| Ken Hatfield | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Sport | Football | |
| Born | June 6, 1943 | |
| Place of birth |  Helena, AR |
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| Career highlights | ||
| Overall | 168–140–4 | |
| Coaching stats | ||
| College Football DataWarehouse | ||
| Playing career | ||
| 1961-1964 | Arkansas | |
| Position | Defensive back | |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | ||
| 1979-83 1984-89 1990-93 1994-2005 |
Air Force Arkansas Clemson Rice |
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Ken Hatfield (born June 6, 1943 in Helena, Arkansas) is a former American football head coach. His last position was at Rice University, where he compiled a 55-78-1 record before resigning on November 30, 2005, following a 1-10 season.
Hatfield is a graduate of the University of Arkansas, where he starred at defensive back for the 1964 NCAA Division I-A national football championship team alongside such pro football luminaries as Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones. He is a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.
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, Fisher DeBerry). He then moved to his alma mater, Arkansas, where he compiled a 55-17-1 from 1984 to 1989, including two straight Southwest Conference titles--something that the Razorbacks hadn't pulled off since his playing days. In 1989, Hatfield became the first former player to coach his alma mater in the Cotton Bowl Classic, as he helped lead Arkansas to the 1964 National Championship over Nebraska in the 1965 Cotton Bowl Classic.
However, he had a somewhat frosty relationship with longtime athletic director Frank Broyles, even though Broyles had been his college coach. Broyles had a reputation for being very hands-on with the football program he'd built into a national power. When Broyles signed a new five-year contract in early 1990, Hatfield bolted to Clemson University without even visiting the campus.[1] Ironically, the coach Hatfield succeeded at Clemson, Danny Ford, would eventually become the Razorbacks' coach in 1993.
Hatfield coached at Clemson from 1990-93, compiling a 32-13-1 record and the school's last Atlantic Coast Conference title to date, in 1991. 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 was "Frank Howard built it. Ford tilled 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 5-6 in 1992 to a solid 8-3 record that year. Angered at what he saw as a lack of support, Hatfield resigned at the end of the regular season.[3]
One of the few remaining proponents of the conservative triple-option offense in college football, Hatfield has compiled a 168-140-4 record as a head coach.
Contents |
Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Force Falcons (Western Athletic Conference) (1979–1983) | |||||||||
| 1979 | Air Force | 2-9 | |||||||
| 1980 | Air Force | 2-9-1 | 1-6 | T-8th | |||||
| 1981 | Air Force | 4-7 | 2-5 | 7th | |||||
| 1982 | Air Force | 8-5 | 4-3 | T-3rd | W Hall of Fame Classic | ||||
| 1983 | Air Force | 10-2 | 5-2 | 2nd | W Independence | 15 | 13 | ||
| Air Force: | 26-32-1 | 12-16 | |||||||
| Arkansas Razorbacks (Southwest Conference) (1984–1989) | |||||||||
| 1984 | Arkansas | 7-4-1 | 5-3 | T-3rd | L Liberty | ||||
| 1985 | Arkansas | 10-2 | 6-2 | T-2nd | W Holiday | 12 | 12 | ||
| 1986 | Arkansas | 9-3 | 6-2 | T-2nd | L Orange | 16 | 15 | ||
| 1987 | Arkansas | 9-4 | 5-2 | T-2nd | L Liberty | ||||
| 1988 | Arkansas | 10-2 | 7-0 | 1st | L Cotton | 13 | 12 | ||
| 1989 | Arkansas | 10-2 | 7-1 | 1st | L Cotton | 13 | 13 | ||
| Arkansas: | 55-17-1 | 36-10 | |||||||
| Clemson Tigers (Atlantic Coast Conference) (1990–1993) | |||||||||
| 1990 | Clemson | 10-2 | 5-2 | T-2nd | W Hall of Fame | 9 | 9 | ||
| 1991 | Clemson | 9-2-1 | 6-0-1 | 1st | L Citrus | 17 | 18 | ||
| 1992 | Clemson | 5-6 | 3-5 | 7th | |||||
| 1993 | Clemson | 8-3 | 5-3 | T-3rd | * | 22 | 23 | ||
| Clemson: | 32-13-1 | 19-10-1 | |||||||
| Rice Owls (Southwest Conference/Western Athletic Conference/Conference USA) (1994–2005) | |||||||||
| 1994 | Rice | 5-6 | 4-3 | T-1st* | |||||
| 1995 | Rice | 2-8-1 | 1-6 | 7th | |||||
| 1996 | Rice | 7-4 | 6-2 | T-2nd | |||||
| 1997 | Rice | 7-4 | 5-3 | T-2nd | |||||
| 1998 | Rice | 5-6 | 5-3 | T-3rd | |||||
| 1999 | Rice | 5-6 | 4-3 | 4th | |||||
| 2000 | Rice | 3-8 | 2-6 | T-6th | |||||
| 2001 | Rice | 8-4 | 5-3 | T-4th | |||||
| 2002 | Rice | 4-7 | 3-5 | T-6th | |||||
| 2003 | Rice | 5-7 | 5-3 | T-4th | |||||
| 2004 | Rice | 3-8 | 2-6 | 9th | |||||
| 2005 | Rice | 1-10 | 1-7 | T-5th (West) | |||||
| Rice: | 55-78-1 | 43-50 | |||||||
| Total: | 168-140-4 (.545) | ||||||||
| National Championship Conference Title Conference Division Title | |||||||||
| †Indicates BCS bowl game. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll. °Rankings from final AP Poll. |
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*Hatfield resigned after the regular season; Tommy West coached the Tigers in the Peach Bowl. Clemson credits the 1993 regular season to Hatfield and the Peach Bowl to West.
See also
References
- ^ Murphy, Austin. Not exactly Hog Heaven. Sports Illustrated, 1992-09-21.
- ^ Hanley, Brian. Clemson gets "Real McCoy". Chicago Sun-Times, 1990-12-30.
- ^ Clemson coach quits. New York Times, 1993-11-25.
External links
| Preceded by Bill Parcells |
Air Force Falcons Head Coach 1979–1983 |
Succeeded by Fisher DeBerry |
| Preceded by Lou Holtz |
Arkansas Razorbacks Head Coach 1984–1989 |
Succeeded by Jack Crowe; Joe Kines (interim) |
| Preceded by Danny Ford |
Clemson Tigers Head Coach 1990–1993 |
Succeeded by Tommy West |
| Preceded by Fred Goldsmith (coach) |
Rice Owls Head Football Coach 1994–2005 |
Succeeded by Todd Graham |
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