Coaches Research Hub

Explore college football coaches by peak, consistency, and identity.

Turn coach-season records into career arcs, school-by-school tenures, style profiles, and side-by-side comparisons.

Browse coachesCompare coaches

Peak finder

Jump from the broad landscape to the highest single-season ceilings.

Tenure story

See where coaches built, inherited, or stabilized a program.

Compare mode

Stack up to four coaches on the same profile and arc surfaces.

Current Research Window

These totals update with every filter so the discovery visuals and the table below stay on the same coach universe. Start from the recommended sample, then tighten the field around identity, school, time span, or quality.

3+ seasons

1271

Coaches in view

1786 indexed coaches available

11703

Coach-seasons

12402 total coach-season rows

11/51

Page position

1271 coaches in the current filtered result set

Summary and Filtering

Filter and rank coaches

Coach search stays primary, then school, archetype, time span, and quality sharpen the list. The recommended starting point is 3+ seasons.

Reset to recommendedClear all

Recommended baseline

Keep at least 3 seasons in view to avoid tiny-sample profiles dominating the charts and leaderboards.

Coach Identity

The fastest way to narrow style and school context.

Time and Sample

Keep the result set stable before reading the charts.

Recommended: 3+ seasons.

Quality

Shortcut the list toward stronger resumes and stronger finishes.

These filters reshape the charts and the results table together, so every leaderboard and callout below reflects the same active set.

You are on the recommended baseline view.

Primary Discovery

One clear lens at a time.

Start with career shape or flip to identity. Either way, the chart, the coach summary, the outlier list, and the table context all stay synchronized.

Success vs Volatility

Start with the simplest question: who paired real strength with a repeatable week-to-week shape?

250 coaches shown
Elite and steady
Elite but volatile
Lower ceiling but stable
Lower ceiling and unstable

Frank Leahy

Volatility: 9.13 • Average SRS: 22.65

86.4% win rate • 38.3 peak SRS

Volatility
Average SRS

Hover or focus a point to isolate it. Click a coach to carry that selection into the results table.

Average SRS reads overall strength. Volatility is the spread of season-to-season SRS, so lower values mean a steadier profile.

Career shape lens

Frank Leahy

This is the clearest first-pass view for peak versus stability. It is the best place to start browsing.

BalancedPeak Dominator

Frank Leahy is currently highlighted in the success vs volatility view.

Volatility
9.13
Average SRS
22.65
Career Win %
86.4%
Peak SRS
38.3
View coach profile

Active chart outliers

These callouts update with the active discovery mode and filtered coach set.

4 markers

  1. Highest peak

    Red Blaik

    Single-season ceiling leader in the current filtered set.

    44.1 peak SRS

  2. Most consistent elite coach

    Tom Osborne

    High average strength without the season-to-season swing.

    24.22 avg SRS • 4.49 volatility

  3. Steadiest floor

    Pete Reynolds

    Lowest volatility in the view. Lower is more stable.

    1.28 volatility

  4. Elite but volatile

    Chuck Fairbanks

    Big ceiling, but the weekly shape moved around more than the steady tier.

    15.61 volatility

Top Career Peaks

Keep the ceiling board in view, but as a support module for the active lens, not the main destination.

  1. 1. Harry Hughes

    1916

    46.5

  2. 2. Red Blaik

    1945

    44.1

  3. 3. Nelson Norgren

    1916

    44.0

  4. 4. Henry Williams

    1905

    42.5

  5. 5. Amos Alonzo Stagg

    1905

    42.2

Elite and steady

Upper-left is the premium zone: strong average results without much season-to-season swing.

Elite but volatile

Upper-right still reaches major heights, but the shape was less repeatable.

Lower ceiling but stable

Lower-left profiles stayed steady even if the absolute ceiling never reached the very top tier.

Lower ceiling and unstable

Lower-right is where the career shape had neither a high average peak nor reliable steadiness.

Supporting Insights

Quick leaderboards, grouped on purpose.

