The Zeitgeist List · coaching

Jerry Ippoliti

Followed Doc Urich. Jerry Ippoliti held Northern Illinois at Regional Program II for 5 seasons.

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1971–1975 · 1 stint
Northern Illinois
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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 careerNORTHERN ILLINOISNational Programrespectable, streakyRegional Programthe building-block levelNorthern Illinois, 1971: 5-5, Regional Program II1971Northern Illinois, 1972: 7-4, Regional Program II1972Northern Illinois, 1973: 6-5, Regional Program II1973Northern Illinois, 1974: 4-7, Regional Program II1974Northern Illinois, 1975: 3-8, Regional Program II1975+1.4One point per coached season, in career order; dashed segments are program changes — spacing is not proportional to calendar time

Reached Regional Program in his 1st career season — faster than 20% of the 925 FBS coaches who have ever reached Regional Program (rank #1 of 925 by seasons-to-arrival).

Northern Illinois, 5 seasons
+1.4
Regional Program II → Regional Program II.

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.

1–4 against his rivals. Winless in 4 tries against Bill Doolittle.

Rivalry record
1–4
20.0% · 2 rivals
One-score games
1–7
12.5% · margin ≤8
Rivalry ledger
Toledo1–325%
Ball State0–10%
The toughest matchup
vs. Bill Doolittle0–4
4 meetings, 1971–1974
’71 L’72 L’73 L’74 L
0% win rate across a real, 4-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
National Program
2–8 20.0%
Regional Program
9–11 45.0%

Coaching career

1971–1975
Northern Illinoiscaretaker
Regional Program II → Regional Program II
Jerry Ippoliti held Northern Illinois at Regional Program II for 5 seasons.

5th-best Northern Illinois tenure of 13 by the numbers.

Followed Doc Urich (1969–1970) · succeeded by Pat Culpepper (1976–1979).

4 NFL Draft picks: Larry Clark (1973), Willie Hatter (1973), Mark Kellar (1974), Bob Gregolunas (1976)

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