Coaches / Head coach / Tom Osborne
Career
94
not coaching now
Rating97recent
Peak97best 5 yrs
Career94whole career
confidence
Tom Osborne
Head coach
Headline rating: as head coach. Every role he has been rated in is below.
Chemistry
—
index in development
Seasons here—
Programs2
Stints2
Career path
Head-coaching stints since 1936; assistant roles since 2016
As head coach
Rating97Peak97Career94
1973–1997 · 25 seasonsRecord 255-49National titles 3Great seasons 22 (top ~7% of all teams that year)
- Rating 97: 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 97: best five-season stretch, 1993–1997 at Nebraska (60-3, 5 top-10 seasons by team strength, 3 national titles), taking over already a national power.
- Career 94 (#5 since 1936): total accomplishment over 25 seasons (255-49), 3 national titles, 22 elite seasons; full credit for the program he inherited.
- All of it at one program (Nebraska) — 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Nebraska | 13-0 | #2 | +2.12 SD |
| 1996 | Nebraska | 11-2 | #1 | +2.27 SD |
| 1995 | Nebraska | 12-0 | #1 | +2.60 SD |
| 1994 | Nebraska | 13-0 | #2 | +1.91 SD |
| 1993 | Nebraska | 11-1 | #2 | +1.90 SD |
| 1992 | Nebraska | 9-3 | #3 | +1.94 SD |
| 1991 | Nebraska | 9-2-1 | #7 | +1.62 SD |
| 1990 | Nebraska | 9-3 | #9 | +1.50 SD |
| 1989 | Nebraska | 10-2 | #8 | +1.45 SD |
| 1988 | Nebraska | 11-2 | #12 | +1.26 SD |
| 1987 | Nebraska | 10-2 | #3 | +1.98 SD |
| 1986 | Nebraska | 10-2 | #9 | +1.63 SD |
| 1985 | Nebraska | 9-3 | #6 | +1.51 SD |
| 1984 | Nebraska | 10-2 | #2 | +1.83 SD |
| 1983 | Nebraska | 12-1 | #1 | +2.46 SD |
| 1982 | Nebraska | 12-1 | #1 | +1.97 SD |
| 1981 | Nebraska | 9-3 | #4 | +1.84 SD |
| 1980 | Nebraska | 10-2 | #1 | +2.46 SD |
| 1979 | Nebraska | 10-2 | #5 | +1.80 SD |
| 1978 | Nebraska | 9-3 | #4 | +1.89 SD |
| 1977 | Nebraska | 9-3 | #12 | +1.35 SD |
| 1976 | Nebraska | 9-3-1 | #8 | +1.54 SD |
| 1975 | Nebraska | 10-2 | #4 | +1.97 SD |
| 1974 | Nebraska | 9-3 | #7 | +1.58 SD |
| 1973 | Nebraska | 9-2-1 | #6 | +1.81 SD |
Season rank = his team among all major-college teams that year; vs contemporaries = how far above the average team (in standard deviations).