The Zeitgeist List · coaching

Bill Blankenship

Followed Todd Graham. Bill Blankenship slid Tulsa from Regional Program I to National Program III in 4 seasons.

24–27
2011–2014 · 1 stint
Tulsa
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Career arc

His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.

Stature score reached, by season of his head-coaching careerTULSANational Programrespectable, streakyRegional Programthe building-block levelTulsa, 2011: 8-5, National Program III2011Tulsa, 2012: 11-3, National Program III2012Tulsa, 2013: 3-9, Regional Program I2013Tulsa, 2014: 2-10, Regional Program II2014-0.1One point per coached season, in career order; dashed segments are program changes — spacing is not proportional to calendar time

Reached National Program in his 1st career season — faster than 41% of the 675 FBS coaches who have ever reached National Program (rank #1 of 675 by seasons-to-arrival).

Tulsa, 4 seasons
−0.1
National Program III → Regional Program II.

Style position and drift

Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.

50%Tulsa2011–2014– 0.0pt
Pass rate — share of offensive plays that were pass attemptsfirst covered seasonmost recent covered seasonfull season-to-season range (3+ covered seasons)

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

Winless in 3 tries against Bob Stoops.

One-score games
9–7
56.2% · margin ≤8
vs. Blue Blood or better
0–1
0.0%
The toughest matchup
vs. Bob Stoops0–3
3 meetings, 2011–2014
’11 L’13 L’14 L
0% win rate across a real, 3-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.
Performance by opponent class
Blue Blood
0–1 0.0%
Power Program
0–6 0.0%
National Program
5–2 71.4%
Regional Program
17–17 50.0%

Coaching career

2011–2014
Tulsacaretaker
Regional Program I → National Program III
Bill Blankenship slid Tulsa from Regional Program I to National Program III in 4 seasons.

9th-best Tulsa tenure of 22 by the numbers.

Followed Todd Graham (2007–2010) · succeeded by Philip Montgomery (2015–2022).

Season2011201220132014Trend
Record & result
Record8–511–33–92–10
Postseason————
Recruiting rank———#79
Style — pass rate
Pass rate———50.2
Coordinators
OC———Denver Johnson
DC———Brent Guy
Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile
Offense———31
Defense———7
Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only)
1st-down pass%———40.0
Red-zone pass%———42.1
4th-down go%opp. territory———41.5
Where the roster comes from, by position
Grows Tight end from high school
100%
#164 of 188 stints
Grows Running back from high school
100%
#196 of 208 stints

1 NFL Draft pick: Charles Clay (2011)

24–27