Virginia | #17 | L17-24 |
| 1989 Regular Week 7 | Syracuse | Penn State | #23 | L12-34 |
| 1989 Regular Week 6 | Syracuse | Florida State | #22 | L10-41 |
| 1989 Regular Week 4 | Syracuse | Pittsburgh | #13 | L23-30 |
| 1988 Regular Week 13 | Syracuse | West Virginia | #4 | L9-31 |
| 1988 Postseason Week 1 | Syracuse | LSU | #19 | W23-10 |
| 1987 Regular Week 8 | Syracuse | Penn State | #18 | W48-21 |
| 1987 Postseason Week 1 | Syracuse | Auburn | #7 | T16-16 |
| 1986 Regular Week 8 | Syracuse | Penn State | #6 | L3-42 |
| 1985 Regular Week 8 | Syracuse | Penn State | #6 | L20-24 |
| 1985 Postseason Week 1 | Syracuse | Maryland | #18 | L18-35 |
| 1984 Regular Week 13 | Syracuse | Boston College | #10 | L16-24 |
| 1984 Regular Week 9 | Syracuse | Penn State | #19 | L3-21 |
| 1984 Regular Week 8 | Syracuse | West Virginia | #20 | L10-20 |
| 1984 Regular Week 7 | Syracuse | Florida | #18 | L0-16 |
| 1984 Regular Week 6 | Syracuse | Nebraska | #8 | W17-9 |
| 1983 Regular Week 13 | Syracuse | West Virginia | #19 | W27-16 |
| 1983 Regular Week 12 | Syracuse | Boston College | #18 | W21-10 |
| 1983 Regular Week 7 | Syracuse | Maryland | #16 | L13-34 |
| 1983 Regular Week 6 | Syracuse | Nebraska | #1 | L7-63 |
| 1982 Regular Week 12 | Syracuse | West Virginia | #16 | L0-26 |
| 1982 Regular Week 8 | Syracuse | Pittsburgh | #2 | L0-14 |
| 1982 Regular Week 7 | Syracuse | Penn State | #8 | L7-28 |
| 1981 Regular Week 8 | Syracuse | Pittsburgh | #2 | L10-23 |
| 1981 Regular Week 7 | Syracuse | Penn State | #2 | L16-41 |
Tenure map
Each stint expands by seasons coached. Deeper color signals a stronger average SRS over that stretch.
Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint
Syracuse
1981-1990 • 10 seasons
Avg SRS 7.1 • Win % 58.6%
- Longest tenure
- Syracuse • 10 seasons
- Best tenure
- Syracuse • 7.1 SRS
- Best tenure win rate
- Syracuse • 58.6%
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.
Dick MacPherson sets the reference point in overall strength.
Overall Strength
Decisive edgeDick MacPherson sets the reference point in overall strength.
Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.
Dick MacPherson
Strong
- Raw avg SP Overall
- 7.7
- Percentile
- 80th pct
Strong
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.
Syracuse
1981-1990 • 66-46-4
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS 7.1Win % 58.6%
Avg wins
Higher is better
6.6 during vs 4.8 baseline
+1.8
Avg SRS
Higher is better
7.1 during vs 2.9 baseline
+4.2
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
7.7 during vs 2.7 baseline
+5.0
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
20.0% during vs 0.0% baseline
+20.0%
Career highs and lows
High Points
Best Season
Syracuse 1987
11-0-1 • SRS 18.1
Biggest Improvement
Syracuse 1987
11-0-1 • 18.4 SRS
Best Offensive Season
Syracuse 1987
11-0-1 • SP Off 37.4
Best Defensive Season
Syracuse 1984
6-5 • SP Def 10.8
Setbacks
Lowest SRS Season
Syracuse 1982
2-9 • SRS -1.2
Biggest Drop
Syracuse 1989
8-4 • -12.4 SRS
Season-by-season results
Full transparency into every season in the coaching record. Positive YoY values indicate improvement from the prior season.
| Syracuse | 1990 | 13 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 61.5% | — | — | 10.9 | 9.8 | 29.9 | 21.5 | +7.2 | -5.1% | Season summary |
| Syracuse | 1989 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 66.7% | #13 | — | 3.7 | 6.1 | 29.2 | 24.7 | -12.4 | -16.7% | Season summary |
| Syracuse | 1988 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 83.3% | — | #13 | 16.1 | 17.1 | 34.4 | 18.8 | -2.0 | -12.5% | Season summary |
| Syracuse | 1987 | 12 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 95.8% | — | #4 | 18.1 | 22.2 | 37.4 | 16.3 | +18.4 | +50.4% | Season summary |
| Syracuse | 1986 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 45.5% | — | — | -0.3 | -2.2 | 27.2 | 29.5 | -7.3 | -12.9% | Season summary |
| Syracuse | 1985 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 58.3% | — | — | 7.0 | 5.7 | 26.6 | 21.8 | -2.0 | +3.8% | Season summary |
| Syracuse | 1984 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 54.5% | — | — | 9.0 | 11.3 | 20.8 | 10.8 | +7.0 | 0.0% | Season summary |
| Syracuse | 1983 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 54.5% | — | — | 2.0 | 1.5 | 21.0 | 19.6 | +3.2 | +36.4% | Season summary |
| Syracuse | 1982 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 18.2% | — | — | -1.2 | -2.9 | 18.6 | 21.5 | -7.0 | -22.7% | Season summary |
| Syracuse | 1981 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 40.9% | — | — | 5.8 | 8.6 | 32.1 | 25.0 | — | — | 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
Bob Tyler
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.0
Avg SRS 7.1 • Peak SRS 14.1 • 7 seasons
Best finish #17 • Volatility 6.0
Open profile →Ralph Friedgen
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.5
Avg SRS 6.6 • Peak SRS 17.7 • 10 seasons
Best finish #11 • Volatility 6.7
Open profile →Bobby Collins
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.2
Avg SRS 7.3 • Peak SRS 16.6 • 12 seasons
Best finish #2 • Volatility 6.1
Open profile →Will Muschamp
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.7
Avg SRS 6.4 • Peak SRS 20.7 • 9 seasons
Best finish #9 • Volatility 7.3
Open profile →George Perles
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.2
Avg SRS 6.9 • Peak SRS 15.9 • 12 seasons
Best finish #8 • Volatility 7.0
Open profile →Fran Curci
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.0
Avg SRS 8.2 • Peak SRS 21.8 • 11 seasons
Best finish #6 • Volatility 6.7
Open profile →