These are shortcuts into the same table below. Performance leads the stack, while stability and longevity stay visible without competing with the main chart.

Performance

Primary leaderboard shortcuts

The fastest path into peak and results leaders.

3 boards

Highest Peak SRS

Single-season ceiling leaders.

View

  1. 1. Harry Hughes

    1916 Colorado State (6-0-1)

    46.5

  2. 2. Red Blaik

    1945 Army (9-0)

    44.1

  3. 3. Nelson Norgren

    1916 Utah (3-2)

    44.0

  4. 4. Henry Williams

    1905 Minnesota (10-1)

    42.5

  5. 5. Amos Alonzo Stagg

    1905 Chicago (11-0)

    42.2

Best Career Win %

Who won the most across a meaningful sample.

View

  1. 1. Walter Camp

    5 seasons

    97.1%

  2. 2. Knute Rockne

    1924 Notre Dame (10-0)

    88.1%

  3. 3. Ryan Day

    2019 Ohio State (13-1)

    87.5%

  4. 4. Frank Leahy

    1946 Notre Dame (8-0-1)

    86.4%

  5. 5. Jesse Harper

    1913 Notre Dame (7-0)

    86.3%

Most Top 10 Finishes

Coaches who stacked elite endings.

View

  1. 1. Bear Bryant

    1971 Alabama (11-1)

    22

  2. 2. Joe Paterno

    1994 Penn State (12-0)

    22

  3. 3. Tom Osborne

    1995 Nebraska (12-0)

    18

  4. 4. Nick Saban

    2016 Alabama (14-1)

    18

  5. 5. Bo Schembechler

    1973 Michigan (10-0-1)

    16

Stability

Stability shortcuts

Who stays in control year after year.

1 board

Most Consistent

Low-volatility coaches with enough sample.

View

  1. 1. Parke Davis

    1897 Lafayette (9-2-1)

    0.0

  2. 2. DM Balliet

    1901 Purdue (4-4-1)

    0.0

  3. 3. Mike Sanford Jr

    2022 Colorado (1-6)

    0.2

  4. 4. Henry Shenk

    1943 Kansas (4-5-1)

    0.5

  5. 5. Jerry Baldwin

    2001 Louisiana (3-8)

    0.5

Longevity

Longevity shortcuts

Long arcs, big samples, and durable careers.

1 board

Longest Careers

Big careers and long arcs.

View

  1. 1. John Anderson

    1976 Brown (8-1)

    64 years

  2. 2. Paul Davis

    1963 Mississippi State (7-2-2)

    59 years

  3. 3. Amos Alonzo Stagg

    1905 Chicago (11-0)

    53 years

  4. 4. George Barclay

    1951 Washington and Lee (6-4)

    48 years

  5. 5. Joe Paterno

    1994 Penn State (12-0)

    46 years

Results Table

Coach results table

1271 filtered coaches in view. Lower rank numbers are better. Lower volatility means more stable. Lower SP Def numbers are better on the identity chart.

Compare selected (0)
1271 filtered coachesSuccess vs Volatility activeSorted by Identity descending
Compare
Don Coryell

