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Bill Blankenship

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Bill Blankenship
Current position
TitleHead Coach
TeamOwasso High School (Owasso, OK)
Biographical details
Born (1956-12-12) December 12, 1956 (age 68)
Spiro, Oklahoma, U.S.
Playing career
1975–1979Tulsa
Position(s)Quarterback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1986–1989Spiro HS (OK)
1990–1991Edmond Memorial HS (OK)
1992–2005Union HS (OK)
2007Tulsa (WR)
2008Tulsa (ST)
2009–2010Tulsa (ST/RB)
2011–2014Tulsa
2016Fayetteville HS (AR)
2017–presentOwasso HS (OK)
Head coaching record
Overall24–27 (college)
275-86 (high school)
Bowls1–1
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1 C-USA (2012)
1 C-USA West Division (2012)
5 OSSAA State Championships (2002, 2004, 2005 2017, 2019)
1 AAA State Championship (2016)
Awards
C-USA Coach of the Year (2012)

Bill Blankenship (born December 12, 1956) is an American football coach and former player. He is the current head high school football coach at Owasso High School in Owasso, OK.

He was the head coach of the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane from 2011 through 2014.[1] Before entering the college ranks, Blankenship was a successful high school coach for over 20 years, with most of his success happening at Union High School in Tulsa, OK. He was named to the Oklahoma Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2009.[2]

Playing career

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Blankenship played for the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane beginning in 1975 and served two stints as starting quarterback, 1977 and 1979.[2] While there, Blankenship played in the 1976 Independence Bowl.

High School Coaching career

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Blankenship's high school head coaching career in Oklahoma included stints at Edmond Memorial High School, Union High School, Fayetteville High School, and Owasso High School.[2]

Union High School

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Blankenship served as the coach of Tulsa's Union High School for 14 years until 2005. There he compiled an overall 154-26 record. During his tenure, Union won eight consecutive district championships, qualified for the playoffs fourteen times, reached the quarterfinals ten times, participated in the state Class 6A championship seven times, and won the state title in 2002, 2004, and 2005. Union also amassed an unbroken home winning streak of 56 straight wins between the years 1997 and 2005.[2]

Fayetteville High School

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On June 7, 2016, it was announced that Blankenship had accepted the vacant head coaching position at Fayetteville, a Class 7A program in Arkansas. In his only season at the school, he led Fayetteville to the Class 7A Arkansas state title.[3]

Owasso High School

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On January 6, 2017, it was announced that Blankenship had accepted the vacant head coaching position at Owasso High School, a Class 6A-I program in Owasso, Oklahoma.[4] Owasso went on to win the Class 6A-1 Oklahoma State Championship by defeating Union High School 21-14, breaking the 21-year Union-Jenks streak.[5] In 2021, Blankenship led Owasso to an 8-3 record before losing to Broken Arrow High School, 41-40.[6] In December 2023, Blankenship announced his decision to retire from coaching after seven seasons with Owasso.[7]

In December of 2024, after a season away from Owasso High School, it was announced that Blankenship will be returning as the school's head high school football coach.[8]

College Coaching career

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University of Tulsa

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In 2005 Blankenship decided that he wanted to pursue seriously his goal of coaching at the college level. Days after winning his third state title in four years, he resigned as Union's head coach (and, later, as its athletic director). At the time, Blankenship said that he was resigning, in part, because otherwise potential employers would not believe he would be willing to leave his successful position at Union.[9] He spent the following year out of coaching,[10] and then accepted Tulsa Golden Hurricane head coach Todd Graham's offer to become receivers coach at Tulsa.[11] After the 2010 season, Graham left Tulsa to become the head coach at Pitt. After a brief search, Blankenship was named Tulsa's new head coach on January 14, 2011.[1] Blankenship's first two seasons as head coach were marked by success, including a conference championship and Liberty Bowl victory in 2012. But over the next two seasons, Tulsa won a total of only five games, and Tulsa fired Blankenship on December 1, 2014.[12]

Personal life

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Blankenship and his wife Angie are the parents of three sons: Josh, Caleb, and Adam, all of whom played football in high school and college. Josh Blankenship played quarterback at Tulsa before transferring to Eastern Washington,[13] where he was a second-team Division I-AA All-American.[14] He later played arena football, including three years as quarterback of the Tulsa Talons; after working as an assistant coach at Union and elsewhere, in December 2010 he was named head coach at Muskogee High School.[15] Adam Blankenship played at Nebraska and Illinois State, was an assistant coach at Union, and in 2011 joined his father's new coaching staff at Tulsa.[16]

Head coaching record

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College

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Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs Coaches# AP°
Tulsa Golden Hurricane (Conference USA) (2011–2013)
2011 Tulsa 8–5 7–1 2nd (West) L Armed Forces
2012 Tulsa 11–3 7–1 1st (West) W Liberty 25
2013 Tulsa 3–9 2–6 6th (West)
Tulsa Golden Hurricane (American Athletic Conference) (2014)
2014 Tulsa 2–10 2–6 T–8th
Tulsa: 24–27 18–14
Total: 24–27
      National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth

Awards

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  • Merv Johnson Integrity in College Coaching Award, Oklahoma Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame (2008).
  • Oklahoma Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee, 2009.
  • Conference USA Coach of the Year, 2012.

References

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  1. ^ a b Eric Bailey, "Bill Blankenship named new Tulsa football coach", Tulsa World, January 14, 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d "Bill Blankenship to be Head Coach at University of Tulsa" Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, GTR Newspapers, January 14, 2011.
  3. ^ "Source: Bill Blankenship to be named head Fayetteville coach". June 7, 2016. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  4. ^ "Bill Blankenship Resigns At Fayetteville For Head Coaching Job At Owasso". Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  5. ^ World, Barry Lewis Tulsa (December 2017). "High schools: Rams defeat Redskins for 6AI title". Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  6. ^ "Bill Haisten: Josh Blankenship's masterpiece -- a 41-40 upset of his dad's Owasso team | Football | tulsaworld.com". tulsaworld.com. November 13, 2021. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
  7. ^ "Owasso Football Coach Bill Blankenship Announces Retirement; New HC Named". Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  8. ^ Maupin, Jennifer (December 10, 2024). "Bill Blankenship to return as coach for Owasso, Union to announce coach soon". 2 News Oklahoma KJRH Tulsa. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
  9. ^ Barry Lewis, "Blankenship resigns as Union coach", Tulsa World, December 6, 2005.
  10. ^ Bill Haisten, "His search continues: Bill Blankenship still hasn't found the college job he wants", Tulsa World, May 30, 2006.
  11. ^ David Jones, "Former Union Coach Bill Blankenship Enjoying Transition" Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine, GTR Newspapers, October 3, 2007.
  12. ^ "Bill Blankenship Coaching Tenure at Tulsa Concludes". University of Tulsa. December 1, 2014. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  13. ^ Dave Sittler, "Promotion completes healing process for Bill Blankenship", Tulsa World, January 15, 2011.
  14. ^ "100 for 100" All-Time Team -- Quarterbacks Archived July 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine at Eastern Washington University official website (accessed January 22, 2011).
  15. ^ Barry Lewis, "Muskogee hires Josh Blankenship as head coach", Tulsa World, December 24, 2010.
  16. ^ Eric Bailey, "TU completes hiring football coaching staff", Tulsa World, January 22, 2011.
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