Bill Peterson: coaching record and career

Now

Career arc

Stats

Big games

Pick a job to see its years on their own.

Florida State1960–70 · 62-42-11Rice1971 · 3-7-1All jobs65-49-12

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.

7-10 against his rivals at Florida State. Winless in 3 tries against Ralph Jordan.

Rivalry record

7-10-1

38.9% · 2 rivals

One-score games

18-21-11

36.0% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

1-1

50.0%

Rivalry ledger

Florida2-8-118%

Miami5-271%

The toughest matchup

vs. Ralph Jordan0-2-1

3 meetings, 1960–1963

’60 L’62 T’63 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

Dynasty

0-1 0.0%

Blue Blood

1-0 100.0%

Power Program

5-17 22.7%

National Program

25-19 56.8%

Regional Program

29-3 90.6%

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.

0-2 against his rivals at Rice.

Rivalry record

0-2

0.0% · 2 rivals

One-score games

2-4-1

28.6% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

0-2

0.0%

Rivalry ledger

Houston0-10%

SMU0-10%

Performance by opponent class

Blue Blood

0-2 0.0%

Power Program

0-2 0.0%

National Program

1-2 33.3%

Regional Program

2-1 66.7%

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.

7-12 against his rivals. Winless in 3 tries against Ralph Jordan.

Rivalry record

7-12-1

35.0% · 4 rivals

One-score games

20-25-12

35.1% · margin ≤8

Against Blue Bloods or better

1-3

25.0%

Rivalry ledger

Florida2-8-118%

Miami5-271%

Houston0-10%

SMU0-10%

The toughest matchup

vs. Ralph Jordan0-2-1

3 meetings, 1960–1963

’60 L’62 T’63 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

Dynasty

0-1 0.0%

Blue Blood

1-2 33.3%

Power Program

5-19 20.8%

National Program

26-21 55.3%

Regional Program

31-4 88.6%

Building the roster

Two numbers on how he actually stocks a roster, from signing day to draft day.

1Who followed him
2Roster ownership

Followed him here

Florida State→

Rice1971

No confirmed followers on this move. This move predates this database’s 2021 transfer-portal tracking floor, so real followers may be undercounted here.

Players who transferred from his old program to his new one through the portal in the same year he made the move. Name-matching across data sources misses some, so every count is a floor, not an exact number.

Roster ownership

This coach's entire tenure (1971-1971) predates 2021, when transfer-portal tracking begins in this database. Portal usage cannot be measured for this tenure at all -- this is not the same as '0% portal'.

“His own” means the player arrived while he was head coach; “inherited” means a predecessor brought him in.

Career

Coaching career

NFL head coach: Oilers 1972–73 · 1-18 source

See Rice’s full coaching history →

The arc of his career is on Now.

Builder meaningfully raised a program that wasn't one · Steady no large move in either direction on our stature ladder

1971

Rice Steady

Regional Program I → Regional Program I

Bill Peterson held Rice at Regional Program I for 1 season.

Followed Bo Hagan (1967–1970) · succeeded by Al Conover (1972–1975).

3-7-1

1960–1970

Florida State Builder

Regional Program I → Power Program III (left at National Program I)

Closest comparable run: Jeff Tedford’s California run (2002–2012)

Bill Peterson raised Florida State from Regional Program I to Power Program III.

+19.8 pts over 11 seasons · top 26% of 10+-season tenures (202 in sample)

6th-best Florida State tenure of 10 by the numbers.

Followed Perry Moss (1959) · succeeded by Larry Jones (1971–1973).

62-42-11

All-time wins

Wins at programs this site tracks, 1936–present — one consistent count for every coach, not each program’s own historically reported total.

3rd all-time at Florida State

Was he good?

Only one of the usual three angles is measurable for this era — raised the program.

Raised the program

+19.8 pts at Florida State · #72 of 1290 · top quarter