Coaches / Head coach / Bud Wilkinson
Career
88
not coaching now
Rating—recent
Peak88best 5 yrs
Career88whole career
confidence
Bud Wilkinson
Head coach, 1947–1963
Headline rating: as head coach. Every role he has been rated in is below.
Chemistry
—
index in development
Seasons here—
Programs1
Stints1
Career path
Head-coaching stints since 1936; assistant roles since 2016
As head coach
Rating—Peak88Career88
1947–1963 · 17 seasonsRecord 145-29National titles 3Great seasons 7 (top ~7% of all teams that year)
- Rating 87: his whole career, recent seasons weighted most, measured as how far his teams stood above their era, crediting him with half of what each program already was when he arrived (about the share that, historically, follows a coach to his next job), fading as the program becomes his own.
- Peak 88: best five-season stretch, 1952–1956 at Oklahoma (48-2, 5 top-10 seasons by team strength, 2 national titles), taking over an average program.
- Career 88 (#19 since 1936): total accomplishment over 17 seasons (145-29), 3 national titles, 7 elite seasons; full credit for the program he inherited.
- All of it at one program (Oklahoma) — unproven elsewhere; historically about half of a coach's lift carries to a new job.
Rating = who he is: his whole head-coaching career (since 1936), weighted toward recent years — how far his teams stood above their contemporaries, how much he lifted programs, his great seasons and titles. Form = the last two seasons. Career = the all-time ranking number.
| Season | Team | Record | Season rank | vs contemporaries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | Oklahoma | 8-2 | #11 | +1.19 SD |
| 1962 | Oklahoma | 8-3 | #7 | +1.41 SD |
| 1961 | Oklahoma | 5-5 | #36 | +0.42 SD |
| 1960 | Oklahoma | 3-6-1 | #43 | +0.30 SD |
| 1959 | Oklahoma | 7-3 | #14 | +0.95 SD |
| 1958 | Oklahoma | 10-1 | #3 | +1.76 SD |
| 1957 | Oklahoma | 10-1 | #6 | +1.50 SD |
| 1956 | Oklahoma | 10-0 | #1 | +2.00 SD |
| 1955 | Oklahoma | 11-0 | #4 | +1.73 SD |
| 1954 | Oklahoma | 10-0 | #7 | +1.38 SD |
| 1953 | Oklahoma | 9-1-1 | #5 | +1.56 SD |
| 1952 | Oklahoma | 8-1-1 | #2 | +1.81 SD |
| 1951 | Oklahoma | 8-2 | #9 | +1.33 SD |
| 1950 | Oklahoma | 10-1 | #5 | +1.39 SD |
| 1949 | Oklahoma | 11-0 | #3 | +1.77 SD |
| 1948 | Oklahoma | 10-1 | #9 | +1.27 SD |
| 1947 | Oklahoma | 7-2-1 | #35 | +0.43 SD |
Season rank = his team among all major-college teams that year; vs contemporaries = how far above the average team (in standard deviations).