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

24/51

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
Tyrone Willingham

76-88-1 • 1995-2008

Notre Dame, Stanford +1
14165768846.4%3.8
11.7

2002 peak

6.732.627.9#160
Offense-First

Longevity Coach

Rich Brooks

130-156-4 • 1977-2009

Kentucky, Oregon
2529013015645.5%2.9
15.1

1980 peak

6.927.125.7#110
Defense-First

Longevity Coach

Paul Bixler

18-30-4 • 1946-1951

Colgate, Ohio State
652183038.5%-4.7
17.1

1946 peak

10.4——#01
Balanced

—

Pie Vann

34-21-1 • 1963-1968

Southern Miss
656342161.6%-0.3
6.3

1966 peak

5.6———0
Balanced

—

Neal Brown

72-51 • 2015-2024

Troy, West Virginia
10123725158.5%0.8
6.5

2023 peak

4.428.126.8—0
Balanced

Program Stabilizer

Larry Marmie

22-21-1 • 1988-1991

Arizona State
444222151.1%3.1
7.4

1991 peak

2.728.526.2—0
Balanced

—

Mike Brumbelow

46-24-3 • 1950-1956

UTEP
773462465.1%-2.9
9.9

1956 peak

9.7———0
Balanced

Volatile Builder

Harmon Graves

15-7 • 1893-1895

Army, Lehigh
32215768.2%—
—

— peak

————0
Balanced

—

Joseph Sheeketski

39-29-3 • 1939-1950

Holy Cross, Nevada
771392957.0%-1.0
12.6

1939 peak

9.7———0
Balanced

Longevity Coach

Roger Theder

17-28 • 1978-1981

California
445172837.8%5.4
14.1

1979 peak

5.729.025.0—0
Balanced

—

Brent Key

18-16 • 2022-2025

Georgia Tech
434181652.9%2.4
7.8

2025 peak

5.227.927.9—0
Balanced

—

Charley Bradshaw

25-41-4 • 1962-1968

Kentucky
770254138.6%4.3
15.0

1965 peak

5.1———0
Balanced

Program Stabilizer

Steve Sloan

68-86-3 • 1973-1986

Duke, Ole Miss +2
14157688644.3%2.6
15.9

1976 peak

7.527.026.6#130
Balanced

Longevity Coach

Doc Holliday

85-54 • 2010-2020

Marshall
11139855461.2%-3.7
14.6

2014 peak

9.225.825.9#230
Defense-First

Volatile Builder

Phil Dickens

49-52-3 • 1953-1964

Indiana, Wyoming
11104495248.6%2.6
11.4

1962 peak

6.0———0
Balanced

Program Stabilizer

Sparky Woods

24-28-3 • 1989-1993

South Carolina
555242846.4%3.0
11.7

1990 peak

4.727.622.5—0
Defense-First

Defense-First

Paul Wiggin

16-28 • 1980-1983

Stanford
444162836.4%6.0
12.8

1982 peak

8.633.529.5—0
Offense-First

Offense-First

Vince Gibson

73-100-2 • 1967-1982

Kansas State, Louisville +1
161757310042.3%1.5
20.8

1969 peak

9.125.325.2—0
Defense-First

Volatile Builder

Al Luginbill

31-25-3 • 1989-1993

San Diego State
559312555.1%2.2
5.3

1990 peak

2.742.037.5—0
Offense-First

Offense-First

Myron Witham

63-26-7 • 1920-1931

Colorado
1296632669.3%-5.9
12.2

1924 peak

11.3———0
Balanced

Longevity Coach

Bennie Ellender

27-29 • 1971-1975

Tulane
556272948.2%2.9
10.0

1972 peak

5.520.019.4#200
Defense-First

Defense-First

Monte Kiffin

16-17 • 1980-1982

NC State
333161748.5%4.2
5.9

1980 peak

1.626.222.0—0
Defense-First

Defense-First

Jim Sweeney

169-134-4 • 1968-1996

Fresno State, Washington State
2730716913455.7%-0.3
10.2

1992 peak

6.531.230.6#190
Offense-First

Longevity Coach

Kliff Kingsbury

35-40 • 2013-2018

Texas Tech
675354046.7%4.0
7.3

2018 peak

3.239.032.5—0
Offense-First

Offense-First

Dan Henning

16-19-1 • 1994-1996

Boston College
336161945.8%2.7
12.2

1994 peak

7.028.625.2#230
Balanced

—

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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.