Ken Hatfield Ken Hatfield ( born June 6 , 1943 ) is a former American football player and coach . He served as the head football coach at the United States Air Force Academy ( 1979 – 1983 ) , the University of Arkansas ( 1984 – 1989 ) , Clemson University ( 1990 – 1993 ) , and Rice University ( 1994 – 2005 ) , compiling a career college football record of 168 – 140 – 4 . Playing career . Hatfield is a graduate of the University of Arkansas , where he starred at defensive back for the 1964 Arkansas Razorbacks football 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 . Hatfield then moved to his alma mater , Arkansas , where he compiled a 55 – 17 – 1 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 . Ironically , the coach Hatfield succeeded at Clemson , Danny Ford , would eventually become the Razorbacks ' coach in 1993 . Hatfield coached at Clemson from 1990 – 1993 , compiling a 32 – 13 – 1 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 . However , Hatfield was never really accepted by Clemson ' s fans . A common saying among Tiger fans during this time was " 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 . Soon afterward , Hatfield was hired at Rice University , where he compiled a 55 – 78 – 1 record before resigning on November 30 , 2005 following a 1 – 10 season . 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 168 – 140 – 4 record as a head coach . Some of the notable players that he helped coach include