The Zeitgeist List · coaching

Red Blaik

Followed William Wood. Red Blaik took Army from National Program II to Blue Blood.

The ascent
152–43
1936–1958 · 2 stints
DartmouthArmy
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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 careerDARTMOUTHARMYDynastythe sport's summitBlue Bloodpermanent top tierPower Programperennial contenderNational Programrespectable, streakyDartmouth, 1936: 7-1, National Program II1936Dartmouth, 1937: 7-0, National Program IIDartmouth, 1938: 7-2, National Program IDartmouth, 1939: 5-3, National Program IDartmouth, 1940: 5-4, National Program I1940+0.0Army, 1941: 5-3, National Program II1941Army, 1942: 6-3, National Program IIArmy, 1943: 7-2, National Program IIArmy, 1944: 9-0, Power Program IIArmy, 1945: 9-0, Blue BloodArmy, 1946: 9-0, Blue BloodArmy, 1947: 5-2, Blue BloodArmy, 1948: 8-0, Blue BloodArmy, 1949: 9-0, Blue BloodArmy, 1950: 8-1, Blue BloodArmy, 1951: 2-7, Blue BloodArmy, 1952: 4-4, Blue BloodArmy, 1953: 7-1, Power Program IArmy, 1954: 7-2, Power Program IArmy, 1955: 6-3, Power Program IArmy, 1956: 5-3, Power Program IArmy, 1957: 7-2, Power Program IArmy, 1958: 8-0, Power Program I1958+36.6One point per coached season, in career order; dashed segments are program changes — spacing is not proportional to calendar time

Reached Blue Blood in his 10th career season — faster than 19% of the 100 FBS coaches who have ever reached Blue Blood (rank #77 of 100 by seasons-to-arrival).

Dartmouth, 5 seasons
+0.0
National Program II → National Program I.
Army, 18 seasons
+36.6
National Program II → Power Program I.

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.

8–8 against his rivals. Winless in 5 tries against Frank Leahy.

Rivalry record
8–8–2
44.4% · 1 rival
One-score games
22–14–13
44.9% · margin ≤8
vs. Blue Blood or better
0–1
0.0%
Rivalry ledger
Navy8–8–244%
The toughest matchup
vs. Frank Leahy0–3–2
5 meetings, 1941–1947
’41 T’42 L’43 L’46 T’47 L
0% win rate across a real, 5-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
5–2 71.4%
Power Program
18–10 64.3%
National Program
51–23 68.9%
Regional Program
32–1 97.0%

Coaching career

1941–1958
Armytransformer
National Program II → Blue Blood
Red Blaik took Army from National Program II to Blue Blood.

1st-best Army tenure of 17 by the numbers.

Followed William Wood (1938–1940) · succeeded by Dale Hall (1959–1961).

121–33
1936–1940
Dartmouthcaretaker
National Program I
Red Blaik held Dartmouth at National Program I for 5 seasons.

2nd-best Dartmouth tenure of 4 by the numbers.

31–10