36-8 • 1969-1972

San Diego State
44436881.8%8.7
19.8

1969 peak

7.529.520.7—0
Defense-First

Defense-First

Fisher DeBerry

169-109-1 • 1984-2006

Air Force
2327916910960.8%2.7
21.0

1985 peak

7.132.929.7#81
Offense-First

Peak Dominator

Will Muschamp

56-51 • 2011-2020

Florida, South Carolina
9107565152.3%6.4
20.7

2012 peak

7.328.319.3#91
Defense-First

Peak Dominator

Mike Shula

26-24 • 2003-2006

Alabama
450262452.0%8.3
12.1

2005 peak

2.330.817.0#04
Defense-First

Consistent Winner

Edward Robinson

140-82-12 • 1898-1925

Brown
242341408262.4%10.7
31.4

1916 peak

8.0———0
Balanced

Volatile Builder

Gaynell Tinsley

35-34-6 • 1948-1954

LSU
775353450.7%8.6
16.3

1949 peak

4.3——#91
Balanced

Consistent Winner

Dave Allerdice

33-7 • 1911-1915

Texas
54033782.5%8.9
17.7

1914 peak

5.4———0
Balanced

—

Enoch Bagshaw

64-21-6 • 1921-1929

Washington
991642173.6%9.1
20.1

1925 peak

5.6———0
Balanced

Program Stabilizer

George Perles

73-62-4 • 1983-1994

Michigan State
12139736254.0%6.9
15.9

1987 peak

7.028.820.7#81
Defense-First

Longevity Coach

Francis Schmidt

135-53-9 • 1922-1942

Arkansas, Idaho +2
211971355370.8%8.2
25.1

1929 peak

11.5——#130
Balanced

Longevity Coach

Parke Davis

37-11-3 • 1893-1897

Amherst, Lafayette +1
551371175.5%12.4
12.4

1897 peak

0.0———0
Balanced

Consistent Winner

Bo Pelini

67-27 • 2003-2014

Nebraska
894672771.3%11.0
16.7

2010 peak

3.933.318.2#140
Balanced

Consistent Winner

Charles Caldwell

68-27-1 • 1946-1956

Princeton
1196682771.4%0.8
13.5

1950 peak

9.1——#62
Balanced

Longevity Coach

Fran Curci

55-65-2 • 1971-1981

Kentucky, Miami
11122556545.9%8.2
21.8

1977 peak

6.724.116.3#61
Defense-First

Peak Dominator

Hugo Bezdek

105-46-13 • 1908-1929

Arkansas, Oregon +1
191641054668.0%7.9
28.3

1919 peak

12.3———0
Balanced

Longevity Coach

Tom Fennell

33-17-1 • 1904-1908

Penn State
551331765.7%11.4
18.3

1908 peak

7.5———0
Balanced

—

Paul Dashiell

25-5-4 • 1904-1906

Navy
33425579.4%9.8
13.4

1906 peak

4.7———0
Balanced

Consistent Winner

Tom Keady

55-22-3 • 1912-1920

Lehigh
980552270.6%9.9
16.9

1917 peak

5.4———0
Balanced

Program Stabilizer

Gilmour Dobie

115-44-11 • 1916-1938

Boston College, Cornell +2
221701154470.9%6.3
29.8

1923 peak

14.1———0
Balanced

Longevity Coach

John McEwan

38-18-5 • 1923-1929

Army, Oregon
761381866.4%10.0
19.7

1928 peak

6.6———0
Balanced

—

PJ Fleck

88-61 • 2013-2025

Minnesota, Western Michigan
13149886159.1%3.5
15.2

2019 peak

9.328.523.7#101
Defense-First

Volatile Builder

Sonny Dykes

98-75 • 2010-2025

California, Louisiana Tech +2
15173987556.6%4.1
16.7

2022 peak

7.533.629.4#21
Offense-First

Longevity Coach

Mike White

81-72-4 • 1972-1987

California, Illinois
14157817252.9%6.4
15.3

1975 peak

6.331.326.7#101
Offense-First

Longevity Coach

Dick Harlow

71-36-7 • 1915-1947

Colgate, Harvard +1
13114713665.3%9.1
21.9

1915 peak

10.2———0
Balanced

Longevity Coach

Gus Welch

16-10-1 • 1919-1922

Washington State
427161061.1%13.3
18.6

1920 peak

6.5———0
Balanced

—

Showing 251-275 of 1271

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About This Data

How to read the page

Filtered state

Every number, chart callout, and leaderboard on this page reflects the current filter state, not the full indexed universe.

Metric framing

Lower volatility means more stable. Lower finish rank numbers are better. On identity, lower SP Def numbers indicate stronger defense.

Research flow

Use the active chart to form a hypothesis, then drop into the table to sort, compare, and export the exact slice you are studying.