Red Sanders

Head coach, 1940–1957

Headline rating: as head coach. Every role he has been rated in is below.

Chemistry

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index in development

Seasons here—

Programs2

Stints3

Career path

Head-coaching stints since 1936; assistant roles since 2016

1949–1957UCLAHead Coach

1946–1948VanderbiltHead Coach

1940–1942VanderbiltHead Coach

As head coach

Rating—Peak84Career80

1940–1957 · 15 seasonsRecord 102-41National titles 1Great seasons 4 (top ~7% of all teams that year)

Rating 84: 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 84: best five-season stretch, 1951–1955 at UCLA (39-8, 3 top-10 seasons by team strength, 1 national title), taking over an average program.
Career 80 (#60 since 1936): total accomplishment over 15 seasons (102-41), 1 national title, 4 elite seasons; full credit for the program he inherited.
Won big at one of his 2 programs (UCLA).

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
1957	UCLA	8-2	#25	+0.74 SD
1956	UCLA	7-3	#28	+0.58 SD
1955	UCLA	9-2	#3	+1.86 SD
1954	UCLA	9-0	#4	+1.57 SD
1953	UCLA	8-2	#11	+1.27 SD
1952	UCLA	8-1	#5	+1.53 SD
1951	UCLA	5-3-1	#14	+1.02 SD
1950	UCLA	6-3	#25	+0.86 SD
1949	UCLA	6-3	#18	+0.99 SD
1948	Vanderbilt	8-2-1	#4	+1.58 SD
1947	Vanderbilt	6-4	#25	+0.66 SD
1946	Vanderbilt	5-4	#26	+0.67 SD
1942	Vanderbilt	6-4	#28	+0.41 SD
1941	Vanderbilt	8-2	#31	+0.55 SD
1940	Vanderbilt	3-6-1	#64	-0.27 SD

Season rank = his team among all major-college teams that year; vs contemporaries = how far above the average team (in standard deviations).