In controller design problems, the quantitative description of the desired controlled system behavior is often given by specifying the closed loop poles. An output-variable, feedback control policy for a linear system of order n, with m outputs and p inputs, is described by u = −Gy. Matrix G contains p × m parameters which may be used to dictate the locations of the closed loop poles. The limiting condition for arbitrary pole placement, without some form of state estimation, is p × m = n since the p × m independent controller parameters may be used to specify the n poles. However, there is no systematic procedure for the design of controllers subject to limiting condition. In this paper, a technique based on modal system description is used to design static output-variable feedback controllers with limited number of inputs and outputs. It is shown that arbitrary closed loop pole placement is possible if p + m ⩾ n + 1 for sufficiently well coupled systems.